Discovering a little gem

On returning home from Barneys walk earlier in the week, Mrs.K excitedly dragged me outside for a little surprise. No, not that sort of surprise.

She had heard a loud thud against our lounge window and on inspection outside, discovered a tiny little bird which had obviously just tried to fly through it. Probably being chased by our resident kestrel that patrols this area.

To my utter joy, it was a fledgling Goldcrest. This is a rare sight indeed around these parts. I have seen the occasional one in the trees that were behind us, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get up close and personal with a little treasure.

Many people wrongly believe that our 'Jenny Wren' is Britain's smallest bird. The Goldcrest, closely followed by its much rarer cousin the Firecrest, has this honour.

The little blighter was obviously stunned, so we procured the standard shoe box with a small piece of cloth and place it in there to give it time to recover. The dark always calms birds down.

"Give it half an hour and we will see how it is" I expertly cried.

Armed with camera thirty minutes later we opened the box to find - nothing. A hole of around half inch diameter was sufficiently big enough to allow him to escape, obviously fully recovered.

It all happens down here in Kent you know.