Bullfinches

For those who are not aware, the weather over the last week or so has turned rather cold but usually with blue skies and this has sometimes forced a change of mind about setting out on a bike. So today I took off in the car to the Braconne Forest and had a pleasant wander around on foot.
I've mentioned in previous posts that I am always stunned by the tropical brilliance of the male bullfinch so it warmed me up today to get good views of one together with his more subdued looking partner. A pair of hawfinches were in the same location and a marsh tit was not too far away. in fact the forest was yielding far more birds than usual; admittedly most of them were great and blue tits but nuthatches were plentiful and I came across one short toed treecreeper and three cranes still moving south overhead.
That little group brought this year's tally to a non too remarkable 40 or so species. Earlier in the week I watched a flock of about 350 golden plover settling on the plains near Lairiere but  even more interesting was a flock of 9 lesser black gulls which were following a plough. The freshly turned earth also attracted 9 herons and almost as many buzzards.