Chaffinch

Chaffinch is part of the Fringillidae group of finches and all are seedeaters, and unlike the Carduelinae finches (who feed their young on regurgitated seeds) they raise their young entirely on arthropods. It is not uncommon to see adult Chaffinch searching for insects during the spring and summer months but revert to seed eating during the autumn and winter.

Our breeding birds are resident and not thought to migrate, although there may be some local dispersion during cold winter spells. They are joined in the winter by birds from northern Europe and we can see large flocks of these wintering birds in favoured habitats such as open woodland, especially mixed oak woodland. It always amuses me to see these ground feeding wintering birds stick to the dappled shade afforded by oaks and almost appear startled if they wander out from these shaded areas, given their cryptic wing pattern that helps camouflage their outline in dappled shade, then I imagine it is a strategy to avoid predation by aeriel predators such as the sparrowhawk.

Chaffinch is known to be extremely vigilant around their nest and act as an early warning for several other birds should nest predators be in the vicinity, a fun fact is Mistle Thrush will choose to nest near these finches due to this vigilance, and they complement each other as these thrushes are particularly aggressive towards nest predators such as corvids.

Maybe because it is our most numerous finch, it tends to be ignored or at best underappreciated, yet it is one of our most colourful birds and really warrants our time to admire the colours and their friendly nature. Next time you come across one of these beauties make sure to spend time to appreciate just how colourful the males are and be grateful they are so numerous.

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