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.
We have a pair of Bullfinches who have been visiting our sunflower heart feeder for a number of years. In the summer it's great to see them with an offspring too. Only seen one offspring though. We have a suburban garden in Shrewsbury.
Hi, Bumpyrog here. Re Bullfinch sightings. On Garden Birdwatch Day i recorded a male and 2 females in our watching hour. The Male and one Female were regular visitors during the breeding season last year (2011). I have only seen the pair on one ocassion in February this year. I am in rural North Wiltshire. Hope this is helpful.
Hi, I very much enjoyed reading David's article in Birds magazine. I now live in Barnsley and felt very privileged when bullfinches appeared in our small garden soon after moving house just over a year ago. I had only ever seen one male before, in Bosnia in 1996! They are now regulars and visit us virtually every day, with 3 separate families seeming to take up residence for most of last summer. The most I have seen together is 3 adult pairs, and 2 adult pairs with a total of 4 young. They spent last summer eating seed from the bird table and from a tray on the ground, but this winter they have taken to eating nyger and sunflower hearts out of the seed trays on the feeders as well. I can confirm previous comments about them keeping watch for each other, as we have a tall tree at the side of the garden and they often seem to take it in turns flying down from it to feed. I quite often hear them in the tree as I'm putting food out in the morning, then by the time I get back indoors to the kitchen window, there they are! I have added some photos to the 2013 calendar gallery.
Hi, we have a beautiful pair of bullfinches here all winter, they visit at regular times and on occasion wait until I have put out a fresh supply of niger seeds and sunflower seeds before visiting our bird houses. I am hoping they will stay on this summer as I love to photography these shy wee birds.
Hi, I've been adding sightings and comments on Bullfinches from the Birds magazine, with no sighting of my own, until last week when I saw a female Bullfinch in my garden finishing off the Honeysuckle berries. Haven't seen Bullfinches in our garden for many years!