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.
Julie sent this eamil into the Birds magazine inbox:
Having just read David Lindo's article on Bullfinches with much interest, I feel inspired to write and let you know that we have Bullfinches visit our garden regularly. We live in Dorset and have a garden that has quite a few bushes & trees and backs on to a large field. I think this, along with the fact that I have been feeding the birds regularly for years is why we have such a variety of species visit the garden.
They seem to make more of an appearance in the winter months and we have had up to 3 pairs at a time. I think they are beautiful birds and feel very lucky indeed that they frequent our garden. Their plaintive call is so distinctive that you certainly know when they are around, even if you can't see them. Like many people, I find it hard to believe that these lovely birds were considered a nuisance and that a cull took place.
Before I go, I would just like to say that as I type this, there is a male & female Bullfinch stuffing themselves on the sunflower seeds outside the window!
Michael sent this email into the Birds mailbox:
I was interested to read of the decline in bullfinch numbers, as we are lucky enough to get the occasional visit to our garden feeders from both male and female bullfinches. The visits are rare , about 5/6 times each year, but the birds are unmistakable and wonderful to watch. We live on an estate of detached houses in Haslemere Surrey, but the gardens are all small. There is farmland and woods about 500 metres away.
Reg & Sandra sent this email into the Birds inbox:
We are very privileged to enjoy a wide variety of birds in our garden, although on the edge of an
estate we back on to a small woodland. We have enjoyed a grey wagtail on the edge of our small pond on her
own, for the past two winters, long tailed tits, siskins (not yet this year but usually in February), many goldfinches (as
many as 22 on our niger seed feeders) all through the year, coal tits, black caps, chaffinches, a jay quite frequently,
and gold crests for the first time last snowy winter and again this year. What a site!
The bullfinches, needless to say, give us no end of pleasure with their stunning colours, and we have enjoyed
them for many years, although up until last year they were few and far between. We have only this morning seen
two male and two female feeding from the gutter of our sun lounge. They have taken this year to feeding from the
niger seed feeder outside the kitchen window, three feet away. What a delight!
Friends often say, birds don't visit their garden, and we always stress that you have to feed them to encourage them,
and you will be rewarded. We spend lots of time now we're retired in guiltless pleasure watching them, over endless
cups of coffee!
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.
Tina sent this email into the Birds inbox:
I live in a conservation area in Paisley. I had noticed a group of bullfinches in nearby trees. This winter a pair have started to come to my feeders for mixed seeds. Each winter I notice a different balance of birdlife. This year finches have been dominant and for the first time a group of redpolls feed daily on nyger seeds. Flying with them have been siskens.
Does anyone know of a good place in Scotland to spot crested tits, goldcrests, blackcaps or crossbills?