Species in the spotlight - Goldfinches

Essex isn’t known for its technicolour birds, so it’s always a pleasure to spot an eye-catching Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis).

Goldfinches are small, striking birds with black and yellow wings and an unmistakable bright red face. Unlike many birds, there is no obvious difference in plumage colour and pattern between males and females.

Goldfinches sing sweet fluid melodies, a welcome sound among gardens, parks, woodland, heathland and farmland. During winter, they travel in loose flocks of around 100 birds, which are delightfully known as a ‘charm’. If the winter in the UK is particularly harsh the charm of Goldfinches will migrate to parts of south-west Europe.

Their specially adapted tweezer-like bills and light weight helps them to extract small seeds from plants such as Ragwort, Thistles, Dandelions and Teasels.

Goldfinches are increasingly frequenting garden birdfeeders so if you would like to attract Goldfinches to your home, here’s how:

Leave Teasels in your garden if you have them, even after they’ve finished flowering.
Don’t remove Dandelions.
Fill your birdfeeders with high energy food such as Sunflower hearts and Niger seeds.
Provide water.

Please note, if you are providing drinking and feeding stations you must ensure they are kept clean to reduce the spread of disease.

The word ‘Goldfinch’, along with many other words describing the natural world, have recently been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary and replaced with words like ‘broadband’. This notion seems staggering as Goldfinches, along with Acorns, Ivy, Adders and many more species removed from the dictionary are still here to pique a child’s interest. Essex Wildlife Trust is working alongside Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris to promote the Lost Words book and ensure that it is available in all the 800 schools in Essex so that no more wild words are lost. Read more about our Lost Words Appeal here.