Goldfinch
8 January 2020
The colourful Goldfinch is a regular visitor to the feeding stations on the Green and with its distinctive red face and yellow wing flashes brightens up any grey winter day. Many species that need a similar habitat to the Goldfinch have declined over the past 50 years, some by as much as 90%. The Goldfinch has bucked that trend and has doubled its numbers over those five decades. This is most probably due to the increase in people feeding birds in their gardens.
It is quite a specialised feeder being one of the few birds that can access the seeds in thistle heads and teasels. It will however take insects particularly in the spring when feeding young. Except for the high mountains of Scotland, it is seen throughout the UK and usually over-winters here. Only in harsh winters will some birds migrate to the near continent with a few birds going as far south as Spain. The Goldfinch is probably our most attractive small bird and it’s not difficult to see why in the 19th century they were popular as a caged bird gracing many a Victorian parlour. Such was the demand that in 1860 some 132,000 birds were reputed to have been captured at Worthing, Sussex. Not surprisingly this demand caused a population crash which led to the Society for the Protection of Birds, formed in 1897, to campaign to halt the trade in wild birds. |