Lesser Redpoll

It's been a rollercoaster of a week, one way and another, and I have to admit that I hope next week is altogether more ordinary!

We had our first proper taste of winter today, with a marked frost this morning. I went for a walk round Holme Fen, and remembered how very much I love cold, crispy mornings that make your nose and fingers tingle. The sun shone continuously, and I was lucky enough to find one corner of the site filled with the chattering of a huge mixed flock of foraging finches and tits - including large numbers of lesser redpoll, siskin and goldcrest, as well as the more usual goldfinch, blue tit, great tit and long-tailed tit. This redpoll allowed me to approach quite close, probably because it was so engrossed in gathering seed from this mugwort plant!