A birder's blog: Sun, clouds and snow

Friday was going to be a sunny day - well, thank you yet again to the Met Office for getting it all wrong. By the time we arrived at Warnham (they don't open until 10), clouds had put an end to the prospect of good light for photographing woodland birds.

The gate was still locked and a few birders were waiting, among them Pagham Birder - whose blog I always follow with great interest - and his grandson and it was lovely to catch up! They were hoping to see a brambling or two; unfortunately the only time one of the females made a brief appearance was when they had just left the hide for a few minutes. For some reason, the Warnham bramblings are terribly flighty and both times the bird showed, someone walked past or into the hide talking loudly, spooking all of the finches. Some people seriously seem to think that the definition of 'bird hide' is 'a great place to have chats and picnics with friends'. Incredibly annoying, time and time again!

Female brambling grabbing a few sunflower seeds before disappearing again.

BTW, 'my' brambling is still gracing our garden with her presence - she too is very easily spooked, maybe it's a brambling thing.

Anyhow, as always, it was wonderful to watch the many woodland birds and listen to them chirping. Very enjoyable. Even the sun came out a few times.