Isn’t it beautiful? Carduelis carduelis – the European Goldfinch.

We have dozens of them in the garden. The collective noun is a charm.

They’re enchantingly pretty little things with their pale coffee-coloured jackets, white bibs, bright yellow wing flashes and brilliant scarlet faces. They look too exotic to be found in an English garden … but they are, and I can see them from my window: clinging acrobatically to the feeders, hopping daintily on the bird-table … trying to rip each other’s wings off …

‘Aggressive’ doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it. I’m firmly convinced their cute little faces are red so that the blood doesn’t show.

(Photo credit – Gudgeon on Flickr.)