In article , kay.a3ede17
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

No Name;960371 Wrote:
Martin lid wrote:--
Maybe it was just a sparrow. :-)-

or a dimmock/dunnock
'British Garden Birds - Dunnock' (http://tinyurl.com/7tx85)-

Ah, could well be. Well called. Or, browsing the site, perhaps
a siskin? They have the shape and the yellower tone and the
stumpier beak, but don't seem to have the markings.

Good site, though.

Look also for female reed bunting. They look like sparrows but a bit
wrong. I don't see them often enough to know their range of behaviour.

I may be wrong, but I thought siskins were around more in the winter

They were around in winter, here, but they haven't gone away and have
chicks.

Janet