The one that got away

22nd October 15              morning                mid section

cloudy start, sunny later,  11-12°c,   1013mb,  WNW 14 mph

 Walking through the Paddocks a calling nuthatch caused me to look up to find a bird just dropping onto the top of a fir tree on the other side of the canal where it joined another bird ( ahh two nuthatch thought I, but no, the light was poor so only grey  silhouettes were visible but they were surely not nuthatch. The stubby bill put pay to that, so what were they? They looked quite big and acrobatic feeding on the small cones. I then found another lower down the tree where viewing conditions were a little better and this one was mostly green and eventually shown two light wing bars. After a few minutes all three flew a short distance to another tree and disappeared. I didn't relocate them again. So what were they??  Probably finches, but not green, not chaffinch, not common crossbill and too small for siskin.

Little Grebe	1 w/p Squash Club + 2 ( 1 s/p + 1 dark w/p )  Wolves Firs,
Sparrowhawk	1♀/imm	The Paddock
Buzzard	1 over	Barleyfield
Moorhen	2 imm	S&W Canal
Robin	2 singing	mid section
Nuthatch	calls	The Paddock
Chaffinch	1	Meccano Grds
Goldfinch	c20	Meccano Grds
Bullfinch	pair	Meccano Grds
finch sp	3 Wolves Firs, looks big & bulky,mostly green,stubby bill,with 2 light wing bars (ie Chaffinch) feeding on small cones at top of fir tree,