A goldfinch drinking at the birdbath

Not much to say about this except I do like goldfinches. We often have many of them in and around our garden, but in the last two years their numbers have plummeted. I've counted more than fifty of them gathering in a charm in the ash tree at the bottom of the garden in the last hour before sundown, before circling around and around and landing back in the ash tree.

A sighting of a couple of goldfinches today has pleased me, and I was glad to watch them taking time to sit and drink at the birdbath on the patio. I do worry that several cats are often nearby but I think the birds normally have enough space to avoid a sudden attack.

Recently I saw a male bullfinch sitting in a similar position on the bird bath, but it did not move for minutes on end. I worried about its health as it seemed so very still. I slid the back door open to go closer and as I stepped out it must have heard me, and flew off into the nearby shrubs. At that exact moment a sparrow hawk flashed past the bird bath and missed the bullfinch by a hair's breadth. 

If I hadn't gone out to check on it I'm sure the sparrowhawk would have had a meal. I'm rather pleased that it didn't this time as the bullfinches are rather precious to us. It was quite a moment however to see the sparrowhawk's attack flying inches above the nearby fence and hedge. It flew on a few yards and sat on top of the closed up clothes umbrella, and probably pondered why it had missed the bullfinch.