Redpoll

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 We had an unusual visitor to our bird feeders this week. A redpoll.


The bird books don't all agree on the categorisation of Redpolls! It seems that there are two types of redpoll that I am likely to see in the UK. The lesser redpoll (which is more common and breeds in the UK) and the common redpoll (which is less common and is usually a winter visitor seen only to the East of the country).  These birds both have alternative names but I won't confuse the issue further! 
There appear to be only minor differences between the two types of bird with the common redpoll being more grey than brown. Even though we are not to the East of the country I reckon that I have a common redpoll but I am not at all sure and am happy to be corrected!
Redpolls are a type of finch and eat small seeds and insects.

Diary
I am hearing curlew most mornings together with drumming of the great spotted woodpeckers. The stoat continues to visit.

.... and I took this photo of our snowdrops which are now past their best.

I noticed my honey bees were out and about with their pollen baskets (on their hind legs) full of dark orangey coloured pollen from the snowdrops. It wasn't until I started keeping bees that I realised that you can tell what the bees are feeding on by the colour of the pollen.








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