Best time to see: all year
Key facts
Attractive brightly coloured finch, once trapped and caged for its liquid song
Habitat: gardens, woods, fields, hedges; now doing well probably because of niger seed in garden feeders
Widespread and common, some birds resident but many wintering in France and Iberia
Recognition
Crimson, white and black face pattern; broad yellow band on black wings; 11–12 cm
Gregarious; small flocks are a familiar sight feeding on thistles and other tall weeds in autumn
Often twitter in flight, and sing their sweet song openly from a high perch when breeding
Lifecycle
Neat nest of roots, grass, moss and lichen, usually in a spreading tree
Usually 2, sometimes 3, broods May–August; 5 or 6 pale blue eggs, spotted brown
© Alan Williams