Five garden finches

Take a closer look at the birds in your garden. Undoubtedly you will have a wider variety of different bird species than you probably expect. Some of these little feathered friends will be finches, in the UK we have a dozen or more different finch species that may visit your garden, plus a few tourists, that visit for the warmer weather.

Finches are fascinating birds because they mostly eat seeds and nuts, sometimes directly from our garden plants. They have very special beaks, designed to crack open seeds to reach the oil rich centres. You might see a posse of finches under your trees, especially in the autumn where they feast upon the fallen mast of beech and oak, feeding up for winter. Others with finer beaks will forage on dandelion seed heads, thistles, teasels and other plants (and ‘weeds’) in your garden. It’s a good reminder that everything has a place in the food chain, even what we might regard as ‘weed’ seeds. 

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

The male bullfinch is like a giant Christmas bauble bobbing within the stems of your garden shrubs. His almost orange/coral pink chest is stunning. The female of the species has a paler pink chest and they both have a black cap and a white bottom.

The bullfinch is not a common bird species and was once regarded as a pest because they supplement their diet with tree buds, shoots and flowers in spring. This is essential food for these shy birds and is why you will find them in woodlands as well as in well-planted gardens. As the season progresses their diet is made up of seeds. Though they rarely nest in gardens, they can and will visit seed feeders and will also take caterpillars and other invertebrates to feed their chicks in spring.

To attract these beauties into your garden plant more trees and shrubs and add a seed feeder to your garden loaded with oil rich seeds like sunflower hearts.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Possibly the most common garden finch, at least in my garden, these little pink and grey puffballs love to feast on seeds and nuts on my driveway beneath my boundary beech trees. Their sharp, curved seed-beak easily breaks into the shells of the tough beech nuts so that they can feast on the oil-rich seed inside. Like most finches chaffinches are seed eaters and will visit seed feeders or feed beneath on fallen bird food too. They supplement their diet with insects.

Chaffinches are a little bit bigger than robins; the males have a brighter peachy/pink breast and the females are more brown in colour. Both have a blue grey cap. Their markings help camouflage them while ground feeding, but there’s a flash of white when they flit through the garden. The chaffinch is one of our songbirds and has a powerful, clear song. Look out for the round nests of these little birds which are held together with spider webs and moss and lined with soft feathers.

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it is when you see a mini flock of goldfinches feeding in your garden. Goldfinches have short pointy beaks. These are designed to pick out seeds from seed heads. It’s so important that we leave the seed heads on our plants at the end of the season to feed the birds. Goldfinches love thistles and teasels and will flitter around the seed heads picking out the seeds, but I’ve also seen them taking the seeds from lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) and even more exciting, from the seed heads of my dandelions. Yes, I grow dandelions for the wildlife. Not just for the birds but for the pollinators too. Dandelions are one of the most important sources of nectar in late winter and early spring for early emerging pollinators. Goldfinches look spectacular, almost exotic, with a splash of red on their face and head and a black cap, plus a golden yellow flash of colour on their wings. The adults feed their offspring insects and invertebrates like caterpillars. You might see a gang of goldfinches descending on your borders as your plants go to seed. Or you might hear their twittering melodic song as they pass through your plot.

Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)

Growing up we fed the garden birds. But not like people do today. We had a feeder of peanuts and then we cut up any stale (not mouldy) bread into tiny cubes and added the cooked bacon rind and maybe a few kitchen scraps to the bird table. I loved watching the birds descend on our offerings. We had a family of blackbirds and thrushes that lived in the area, plus a troop of starlings that seemed to eat everything, some cheeky sparrows that brought the garden alive and more greenfinches than I have ever seen. It was south east London and deep suburbia and yet the diversity of garden birds was vast. The nut feeders were alternately clothed with blue tits or greenfinches. With the latter waiting to feed in the branches of our lilac trees. I don’t remember feeding a seed mix to the birds, but the oil rich peanuts were a popular source of food. 

Greenfinches have a varied diet, feeding on seed heads in the garden and seed feeders. In spring they feed their chicks caterpillars and insects, and they will also feed on birch and alder seed as well as berries. 

Greenfinches are a beautiful yellowy/olive green in colour with a flash of yellow when they fly. 

Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

You are much more likely to spot siskins in your garden if you live near woodland, especially coniferous woodlands, because their diet is made up of tree seeds, especially conifer trees like pine and spruce. They tend to stay high up in the tree tops, eating alder and birch seed and also some insects, especially in summer. The siskin is a bit smaller than the green finch, though to the untrained eye it is easily confused. Take a look at the tail, a siskin has a distinctive forked tail. The male has a streaky yellow body and a black cap. The female is less colourful. They have a pointy beak that helps them to eek the seeds from cones and seed heads. They are more common in Scotland and Wales and may visit garden seed feeders.