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.
And a few more email extracts from Birds readers on bullfinches to share. We're really building a great national picture and I'm encouraged to see reports from so many areas. Hopefully the advice that some people are sending in on what to feed is providing some inspiration too!
Yesterday, we had a male bullfinch perched in a small tree in the garden for possibly 3 or 4 minutes. He watched the various tits feeding on a coconut filled with suet and a peanut feeder only a few feet beneath him. We didnt see him feed.We usually have 3 or 4 sightings throughout the year. We live in a country environment some 7 miles north of Bristol, close to the Severn Bridge. Keith & Norma Richards
I visited Wicken Fen to look out for the Hen Harriers and, late afternoon, about half a dozen Bullfinches arrived and stayed in the tree next to the Tower Hide . Mike Hoare
We have a bird feeder in our back garden which has been visited for many years by a variety of birds. A sparrowhawk settled on the feeder yesterday looking for a meal (no luck!!) and we also get woodpeckers but never a bullfinch. Yesterday as we were leaving by the front door there were six bullfinches in our front garden feeding on a wiegilia bush - 3 male and 3 female - what a wonderful sight. I hope we will see them again. I remembered reading the article by David Lindo in your magazine so I thought I would record our sighting, in Blanefield, north of Glasgow. Colin
We have had bullfinches coming for a number of years now. It started as 1 pair put we now have 4 pairs. I can confirm the other reader's observation that they appear to keep watch for each other as they feed. They usually only use the sunflower feeders. It makes a very colourful picture to see male bullfinches and male goldfinches feeding together and they do not seem to mind sharing with other species except greenfinches which tend to monopolise the feeder in a quite aggressive manner. Carol Martin
For 10 years I recorded the species in my garden outside for the Bristol Birdwatch (run by Avon Wildlife Trust). Although this has finished, I continue the recording. Last year I saw a pair in my garden during Jan, May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Dec. Bob
My wife jean and I are lucky.We get bullfinches most days and we thinkk that they nested locally as we saw young birds in 2011. We regularly see both male and female birds at this time of the yearWe live in a fairly rural location in a village equidistant from Leeds, York nd harrogate. Mike and Jean Henzell
We have Bullfinches in our garden at Ampleforth Village, North Yorkshire. To date we have noted two pairs. They come to the feeders occasionally but mainly take buds ... they seem to like forsythia. We deliberately do not keep a 'tidy' garden to facilitate the birds during the winter months and early Spring. Keith Moses.
Having just read David Lindo's interesting article on the plight of Bullfinches in the latest edition of Birds magazine, I felt compelled to let you know that in my garden in Wiltshire I have up to 4 or 5 pairs every winter visiting my bird table. Of all the birds I am lucky enough to attract, the Bullfinch is by a long shot my favourite. The male is an absolute stunning bird and I find them to be quite bold in that they will stay on the feeding table for a considerable length of time before flying off. They tend to disappear in the summer and return around Christmas - slightly later this year I think due to the warm temperatures and they being less reliant on food tables. Andrew MacLachlan, Bowerhill, Wiltshire
I live in Spondon, Derby and had not seen a Bullfinch for 20 years or more. Then, in June 2009, a male and female arrived at my garden feeding station, staying until August and visiting the feeding station several times a day. The year after, they did not come but in June 2011 they returned and again stayed until August. This year, during the recent cold spell from January 15-17, they turned up again Gordon Noble
We saw two bullfinches on the bird feeders at Leighton Moss on December 29th. David & Alec St Pierre
I live in Edinburgh and a pair of bullfinches come to my feeder in cold weather. I also see them regularly around Edinburgh e.g. in parks, old cemeteries, country parks, in pairs or mixed or one-sex groups. Friends have also noticed them frequently. Stella
The last bullfinch sighting had been in a friend's garden in Bude, Cornwall, last May, so it was a huge thrill to spot a very chubby boy bullfinch in my front garden in Holsworthy, north-west Devon, on January 14. So handsome in his rose waistcoat, silver DJ and black cap, he was munching on some dried-up buddleia branches (as was a nonchalant goldcrest a few weeks ago). Saw another/the same bullfinch skulking in the back garden later that day, picking up seed fallings from the birdfeeder. My sister spotted one in a tree out in the wilds near farmland last week; and this morning, another male bullfinch had discovered the very last of the very last Christmas pudding dregs in my mother's back garden. Gorgeous, precious birds. Magic moments! Hilary Vivian, Holsworthy
After no sitings in recent years , we were really excited that an adult male now seen a few times feeding locally in our garden here in countryside at Lympstone , Devon. Ki Moudry
In the colder weather we get a pair of Bullfinch visit the feeding station. Sunflower hearts eagerly consumed. In breeding season a pair have brought two young to the feeders, but thats the only time more than two have been seen at any one time. Walking the dog I have seen Bullfinch along the Frome River Walkway, Bradley Stoke Three Brooks walk and Savages Wood, also along the Coalpit Heath Bridle Path. Almost always as a pair, and if I don't always see them then I regualrly hear their very plaintive call to one another.
I live in the Bristol area. J Baker
Hi from Bowburn, Co Durham. With regard to Bullfinches in the garden, I have a pair visit the bird feeders most days, usually with chaffinches (recently there were 20 Chaffinches together!) I put out a large variety of food and attract around 15 different species, unfortunately one of which is the sparrowhawk. However they are beautiful and he only kills to survive, unlike visiting cats! Keep up all your good work. We regularly visit Saltholme which is a fantastic day out. Val Jefferson
Regular daily visitors. Most seen at one time is four - 2 male 2 female. Garden is not typical, it is next to a large field that was part of a park and has lots of mature trees - hornbeam, lime, horse chestnut amongst others. The field has not been cultivated for at least 10 years and there is plenty of cover and lots of seeds in autumn/winter. The finches that we see in largest numbers are goldfinches although in the very cold winter of 2010 there were flocks of siskins. Denis
we have lived in our house in a suburb of Glasgow for 20 years without spotting any bullfinches until April last year when a pair decided to pay us a visit and feed
on our bird feeders. They have continued to visit somewhat irregularly and successfully raised two offspring. After reading the magazine last evening I was delighted to see them this afternoon feeding on a feeder containing No Mess Sunflower Mix. Murray Clayton