The main food is native tree buds, oak, sallow and hawthorn are all eaten with their taste for fruit buds being their undoing. Indeed the damage inflicted on commercial fruit crops gave the bird the status of an agricultural pest, this giving rise to their culling! They also eat soft fruits and seeds and you can see on the photo`s that their beaks are covered in the rowan berries they have been happily munching on.
There has also been a loss of hedgerows with standard trees and agricultural intensification which are both thought to have helped the decline in numbers.
Male
Female
Digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 X30
Poor little blighters! I also like eating seeds and berries; hope I don't get culled.
ReplyDeleteIs it not the case that there is an agricultural scheme aimed at the replanting of hedgrows, Peter?
Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Hi bazza! Don`t know who Peter is?, but yes, I do believe there is some scheme where farmers get grants for planting hedgerows etc (ie. farming with wildlife in mind), but apparently only 65% have taken this up and with all these cuts who knows what the future holds!?
ReplyDeleteJ
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteYet another fascinating posting. I gather that the Bullfinch may well be an endangered species. I suppose the planting of hedgerows could help counteract this possibility.
They are a very pretty bird. I thank you for sharing your photos and the corresponding information.
With respect, Gary.
Thanks very much Gary.
ReplyDeleteThe Bullfinch is still a fairly common bird, indeed there are approximately 190,000 territories in Britain. It`s just that it`s not as common as it once was, as I said, a fall of 45-50% in the last 25 years!
Thanks again for your thoughtful comments.
J