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Bullfinch Surprise

by Will Edwards

On a cold but pleasant Sunday morning in March, I walked slowly from the car park area to the 'Chester Road' end of the valley and back again. As well as seeing 15 to 18 fairly common bird species, which any observer can see on most visits, I thought two or three might be worth a mention.

First of all, although not very unusual at this time of year, it was nice to see a mixed flock of 30 to 40 fieldfares and redwings still with us; they were in the big willows on the left to start with, then they moved noisily off to the tops of the tall trees opposite the pond.

Then, just after turning left just after the bridge end right on to the path up to Chester Road, I was delighted to watch a pair (yes, a male and female) of siskins near the top of the alders on the right. They were apparently feeding on the alder seed clusters.

Finally, after having turned round and nearly completed my return ramble, I watched not only another pair of siskins, but also a female bullfinch near the top of one of the arches on the left of the up-sloping path to the car park. For two or three minutes I watched the bullfinch as it 'scythed' its bill lengthways along the branch it was perched on. Since their normal diet is mainly the buds of fruit trees, I'm sure this one was cutting off small larch buds and eating them. I've never seen that before but it made a nice end to an interesting walk and proved to me, once again, that actually watching birds can be at least as rewarding as collecting 'ticks'.

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