Any ideas what type of garden bird this was?

Sooooo - I’ve very little knowledge when it comes to bird watching.

Yesterday, I was in the garden and this little bird flies in to drink from the water sink. It was tiny …the size of a blue tit, it had a yellow stripe down its side wings and a red oblong stripe on top of it’s head. I’ve Googled and it’s not a finch as they appear to have their whole face coloured red - and this was just a stripe…a bit like a punk woodpecker . A flat-top red marking, not a mohican! Anyway it definitely was too small for a woodpecker…but the beak did seem a little different. It wasn’t a woodpecker tho!

It sounds like a Yaffle.

Could it be a Goldcrest?

Or maybe a Firecrest?

it was the same shape as a gold crest and that stripe on it’s head looks the same …but the stripe on the head of the goldcrest looks…gold. This was a very red stripe.

Many thanks …Just Googled Swagger. Wrong shape tho…much smaller and rounder, it was more as marymck suggested a gold crest shape - however, with a very bright red stripe on it’s head.

Was it a deep dark red or orangey red? A male Firecrest can have a very orangey stripe.

It was oblong and post box pillar box red. Crimson red. Totally like an oblong, blood red.

Redpoll?

Could it have been a Goldfinch? I’ve seen a couple in my garden recently and your description sounds like it could be one of them.

It looked very similar to a goldfinch, indeed it did…but it’s whole face wasn’t red, just the top of it’s head. Maybe it was a goldfinch with different colouring from all the others…a freak of nature!

Noooo - It had a distinctive yellow streak down it’s side wings and not so speckly.

Possibly a juvenile goldfinch if they are hatched and out yet? I believe they don’t start with the whole face covered.

I think I saw a juvenile Robin yesterday which didn’t have the red colouring at all.

I think you could be right…!!!

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Fair enough! Have to say it sounds more like a goldfinch and I’ve see a lot of them around the area this year. They also chatter a lot!

Could be a firecrest although this would be a rare occurence

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