Confident Brambling.

We have had a male Brambling in our garden for at least three weeks now, at least that’s when I first saw him. He usually appears around the feeders every day for a few minutes, but the last couple of days he has taken to what can only be described as sun bathing. He basks in the sun by sitting in the grass in front of the house for ten minutes sometimes. We had just arrived back home from our walk and Susan said ‘look! There he is again’ so I thought I’d try him out for a photo. I quickly got my Canon 600 and got down low on the grass and to my surprise he didn’t move at all, I really thought he’d fly away but instead he just looked at me with complete indifference. I have never seen a Brambling be so confident before, usually they are quite spooky. The sunlight was quite harsh but that was what the bird obviously wanted – warmth. I took a few shots with the bare lens and he was almost filling the frame then.



But unbelievably he started to walk towards me to the extent that I could no longer focus because he was below the minimum focussing distance of the lens which is under fifteen feet – ridiculous!! To be out in full view at that distance to a Brambling is a first for me. I had no alternative but to move back and after refocussing I could just see him staring at me quizzically.





What a strange experience. Then he just decided to fly away into a garden hedge - tanning session obviously over. I wish him luck on his northerly journey back home whenever he decides to go.