Sheldapple

A windy walk at Holyfield Farm this afternoon. We saw a small herd of deer in the distance sheltering in the lee of a hedge. Afterwards we went into Longlands Hide which we had to ourselves. Very few birds about but I quite like this shot of a cock chaffinch looking over its shoulder. It was taken from above.  Chaffinches are not keen on visiting the feeders, they prefer to feed from the ground. 

An old name for these birds is sheld appel or sheldapple. Sheld means multicoloured and I think the angle that I took this shot from shows the bird's colours well.