Is that a Topaz programme Mark?

Details please.

Not Topaz. This image done on Neat image. Its a demo but the program does enough to get rid of noise, some options are not open in the program unless you purchase it. I`ll PM link later if you cannot find the demo version online.....Also another program, noise ware community edition, both are good programs

still prefer the original for detail ,marks has made it oil painty but still very good

I like both versions and in all honesty the bluetit looks a bit super imposed in the second but it is an interesting programme and passing it on to the mothership earns me Brownie points.

hahahahaha

I just downloaded it for a look Mark. It does make it look better for what we post on here, or if you was going to print 6x4, but I wouldn't use it for going large. Zoom right in and you'll see what I mean. I don't know the technical terms so I'll use Cakey's oil painty
But at these sizes it does look good.

BG maybe a little oily looking Cakey. Blue Tit sharper than in 1st but cos of the oily BG look it may look a teeny bit super imposed. Of course other processing needed and finished result should look a lot better, detailed and not super imposed looking, even before doing any other processing, tweaking the settings in either of these two programs should improve things.
We all hate noise in images, seen most members mention about it countless times, these programs give you the option of eliminating it

Think you would have to process image from RAW file Dave, where your file size is around 19mb, the image on here uploaded is only 244kb, so the amount of lossy data compression loss is massive compared to the original image, zooming in on the image with the lesser file size brings up very unsightly pixels or what may look like paint splodges. You should not have this issue on the original sized image

Robins - they can be vicious little blighters when they want to be.

In terms of noise reduction - I've tried a few different ones with bird shots and find that it can sometimes make feathers look a bit odd. SHalf the time I'll just leave the bird out of the process and apply it to the rest of the shot.

Had not thought of doing it that way Phil