That little Goldfinch is both beautiful and charming and thankfully is also in abundance in the Peak District. Without warning they swoop in pairs, but often in fives and sixes, happily chattering away, swapping gossip and talking with their mouths full. Small and dainty but don’t underestimate their powers for decimating the bird feeders in no time at all.
Unmistakable and very brightly coloured, this little finch has a bright red face and a yellow wing patch. They have a white and black head and golden brown body. Very sociable little animals they often breed in loose colonies arrive all at once, twittering delightfully. Their long fine pinkish to pale grey beaks allows them to extract seeds from thistles and teasels and they usually hang on a bird food hanger rather than on the table.
Their legs are flesh coloured and both sexes are very similar, except that the males red-faced extends slightly behind the eye. They used to be commonly kept as caged birds because of their colourful plumage and enchanting singing.Baby birds are generally a dull brown with darker streaking on the body and they lack the red, black and white markings on the head and are often mistaken for female chaffinches, although they do have the unmistakable yellow wing bars of the adult.
The voice of the Goldfinch is a pleasant twitter or a tinkling, which is used to describe the most common call. It is a composition of this call and other little rattling notes and is sometimes accompanied by a pivoting display in which the male drops its wing slightly and then pivots from side to side as if it’s doing a little dance.
They are very popular in Peak District gardens, more increasingly so visiting the bird tables and feeders in the spring and summer but they leave us in winter and migrate as far south as Spain. They can be seen anywhere scattered through bushes and trees, rough ground with thistles and other plants that seed. They like parks and gardens, orchards, commons and heath land and are less common in upland areas because they don’t particularly like the cold. They are most common in southern England but we have our own fair share here in Derbyshire.
They like to eat seeds and insects in the summer, feeding on various tree seeds such as alder and birch, but they absolutely love thistle, teasel and dandelion seeds which it can obtain because of its very fine bill and light weight. They don’t make any impact on the stands of these type of plants because they are so tiny and it enables them to cling on even in the wind, concentrating its task on extracting its food. If you want to attract them to your garden then they particularly like teasel and Niger seed which can be got from most bird food outlets. If there are no fields nearby with thistles and dandelions, they will also feed on sunflower hearts and be little friends for life, returning to your garden over and over again if you keep up the supply of food.
Breeding starts in late April and the little Goldfinch can have between two and three clutches a year. They have little cup shaped nests, which is built by the female and she uses moss, grass and lichen in and lines it with wool and plant down, usually taken from the seed plants they love so much. The nest is usually in a tree towards the end of a branch or in a bush, and they often nest in large gardens and orchards but mainly in open hedgerows and woodland.
The smooth glossy eggs are pale blue with reddish markings and are about 18 mm x 13 mm in size. The Goldfinch usually has between 3 to 7 eggs and the female incubates them which takes between 10 and 14 days. The young fledge between 13 to 18 days. Some of the breeding birds migrate to the South Western side of Europe such as France and Spain and many more of these birds are females than males. The birds that migrate one year won’t necessarily migrate in others. They make the most use of our gardens at the same time in late spring every year and return from their wintering grounds and start of breeding at a time when natural food resources are at their lowest. This is one of the reasons why experts think they are coming into our gardens and feeding of our feeders more because natural resources are in steady decline all. Maybe just because more gardens are offering Niger seed and sunflower hearts, which are both high energy, food that goldfinches really love.
Goldfinches were in a serious decline in the 70s and 80s, which is thought due to the use of herbicides but thankfully changing agricultural practices are better but they still threaten this gorgeous little bird even today. So keep feeding them won’t you and we can make our big change and keep these gloriously colourful and cheerful little birds brightening up our day by visiting our gardens and eating the food we provide for them.