Fabulous Finches

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 People complain that the birds we get in the UK are drab and uninteresting compared to those of the tropics. We had a visit from a bullfinch yesterday and it prompted me to look out my best Finch photographs (all taken in our garden) to show how colourful they can be.

First the Bullfinch.

Whilst we do get these wonderful birds occasionally they don't visit the feeders. One side of the house is quite open but these birds prefer the back of the house where there is more foliage and better cover. This splendid specimen is a male.

Next the Goldfinch.

What's not to like? The sexes are hard to tell apart in the field. These birds do visit the feeders and have a liking for nyger seeds and the fat balls. Did you know that there was a convention in medieval painting to represent Christ with a goldfinch?!


Chaffinches are so called because they often visited thrashing floors to eat the chaff at harvest time. This one is a male. These are daily visitors to our feeders.

Finally the Greenfinch. An occasional visitor.

Diary Notes.
There was a glimpse of a tawny owl on the camera traps last night. The tawnys are very vocal at the moment and I hear them most nights when I take the dog out last thing at night. Tawny owls are very territorial and what with mating its a busy time of the year for them.
Moles have been very active this week. There are some monster molehills of the type of "fortress" used to nature the young moles in.
There is quite a cacophony at dusk as the rooks get ready to roost.







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