Just been sat in the garden before going to work and a bird landed on a tree, it was the size of a sparrow, but it's head markings were distinct patches of red, black , yellow and white. Never seen anything like it, any ideas?

Goldfinch?

Beat me to it, was going to say the same, we've had a couple in our back recently, fairly common.

Used to be a keen twitcher.

Goldfinches dont generally have yellow on their heads like.

I've never seen one before, to be honest. I just hoped it wasn't a Bulgarian Cistern Warbler and droves of twitchers turn up.
Which begs the question, when a rare bird turns up on the Headland, the twitchers turn up in numbers from all over the country..... do they nail or glue the birds to the branch, because if I see a bird, it's there about 10 seconds and buggers off.

My dog is an avid twitcher. Unfortunately he is also extremely sharp, and has caught quite a few.

And I can only assume they must taste bloody good.

Why they keep landing on our lawn when the little bastard is sat there waiting god only knows.

A redpoll, maybe?

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildl ... erredpoll/

No idea. He ate the last one whole.

Goldfinch i think but you can go to the rspb site and they have a bird identifier section there.
Non of the birds on it look like the two fat slags!

I looked in my Collins bird bible and there are any number of species meeting that description.
The problem is they are all in Bosnia or Tunisia or Balochistan or somewhere. Or they are firecrests which are about the size of a spuggie's head.

i saw a "new" sighting in my garden, it was "sucking" in a flower. Anyway it was plain brown, but had a greeny/yellow tinge underneath the eyes. Any idea's?

Anyway, it fucked off!

I have the impression a few of you have taken this thread seriously.

It wasn't the Oozlum bird was it

what about the tattooed variety??,full sleeves ,all over their backs and shoulders as well.It doesn't look nice imo.

What about the common whale tailed dole bird?

Look. I was sat in the garden, waiting to go to work and it landed next to me , the flash twat. I thought it was a camp spuggy and ignored the feathered poser.
I only asked.
I'd never wind anyone up........

The Goldfinch has become very common in recent years and it's song can be regularly heard in town centres even with just a couple of trees.

Regarding the "brown" bird, this covers many, many species (and juveniles) including the warbler family (of which the Chiffchaff is one) and several are so similar that they can best be identified by their song. They tend to be referred to as LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs).

I believe that the original 'twitchers' sent a postcard with details of a sighting but by the time it arrived and the recipient had decided to pay a visit, the bird, as Snowy said, had no doubt buggered off. This progressed to word of mouth before a 'phone network was set up to cover various areas of the country and a person could ring in to see what was about (bloody expensive). This was eventually overtaken by a pager network and the subject became big business with much improved ID guides, bins, scopes etc., needless to say, requiring much improved levels of finance. I eventually bought one and on one occasion at work, I received a message which made my mates giggle informing me that a pair of Penduline Tits had been seen at, believe it or not, Hooker's Pit at Dungeness. I'd never heard of the place but after a quick gander at the trusty OS map that evening, I was on my way the following morning and a very nice pair they were too.

This explains why a lot of twitchers regularly turn up on the Headland, particularly to the garden of the doctor's surgery, as it attracts an annual number of rarities although I have never been there myself..

Stories of twitchers travelling from the Scillies up to the Scottish islands and 'dipping' on a bird are legendary.