Garden Birding and Year Tick

I spent a few hours watching the birds in the garden this morning, and was really happy to count 17 species including at least 39 Goldfinches, 2 Long-tailed Tits and 5 Lesser Redpolls. I get Goldfinches coming in everyday to feed on the sunflower hearts, but such a high count is very notable. Lesser Redpolls are annual winter visitors to the garden, but 5 together is again,  a good record. The records will be sent off to the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk with Jayne and Lydia to the National Trust's Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge. We walked for about an hour, and although we didn't see much in the way of birds, we did come across a lovely flock of between 40-50 Bramblings feeding in the beech woodlands by the pond. A very nice Year Tick!

Beech woodlands at Longshaw

Year Tick update:
80 - Brambling