Was it a Goldcrest!?

Well seeing as since my beautiful baby has been born I have not had much chance to get out and about with a bit of spotting, watching or whatever you call it.  Therefore garden watching has been the order of the past 4 weeks.

Therefore one morning while once again making a mass of tea and coffee for family and friends visiting, I was peering out of the kitchen window checking to see what was on the feeders when I saw something tiny flitting around on the small blossom tree we have in the garden.  Was it a Blue Tit? nope not colourful enough or any blue tinge to the feathers, was it a Wren? nope as not that brown to look at.  It definitely had a slight green tinge to the feathers, quickly I ran upstairs to grab my binoculars, while everyone waited for a piping hot brew and panic set in as I couldn't find them!!!!  Therefore next to find was my camera, surely the 300mm lens would be able to assist in identifying what I was seeing.


With camera located I shot back downstairs hoping that what I was seeing was a first in my garden of a beautiful Goldcrest.  No sooner had I arrived at my kitchen window when the little blighter shot off into my neighbours garden AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!  Anger, frustration and pain then set in and I continued with my brew making duties.  Since then I have spotted the bird once more and I am convinced it is a Goldcrest but seeing that I am now back in work and the evening starts to set in around 4pm I will have to keep an eye out over the weekends.

For anyone who would like to know a bit more about Goldcrests well, they are the UK's smallest songbird and is dull green above and buff white below with a distinctive orange or yellow crown stripe.  In the bleak winter it will join flocks of tits and other woodland birds, large numbers migrant in autumn to our shores, which can then be spotted in coastal bushes but mainly on the east and south coast.  There have been a few spotted in my local park (Stanley Park, Blackpool) lately, therefore it is a high possibility that it is a Goldcrest as we only 2 minutes from said park.

Below is a wonderful image of a Goldcrest, taken in Stanley Park by excellent photographer Cliff Raby.  Thanks to Cliff for allowing me to use his images as a reference when I am unable to get one.  You can see more of Cliff's images on his site http://www.fyldecoastwildlife.co.uk/

Goldcrest - Stanley Park, Blackpool