This morning cycling through Swinley forest (lots of pine, but was passing through a swampy stand of birch with some chestnut) I startled a bird which seemed oddly coloured to me. Yellow-greenish on the sides, like the general impression of a greenfinch but the size of a jay.

It flew straight and flapped its wings continuously and really fast like grouse do. Any ideas? The colour puzzled me a bit.

Baby Robin off to a party.

Jazz Finch

Could it have been one of these?

Uk’s only naturalised parrot

woodpecker?

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdidentifier/

May help.

It flew straight and flapped its wings continuously and really fast like grouse do. Any ideas?

Definitely a bird. The flapping wings continuously is a dead giveaway.

Definitely a bird. The flapping wings continuously is a dead giveaway.

….or a bat….or a huge insect…..or a tiny pterodactyl….or a greenfinch but the size of a jay….or a green jay.

Drac might have it.. woodpecker.. seems obvious..

Could be a Green Woodpecker but they tend to flap a bit then glide & dip then flap a bit etc.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8kCF_9Uns[/video]

Very few green birds that size in the UK though so can only have been a woodpecker. Perhaps I just didn’t see it dip and glide before it went out of view.

The UK’s only naturalised parrot – it is large, long-tailed and green with a red beak and a pink and black ring around its face and neck. In flight it has pointed wings, a long tail and very steady, direct flight. Often found in flocks, numbering hundreds at a roost site, it can be very noisy.

Where to see them
Found mainly in south-east England, particularly Surrey, Kent and Sussex.

It were a parakeet I tells thee!

Yellow-greenish on the sides, like the general impression of a greenfinch but the size of a jay.

Goldfinch?

I was riding a yellow Bird around Swinley on Saturday, no hint of green though and I am not jay and nor do I flap continuously. Must have been some other bird 🙂

Goldfinch is slightly smaller than a Greenfinch. A Jay is much much ****, comparable to a magpie

😯

Gangsta Jays?

green woodpecker?

This years on-trend fluoro Magpie. We really need Jamie to illustrate this!

Very few green birds that size in the UK

I thought it was gold, but then again it could’ve been blue?

I know a Bird that flaps a lot, wears green too sometimes..

Shes in Harrogate ATM so probs not her.

Can’t you be more specific ?

Green woodpeckers normally make lots of noise as they fly off to alert their feathered brethren there is danger.
Or maybe it’s just me

Green woodpeckers normally make lots of noise as they fly off to alert their feathered brethren there is danger.
Or maybe it’s just me

They’re probably afraid you’ll take a piggy back on them.

I’ve seen woodpeckers lots of times, I just didn’t think of them when trying to remember green birds.

Definitely not a parakeet – they are enduro green, much brighter, and have a long tail. And live in large groups too.

Definitely not a parakeet – they are enduro green,

You’re thinking of the closely related species ….. the Gnarakeet 😀

Swinley – must be one of those rare groundnesting birds they close half the trails for over summer!

Gangsta Jays

🙂

Much more likely to be a Green Woodpecker than a Parakeet if it was in woodland, I should have thought.