Thursday 11 April 2013

Beautiful Birds: Goldcrest at Minsmere



I had never had a definite sighting of a Goldcrest before our move to Suffolk, so it was a thrill to watch two of these fine birds last Saturday at Minsmere. They are very small and skittish, and hard to catch on camera! They love to be in among the twigs; and while Saturday was a beautiful day, the sun brought its accompanying shadows, which added an extra level of difficulty to our photography challenge!


You can just about make out the distinguishing gold crest in the photo above. Apparently the Goldcrest is the smallest European bird.

© David Gill, used with permission!

This photo (above) was taken by David: can you spot the bird?


This is an enlargement of it.



It was lovely to see the pussy-willow buds developing apace ...

... and we thought these coloured nestboxes were really fun, though the only nestbox we saw that seemed to be attracting a bird was a plain brown one. A Blue tit was hovering about and perching on it. 


This lovely Wren was hopping about in the undergrowth. This must be one of the smallest European birds, too!

Several Marsh Harriers were hunting over this bit of marshland.

What a change to have blue skies!






We came home 'via' Southwold, where we ate our chips, watching the starling roost, with its amazing murmuration of corporate flying formations. It was a dazzling performance, set off against a fabulous sunset. Perhaps Spring is here at last. You can watch a similar spectacle here on this video about starlings returning to Israel. And if you would like to read about this murmuration and roost phenomenon, I highly recommend Crow Country by Mark Cocker.

6 comments:

Mary said...

That goldcrest is a very pretty little bird. You got some wonderful shots even with all the twigs. Love the marsh shots...what a wonderful place to go birding. That's a pretty fancy nestbox....some brave bird will claim it :-)

Em Parkinson said...

Aren't they beautiful? Such a thrill to see one. Have you ever seen a Firecrest? I've only seen one once and I was without a camera ten years ago. Even more exciting!

eileeninmd said...

Your Goldcrest is a pretty bird. Great sighting and photos. Looks like a great outing!

Anonymous said...

You did well to get that goldcrest pic Caroline- we get them in the hedges in the lane opposite the house but I've never managed to photograph them. Lovely to see the pics. And the wren too (one of my favourite birds).

Unknown said...

Such a cute little bird! The countryside is indeed beautiful!

Thank you so much for stopping by Nature Rambles today.:)

Crafty Green Poet said...

lovely photos! I've been really lucky over the past couple of years in seeing a lot of goldcrests and getting really close to them! Lovely little birds