A Golden Find

I was thrilled to find these little beauties in an old Scots pine tree, close to an upstairs window. I don’t often see these at such close proximity & these little chaps were constant visitors over the space of about five days. Not always in the closest tree, but there none-the-less.

Goldcrests are such beautiful birds, with their greyish-green backs and black & yellow stripy heads., which are more orange in the males. I definitely saw at least two different individuals at separate times, one being female the other a male. They were flitting between the branches & appeared to be picking insects from between the pine needles.

So, I sat and watched & waited at around the same time each day. I ignored all my usual duties & obligations just hoping for another glimpse. It took a while for me to get my ‘eye in’ to familiarise myself with their shape, movement & colouring. I couldn’t manage any sketches at first, they were just too fast, and so I just lent against the windowsill & enjoyed the experience.

Not wanting to be defeated I tried & tried & tried some more. The sketches were made up of lots of repeated glances & a lot of memorised poses. They aren’t great, but there is some improvement in the later attempts. I desperately wanted to capture the ‘jizz’ of the bird, so that I could use them for a painting or print in the future. I wish I wasn’t such a slow & scruffy sketcher.