For ID only...

[higgy50]

Seen this pretty little fella on my feeders and not sure what it is, I think probably a Brambling but my reference books give me conflicting information!...

Apologies for the poor quality but a few quick shots hand held through the double glazing then heavily cropped!...

Thanks

 

[scottthehat]

brambling.

 

[higgy50]

Cheers Scott,

Are they common? I've certainly not seen one before but this guy has been on my feeders all winter...

 

[Duck_Pond]

Not common - winter visitors to most parts of the UK. I've only seen 2 of them this winter so far, so count yourself lucky!

 

[CT]

Agreed - a Brambling. Not exactly common but we'll have had big influxes of these from abroad with the onset of wnter. Come the Spring they'll be off to warmer climes.Youi can usually pretty well guarantee seeing these on Cannock Chase around this time of year, but so far I haven't seen any this winter.

 

[higgy50]

That's good, This little chap has been emptying my feeder like seeds are going out of fashion. Having not seen one before it's nice to know that they are'nt really common!

Have to say they really are pretty little birds and I will have to work out a way to get closer and get some good shots of it!

Many thanks

 

[CT]

Keep an eye out if you see a few Chaffinches down in the garden as they'll often mix in with Chaffinches so aren't always easy to spot.

 

[higgy50]

That is exactly right I have been presuming it's chaffinch with slightly different markings for quite a while but when it turned and I could see some pinky/orange I realised it was something different!

It only seems to feed on the feeders furthest away from the house so only having a 200mm lens I can't get a shot at it!

I did take some shots on my old camera but when I cropped it it just looked like a grey/orange blob! My new camera has allowed me to keep so much more resolution when I crop that I can actually now tell that it's not a Chaffinch!!!