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.
The pair of bullfinches were back in the garden this morning, at the feeders and on the ground. I'd just put out more seed and peanuts and the birds fortunately managed to get in before the squirrels turned up!
I have one or two Bullfinches visiting a Nyjer feeder which has a tray on the bottom. Goldfinches take from the narrow slits in the feeder tube, and the Bullfinches eat from the tray. Only occassionally will the Bullfinches allow the Goldfinches to dine at the sam time as them. This type of feeder with tray no longer featues in the RSPB catalogue though.
Wow!
Just back from holiday and am absolutely overwhelmed by the response. I've never seen anything like it in my time at the RSPB. Thank you so much everyone.
We're busy gathering all the sightings together now and will be providing a summary in the magazine soon. I spoke to David Lindo yesterday and he is just as pleased as me and wants to thank you all for your kind comments about his feature and for all your records. Apparently, he has been invited round to lots of people's houses for tea - and to see their bullfinches. Alright for some...
I'd also just like to thank our brilliant volunteer Debs for helping to keep up with all the emails, letters and photos that you've all been sending in and adding extra coments to the blog.
Please do keep them coming though. It's fascinating to hear about your birds and to build up a picture nationally. Incidentally, our RSPB Communications Director, Paul Lewis, let me know that he had a pair of bullfinches his garden on Big Garden Birdwatch Day, so clearly they are the bird of the moment. Don't forget to submit your Big Garden Birdwatch results if you haven't done so yet!
Hi Mark, I had a bullfinch land and stay for about 10 mins in my garden. This is the first time I have ever seen one in my garden, it gave me so much pleasure particularly as I managed to grab my camera and photograph it. This all hapened last week and naturally did not reappear over the weekend whilst I was doing my garden birdwatch.
Janet & Peter sent this email intothe Birds magazine inbox:
My wife Janet and I never had seen any bullfinches around our house since we moved here in January 2000.
Suddenly two days ago we saw a pair (male and female) on the grass at the back of our house.
Yesterday we saw only a male in the tree where we hang our feeders (in the backyard) but we are not sure he partook of any food (although plenty of chaffinches do). And this morning we saw a male on the front side of the house hopping down from a cotoneaster bush to the ground under a fir tree.
The tree is 12 meters off a busy road going past our house but the bullfinch was not fazed.