Sometimes it pays to do the dishes!

View of the sparrow hedge from the kitchen sink.

This Tree Sparrow was a new bird for Uncle Doug's garden in Tycroes today, spotted along with 15 House Sparrows, 5 Bullfinches and a few Reed Buntings. A nice reward for doing the dishes!

Tree Sparrow top bird, note the chestnut cap and black cheekspot on a clean white background. Note that unlike the House Sparrow male and female Tree Sparrows look similar.

With no camera at hand other than on my phone, this was my first ever attempt at 'phone-binning', i.e. holding the phone's camera to the eyepiece of a pair of binoculars. It's not as easy as it sounds believe me!

This bird is about 10km south of the Tywi Valley, the nearest known breeding area for Tree Sparrows, so it's possible others have wandered further south. Check your bird table tomorrow and you may have an unexpected Christmas present :)