Redpolls

A really exciting visitor to our garden this week is the Lesser Redpoll.  I struggled to tie down the precise species of Redpoll because the bill seems too long for the Lesser.  But after consultation and lots of paging through books I am confident that it is the Lesser Redpoll. 

They seem to be much more common this year, as a number of people have told me about them feeding on their feeders.  I noticed them sitting among some Dogwood across the road from my front garden, but they are very sensitive and flew as soon as I made a move for a closer look.  So when they turned up in our garden a couple of days ago I was thrilled!  They come and go from the same direction - so it looks like they have set up home in the quarry.

This first picture was taken through my kitchen window on Saturday - so it just shows it is good to have your camera ready!  The next one was taken this evening when the light was a bit of a struggle, hence the poor quality (well that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!).