White crowned sparrows

Do you have a photo Peter...also where in the world are you?

Hi Peter and welcome to the forum, may I ask where you are and do you have any pictures as the bird you are describing is native to North America?

You're Scottish accent really isn't so bad probably not as bad as my Devon accent I saw the birds in my garden in Plymouth Devon

Lol.I often let some slang words slip into my typing hence why I always have that as my signature.....can I ask how you identified them as white crowned sparrows....and you never said if you got photos of them

See we posted same questions at same time Linda ... any wild guesses in the absence of pics?

 A family/group of four?  Maybe Coal tits?

I doubt a "family" of anything at this time of year Wendy....hard to think of anything really that would match up to WCS.....Long Tailed Tits....Redpoll perhaps but without a pic its impossible lol

I thought LTT too but they don't go on the ground do they?

Only seen them on the ground to pick up nesting material ....have seen them in the pond before aswell but that's all

At first I thought they were black caps because they visit in the winter then I noticed the single white stripe through the centre of the head and the long tail made me think of wagtail but they had an orange ish beak. I googled that description and it came up with white crowned sparrow and yes it was them. I'll try and get some pictures. Just wondered if they were a common occurrence in the UK?