A Focus On Nature

Advent Calendar

6th – Goldfinch

Championed by Findlay Wilde

Carduelis carduelis

The Red Head – not me!

Chattering squabbles alert you to the arrival of
A charm of Goldfinch bunched together for survival
Red headed and bold (a great thing to be)
Determined and sociable (just like me)
Under the sun they all shimmer like gold
Enchanting, exotic; my attention they enfold
Looking at them makes me think about mankind
If only their values with ours were entwined
Silently wishing and hoping.

Cautious and protective one raises the alarm
And hundreds take flight destroying the calm
Red, yellow, gold streaks of fire shoot across the sky
Dipping and rising in flight as they go by
Under their spell I sit, I hope and I wonder
Endlessly thinking through the day and in slumber
Longing to know that garden birds such as these
In the future will be there for others to please
Silently wishing and hoping.

My Christmas message of hope for the future.

© Findlay Wilde 2013

© Findlay Wilde 2013

Laughing with WoodieFindlay Wilde is interested in all wildlife, but especially birds. He has been blogging about his wildlife journey for over a year now and engages with nature in lots of different ways; he is a trainee ringer, participates in the BTO’s Birdtrack and Garden Birdwatch surveys and is starting to do surveys of my own on my local patch.

You can follow his wildlife journey on my blog: wildeaboutbirds.blogspot.co.uk.