I caught this gorgeous male Bullfinch nibbling all the new buds off the shrubs and trees in his little territory in a local park. He must’ve been hungry as he ignored me for about five minutes, as he hopped from branch to branch and I moved back and forth in front of the bushes, trying to get a clear shot of him.

All of a sudden, he froze as if he had only just noticed me, and, rather cutely, looked as if he was trying to hide in plain sight, behind some rather thin twigs.

Unfortunately, this Bullfinch appears to have a problem with its legs and claws, which were covered in scaly growths. There are a couple of possible causes for this (see BTO article here). Some birds seem able to cope with these diseases better than others: I did wonder if this bird’s legs were hurting though, as it seemed to hunker down quite often, and that certainly wasn’t because of the cold.