Flash of Gold - 3 September 2012

I went up to Pennington Flash this morning for a stroll around the smaller pools, hoping for a Kingfisher but without success. I eventually settled at the spit, where a group of 8 Snipe were feeding in what was no more than a puddle. Also present were lots of lapwing, plus a few Redshank and Coot. The right hand bushes produced a Whitethroat and a small flock of Goldfinch.

I suddenly became aware of a large amount of white, fluffy thistledown floating around and soon spotted the culprit. A Goldfinch was perched on a nearby thistle in front of the hide and was stripping away the thistledown to get at the seeds.

Not an unusual sight I know, but at such close quarters it was pure gold.

Goldfinch expertly stripping away the thistledown...

And then crunching on a favourite seed