I hope you enjoyed reading ‘Urban Birder’ David Lindo’s latest piece for Birds magazine on his encounters with bullfinches. If you haven’t read it yet, do turn to page 77 of the Spring 2012 issue.
We asked you to let us know about your own experiences with these chunky finches in the magazine, so I thought I’d share one of my experiences with bullfinches to help get things rolling.
It’s always nerve racking meeting your partner’s parents for the first time, but even more so when you make that first trip to go and stay at their house. Amidst desperately trying to avoid all those social faux pas and remembering my manners on that first weekend in Yorkshire, my eyes were drawn to the bird feeders hanging outside.
Remembering that it is probably quite rude to stare out of the window when I should be making that all important first impression, all hope went out the window (literally) when a rose-breasted vision of beauty dressed in a silver jacket dropped down onto one of the seed feeders: a bullfinch!
From that first encounter forth, it has always been a pleasure to go and visit my girlfriend’s parents, Sue and Graham, because up to two pairs of bullfinches are a near constant presence in both front and back gardens. I should also state that it is also a pleasure to visit Sue and Graham because they are sparkling company and excellent hosts. The finches are merely a bonus! Waking up to the finches’ soft ‘peeuh’ calls outside the window is a very pleasant experience indeed. They are often the first birds I see each day.
As David says in his feature, bullfinches are sadly so much rarer now, making sightings like these even more precious.
Does your home for nature, include a place for bullfinches?
What do your bullfinches do?I’m not lucky enough to have bullfinches coming to my feeders in my garden, but it would be great to hear from anyone who does. Please let us know by posting a comment below (you’ll need to register on the RSPB Community first), or emailing Nature's Home magazine at natureshome@rspb.org.uk and I'll add your stories to the blog.
I have been fortunate this winter with 3 pairs of Bullfinches constantly in my garden. They fly from a nearby tree to the feeder all day long. This started after I changed my feeders and seed.
I changed to a tube style of feeders and to the RSPB bird food - Feeder mix, which is brilliant as there is no waste, (I use 8 to 10 times as much cheaper food which the local chickens and pigeons eat most of). At the same time I starter to attract Goldfinches and Greefinches on a regular basis in addition to the ever-present blue tits, great tits, coal tits plus the odd visit from about 12 long-tailed tits. Interestingly I have also put up a niger sed container which has attracted nothing other than 1 Goldfinch who tried a few times but the left it. My neighbour had many goldcrests constantly eating the niger seeds but after she died there has been a gap of about a year before I started putting niger out so, hopefully, after time they will return?