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.
John sent this email into the Birds inbox:
I enjoy taking my time reading your magazine -- as a volunteer on the Chough Project here on the Lizard, I've saved Claire Mucklow's article on that beautiful bird till last. Today, though, as usual, I enjoyed David Lindo's piece on Bullfinches.
Until yesterday, the last time I saw a bullfinch in or near my garden was one Christmas Day about ten years ago -- I had looked out of the front window and there he was about six feet away on a fuschia twig. Yesterday, though, through the same window, I spotted what I thought was the sun shining on a particularly colourful specimen of a male chaffinch, about 30 yards away, on the hedge across the road. A double take revealed it to be bullfinch -- and it waited until I retrieved my binoculars to confirm it before flying away! Today, I read David's article and as requested in his footnote, I can report that we have at least one way down south on the Lizard.
Desmond sent this email into the Birds mailbox:
We regularly see a pair of Bullfinches in our garden at Buxted, East Sussex and believe they nest close by.
We have a pair of Buzzards nesting in woodland at Waldron, which have produced several young in the last two years, but I was surprised to see one still flying round and calling in January.
Bernie & Liz sent this email into the Birds mailbox:
We are delighted to report that we have a pair of Bullfinches who visited our garden several times a day in Telford, Shropshire. They arrive early in morning, afternoon and evening along with 6 Greenfinches. They love sunflower hearts we put out. They have regular visit to the garden for the last eight months or so. They are certainly a delight to see.
David P sent this email into the Birds inbox:
I read with interest your article on Bullfinches and thought you might be interested to know that we are lucky enough to see these beautiful birds on our feeders or in and around the garden every year. We live in mid-Devon and the bullfinches here are very fond of black sunflower seeds. We see them more frequently in the winter months but often hear them at other times of the year even if they don't put in an appearance. Usually we see only one or two birds at a time but earlier this week I was delighted to see four males and one female on the ornamental chippings outside our front door. They were searching for, and finding ash keys and sycamore seeds which they enjoyed until the postman arrived to disturb them. A lovely sight in the winter sunshine. Long may it continue.
Paul T sent this email into the Birds mailbox:
We have a large pear tree at the end of our garden, which in most years produces masses of hard tasteless fruit, too high up for us to reach in any case. So we're happy to leave it to the birds. Last spring a small flock of about 10 bullfinches had a great time one day feeding on the buds. A week or so ago we had one bullfinch on our feeders coming and going for about half an hour. They're such fantastic birds I hope they come back to our pear tree again this spring (and that this time I'm not the only one in when they appear).