Well, that old adage “you learn something new every day” is certainly true of me today.

I popped over to my friends to photograph more little goldcrests just because I adore these funny little birds and soon they will all fly away.

It took a while for me to get my birding eye in and I do, in fact, have many photos of empty branches….

…. blurry small unhelpful birds…..

…. and ones flying away.  No one ever stands still, they’re always on the go and very difficult to photograph.

But always comical.

Fact #1 I-didn’t-know – they have gold tinted feathers too.  I thought it was just the crest on the top of their head that was gold.

They have talons/curved claws that look very sharp and efficient for holding onto things.

Little round fluffy bottoms – oof!

 

And they like to think they are in disguise.  Yer, right. No one can see you.

During my search, I also saw this chap, who totally caught my attention.  I had absolutely no idea what it was, though.

According to my extremely useful bird book, it is a British Coal Tit (Periparus ater britannicus).

And, Fact #2 I-didn’t-know – according to my book, it is a vagrant in Shetland, which I thought sounded very disparaging.

Apparently “a vagrant” is not “a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging.” but, in the bird world, it is “a species that is currently outside their wintering and breeding area.” Poor little blighter – I guess it was blown in by the storm.

And, if I have given out wrong information, please let me know.  I am new to this birding lark (see what I did there, geddit?)