A close view of a hungry redpoll

 I usually only see redpolls in silhouette, as twittering flocks feeding on seeds high in the canopy of birches and alders, so it was a surprise and a delight to find this one only a few yards away. It was feeding on seeds of rosebay willowherb, on the unmanaged grassy verge of the Deerness Valley Walk, a local disused railway line that is now a popular footpath.

I wrote about it in the Guardian Country Diary this week. 

Occasionally, when we get freezing weather with heavy snow lingering on the ground in late winter, we have had redpolls visiting the garden bird feeders, but we haven't witnessed such a visit since 2013.