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.
Sophie sen this email into the Birds mailbox:
My garden is in a very small village 3 miles south of Newmarket, near to stud paddocks with hedges and tree belts. I rarely see bullfinches in the garden, but on the 4th January this year, one male bullfinch visited the garden , leaving very quickly when a sparrowhawk came through! On the 5th January, which was vey windy, one male bullfinch, with 4 other bullfinches which did not have pink breast feathers (females or juveniles?), came to the garden and stayed for quite a long time in the bushes near the pond, coming down to bathe in the water. They have not returned since then. That day, when it was blowing a gale, the garden was particularly full of birds, including a tree creeper and a large flock of long-tailed tits, all keeping low down amongst the bushes and shrubs in the garden. I think the bullfinches were probably attracted by the shelter that the bushes, trees and high hedges provided.