Some Handsome Visitors.

I Heard a Brambling "sneering" in the trees in the garden on Tuesday, but didn't manage to see it.On Friday evening I looked out to see a male on the ground under the feeders, but by the time I had camera in hand it had gone. This morning, in what was a really gloomy, heavily overcast light, I saw one drop onto the ground and managed a couple of pictures out of the closed window, never a way ro get good pictures.

 It was this male that I had noticed, and as far as I could see in the view finder the other birds on the ground were chaffinches.

When I looked at the second picture I was surprised to see there were three two, with a second bird, a duller first winter or female, in front of the male. And then a second look showed that the bird behind was also a Brambling.

This year I haven't see a single Humming-bird Hawk-moth in the garden so it was a surprise to find one quietly resting on the side of my MV trap this morning. They look quite different at rest. 

It conveniently perched on a paint brush so that I could photo the underside of it. Despite being much plainer looking when they are not flying, they are a fascinating species. There are sill some flowers around in the garden so I still have some hope of finding it hovering in the next couple of days.