It looks good for a male African Chaffinch, but unfortunately I didn't hear it call.
A pic of a possible male African Chaffinch was seen in a Newport garden for the last three days. Martin Owen passed on the address to me and from 10.00-16.30 I spent all my time on the streets of a Newport cul-de-sac hoping to see it. The garden was enclosed by a wall and the only way I was going to see this bird, was if it perched in the top of the trees. It was over an hour when 3 Chaffinch came in and landed silhouetted in the trees back on. I quickly located the bird in question only to see it fly off. Shite! Not to worry it will be back in the next hour. The next three hours I stood in the same spot waiting for the damn thing! In that time I lost count of how many people who asked me what I was doin hanging around the area. I needed to sit down and returned to the car. To pass time I read the whole of The Guardian newspaper. Well half of it. Two pages. A page. Anyways, after reading a paragraph for 30 minutes, I jumped out of the car to see the finch fly in. This time the bird was in slightly better light and I quickly snapped off some shots. It disappeared behind the wall into the garden. While it was feeding on the deck, out of sight, I played a recording of an African Chaffinch, but there was no response. I suppose that comes as no surprise as I had the volume right down! Anyways, when I eventually turned up the volume, out from the phone, came the sound of a chicken! I suppose it don't help when you mix your European bird calls with sounds at the farm. Suddenlythe finch flew out WNW over the houses. I followed it and found it in a hedge very briefly in a nearby play park before it flew off high west.
The light played a big part in changing it's appearance. I ain't the best person to ask about African Chaffinch, but looking at the net the bird looks 'andsome and hopefully someone else will hear it call and confirm the identification. Any comments welcome
I had this presumed 2nd winter GlaucousxHerring Gull (Viking Gull) at Telford Crematorium on the 1st March
The great Steve Earle singing 'Rich Man's War' from his LP, The Revolution Starts Now' A song I sing a lot in the Bish. well I try to anyway.
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