Whilst weeding in the garden, this chaffinch came along searching for insects:
This bird came to within 10-15ft of me whilst I was on my knees weeding one morning last month. Providing I didn’t look directly at it, it seemed unafraid of me and my movements. However, if I turned to look at it directly it flew off. At the time I didn’t have my camera with me so I just surreptitiously observed the bird whenever I could.
In the afternoon I returned to my chores but with my camera (with a telephoto zoom attached) within arms reach. I had to be careful how I used it to avoid disturbing the bird but managed to get several reasonable shots of it, a few of which I show here.
This view shows the chaffinch with a grub of some kind in its mouth:
The bird did seem to be eating the insects rather than gathering them up to take to the nest – late March is probably a bit early for the young to be hatching. I must admit I didn’t notice much in the way of insect life in the ground while I was weeding but the chaffinch seemed to be finding copious quantities to eat.
I didn’t notice at the time, but when I examined the photos on the computer, one leg seemed to have a growth of some kind on it:
This is an enlargement from a segment of another photo. You can see the problem on its right leg – the left looks OK. I found this page about the problem on the British Trust for Ornithology website: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/warts
The problem appears to be scale mites. We occasionally have a similar problem with our chickens. It appears that the birds often seem to survive the problem although it must be debilitating for them.
You can see the full set in my Garden Gallery. These are not the same standard as those taken by the specialists but, as a record of what I observed in my garden whilst working in it, I find them satisfactory.