I along with many fellow bloggers enjoy watching and feeding the birds that visit our gardens throughout the year. New visitors to our garden@19 this winter have been, a fleeting glimpse of a Gold Crest, a male Bullfinch and on the niger seed feeder, the male and female Siskin.
They are sometimes referred to as the Black-headed Goldfinch, living mainly in woodland in Scotland, Wales and Europe. As with many other birds they migrate south during the winter searching for food.
I managed to capture some pictures of them on the feeders.



I posted about the birds that visit the garden and the different feeds I offer here, last year: Feed the Birds
Have you had any New Visitors this winter?
Just the usual visitors. Are you doing the Great Bird Count this weekend?
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Our great bird count was the last weekend in January Eliza.
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Ah, ours is this weekend. Makes sense with the variations in climate.
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No new visitors for us. We had a couple of pairs of siskin some years ago but none since. We have also had a brief visit from a redpoll in the past and also from a female blackcap but no unusual sightings this year although they could have sneaked in and not been noticed. How wonderful to see a gold crest.
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I know. I would like to photograph one Sue!
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Isn’t that male siskin a beauty? Their ‘stripes’ are really prominent, you have captured them beautifully. The seed in our feeders goes down very fast these cold days. We have gold crests in the big evergreen oak, and sometimes they venture timidly into the garden when the long tailed tits visit. All the usual tits, chaffinches etc. Lovely both in sunshine and in the gloom!
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Thank you Noelle, they do enjoy the sunflower seeds here.
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As you say great minds think alike with both producing a post on birds this week. We bought new feeders after seeing your post about goldfinches feeding in your garden before Christmas. The caged feeders once the birds get use to it have worked well keeping the larger birds away. Our goldfinches seem to have disappeared for the winter. Sarah x
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I am delighted the cages have worked well Sarah. I am sure the GF will be back if you are feeding sunflower hearts.
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How lovely to get siskins, I haven’t seen one for years
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I love the red on the goldfinch–so different from the ones I see. Today the yard was filled with American Robins.
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They are my favourite Susie. I will look up American Robins.
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How special and such nice clear photos of the pair. Well done! I am envious as I’ve only had them visit once, a long time ago.
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Good to read about which birds are visiting, Brian. This year we had almost all our usuals when we did the Garden Birdwatch count, unlike some years when many stayed away!
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Such pretty birds but I have not seen any at our feeding stations. I’ll keep my eyes open now. Amelia
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