Blimey that's a long way down!

It's only taken me three months to finally blip a Goldfinch! They've been constant visitors to our garden every day this year since Spring.

We've fed them, given them water, not out of a selfish desire to see them but because we care for our feathered folk who add colour and song to our lives.

We've watched them as their pale young would wait to be fed by Goldmum and Golddad, queuing up politely, mouths open.

I've made emergency trips to garden centres and specialist pet food barns (embarrasing myself by dropping a brown paper bag of peanuts all over the floor on one occasion) to find them their niger seeds.

But you'd have thought they would have afforded us just one blip.

I've hidden in holly bushes and still have the scars to show it, under trees on a small green mat on the wet earth while being attacked by wasps and ants.

Today however I figured it out. They're quite obviously camera shy! When you watch them feeding they take a seed then spend the next few seconds looking round for the paparrazzi. Often in pairs you'll see a co-ordinated effort of one finch snacking while the other watches, then vice-versa.

So today I took a different approach. Gorgeous fresh day so I took myself to a spot under a tree, little green mat ready (little green mat is on my 'emergency blip list'. You'll see it one day. Excited? I would be!) and my secret weapon... my Kindle.

No Goldfinches - I'm not interested in you. I'm here to read. Do what you want! Hop on the top of the Kindle if you like! Bothered? Nope not me.

And what do you know it worked! After 3 months I blipped a Goldfinch. As soon as this one was in a little routine (so nonchalant that a fellow lookout Goldfinch wasn't even required), Kindle in one hand, camera in the other, before the Goldfinch twigged, I got one!

Tomorrow Woodpecker - I'm gunning for you! You think those peanuts just get delivered by a magic peanut pixie?