Bird variety, shy birds

The goldfinches continue to gorge themselves on sunflower seeds from the bird feeders.

I have started to be slow to re-fill the feeders, because they are going through sunflower seeds at an incredible rate. I am buying 20kg bags of the stuff on the internet, just to keep pace with them!

I predict a worldwide shortage of black sunflower seeds, or of obese goldfinches!

We do get different types of birds (in addition to the goldfinches and the more common sparrows), visiting the feeders, but they all seem much more nervous than the Goldfinches and so far I have not succeeded in getting photographs of all of them.

We get what appear to be two types of tit. They both look very similar, but one is significantly bigger than the other. They are both very nervous and quick, and are therefore very difficult to get a photograph of.

Today I managed to snap this fellow, a blue tit I believe.

The bigger version which visits has a prominent black strip down the centre of its chest, and I think it is a great tit.

I use the RSPB  website to try and identify the different birds we get.

Today we got a couple of new ones.

I managed to get a slightly blurred photograph of one of them. It is very slightly bigger than the goldfinches, and cannot quite manage to perch on the feeder to get at the sunflower seeds.

I am not sure what it is, a Chaffinch or a male Linnet, is my guess.

The other new visitor I have not succeeded in photographing, it must be camera shy. It is a small bird (ie about the size of a robin) and has yellowish green plumage with some white markings on its wings. A Siskin of a Greenfinch I think.