February 22nd, 2016 Tricky Siskins

A mixed flock of Siskins and Goldfinch have been feeding in the alders along the the River Leen at Lenton.  

I go out at lunch time, with the skies clearing after a cloudy morning.  The birds have been frustrating my attempts at a photo, often feeding silently on the alder cones or preening in the blackthorn, when they become invisible.

I have a go at the main flock, which are viewable from the car park at work, but the light is all wrong.  I decide to check out the bushes along the Leen footpath and suddenly sitting on the end of a branch is a female Siskin, not four feet away, completely in the open.  I move my camera to focus as quietly as possible but to my dismay the bird moves.  Fortunately it only goes about a foot back in the bush, but is now partly obscured by a twig, partly spoiling what would have been a cracker of a shot!  

Siskin