The kingfisher is undoubtedly this country's most colourful bird. But second place has to go to the male bullfinch.
With its smart black cap and tail, bright pinky-red breast, blue grey back, and eye-catching white rump, so conspicuous in flight, the bullfinch is a bird just asking to be painted.
The problem is that it is such a shy bird. It tends not to stray far from cover unless travelling directly between feeding areas and is rarely obliging to anyone trying to watch and photograph it.
Some people are able to get bullfinches to feed at their bird table. But my local bellowing of bullfinches prefer natural food. No matter what I put out for them to eat, they have no desire to join the other birds at my feeding station
Bullfinches have a tendency to devour buds and berries and are therefore unpopular with many gardeners and fruit growers.
But in my garden I prefer to see the birds than the blossom. It has meant I have had to work hard to get them to visit regularly.
Throughout the garden and adjacent one acre plot I have planted more than 500 metres of native mixed hedging and 1,500 shrubs and trees, most of them chosen for their blossom, berries and seeds.
I now have a garden that is just right for year round bullfinch watching. But the fact that they are here doesn't necessarily make them so easy to spot.
The first thing you have to do is listen out for their call. In spring and summer the song of a bullfinch is insignificant and faint.
It can only really be heard at close quarters and I have only accurately identified it twice in my lifetime. It's a creaky warble unlike that of any other bird. And it is the unusual nature of the sound that gave it away on both occasions.
However, the presence of bullfinches is revealed by their more distinctive contact call.
It's a soft, piping ‘dew' which is repeated at regular intervals as the bird moves along a hedgerow feeding.
It was this call that gave away the arrival of about half a dozen bullfinches in my garden this November.
That and the way they set about clearing all the juicy honeysuckle berries a few metres from my studio window.
This was a real treat for me as I could paint and photograph the bullfinches at the same time.
This year has been a good year for berries and I have been able to follow the group as they moves from bush to bush, stripping each one before moving on to the next as it, in turn, ripens.
By the time all the honeysuckle berries had been devoured, the guelder rose berries were ripe and the next meal of choice.
By the end of November the original half dozen bullfinches were joined by another group of six and all started to feast on the newly ready-to-eat pyracantha berries.
I've got more than 30 bushes of pyracantha laden with berries and I expect that these will feed these precious birds into the New Year.
As winter progresses, their food becomes increasingly scarce and by mid January most berries have either been eaten or are frost damaged.
I take advantage of the short food supply at this time of year to get some good photographs for my paintings.
About five years ago I noticed some bullfinches feeding on dock leaf seed heads. Intrigued I took a closer look at this perennial weed.
I discovered that the seed heads were filled with shiny black seeds, slightly larger than an oil seed rape seed and equally full of precious oils.
So I gathered up several bundles of docks from all around our area and stood them in a long plank of wood with holes drilled in.
I positioned this plank outside my kitchen window. I now do this every year; it works better than planting these undesirable weeds in the garden and I can position them so that I get a good view of the birds as they feed.
The bullfinches also love my garden pond which has running water and so never freezes. They come for regular baths and refreshing drinks of water.
These birds really do shine out on a winter's day and seeing them always puts a smile on my face.
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Wildlife Diary -
