Brambling

This afternoon Rosie saw what she thought was chaffinch, an unusual visitor to our garden. Shortly afterwards I spotted this bird from the landing window and grabbed my camera. The picture was through double glazing and with a 200mm lens fitted, not my ideal choice.

It is a brambling - not seen in our garden before now.  Shortly afterwards we notices a pair of them in our tamarisk tree, then three, then four.  They had stopped by to take advantage of the garden feeders.  Rosie grabbed the binoculars that sit in the conservatory to get a better look whilst I wished I had a bigger lens on the camera and an open window.

Bramblings are a Scandinavian species that will over-winter in the UK.  Most winters there will be about a million of them in Britain at their peak visit.  This is the first time I have seen one.