I’ve noticed a little stranger in the garden of late. A little bird, smaller than a sparrow, not exactly pretty in as much as it’s all browns and creams but nonetheless quite striking and certainly not a species I’ve seen before.

I’ve searched and searched my bird book looking for a pic of my bird but can’t clearly identify it at all. I think it’s some kind of bunting but can’t make up my mind which one, if indeed it’s correctly identified as a bunting at all.

It’s a bummer really because when I did the RSPB’s “Great Garden Birdwatch” a couple of weeks ago, all of my birds were described as “common” and I’m miffed because we get loads of rare ones yet on the hour I spent watching and counting, none of my rarities showed up at all. Grrrrrr.

So, I decided to get my biggest lens (a 200mm prime with a 2xconverter) and sit by the window to try to get a shot of the bird. It was to no avail because I couldn’t get a single clear shot of it at all. I tried and tried for an hour or more.

In the meantime, I idly snapped at starlings, sparrows, robins and this little coal tit but couldn’t get a shot of my mystery bird at all. Bah.

I had the camera hand held at too low a shutter speed and a very high iso so this isn’t by any means a great shot but I do like it anyway because it’s a shot of one of my little treasures.

OK OK so now I’m out, I may as well go the whole hog and tell you I’m a terrible twitcher. I love my garden birds, spend a huge amount on food for them and love nothing more than to sit and watch them…….yep – I am a sad old git alright but I defend myself by saying that these little things need people like me on their side.

Last year, the only person to correctly identify my shot was a tee-totaller - but she is VERY observant.