A bullfinch

I set myself a task of sorting out my accounts ready for my tax return which I have to submit very soon. I set up a system downstairs on the dining room table, but I was easily distracted by the views of the feeding birds  a few yards away in the garden. When I took a break, I went out to the cabin and refilled the feeders including the open tray for a change.  I don;'t often use it as the pigeons and squirrels tend to dominate it and nick most of the food.

I sat in the cabin and poked my long lens through the open window.  Some birds spotted me and flew off, whilst others took no notice.  Within a few minutes there were may tits as well as nuthatches, blackcaps, robins, goldfinches and a blackbird.  A woodpecker flew onto one of the adjacent branches but within seconds flew away again when it saw me.

Early this morning whilst eating my porridge in the dining rom, I saw a bird fly very adroitly onto the main trunk of the rhus tree from which these feeders are suspended. It was obviously a raptor in search of prey,  but I wasn't certain what species it was.  I looked in a bird book and think it might have been a merlin, although that seems unlikely.  It wasn't a kestrel or sparrowhawk which I see here regularly, nor a buzzard or kite.  Later in the morning I spotted it flying about fifty feet above the garden at speed but didn't have time to film it.

I've had to choose a blip from a robin, a goldfinch, a longtailed tit, a female blackcap or this bullfinch. I took quite a few pictures of it feeding with its mouth often full to overflowing, it being a greedy feeder. I hadn't realised I'd caught it in flight until I checked the images on screen. I'm pleased with the image as I hadn't tried to set a fast shutter speed because it was so dark. You can see a large lump of sunflower seed which it has dropped from its mouth.