Things you need to know about the GOLDFINCH!

Among the many colourful birds of the UK, in my opinion, the goldfinch has to be up there as one of the most beautiful. These small birds have a wingspan of 21 to 25 cm and grow to between 14 and 19 grams in weight. But what goldfinches lack in size they make up for in colour and personality. Adult birds have Red, white and black heads with cream and white undersides and cream backs. Their wings are mostly black with white spots towards the tips and one of their defining features is a patch of bright gold feathers which becomes a bar when they are in flight. Males usually have more and deeper red markings and longer beaks, but this isn’t always easy to tell from a distance.
Goldfinches are social birds, often roaming from place to place in small flocks, sometimes mixed with other species. A flock of goldfinches is known as a charm although this has nothing to do with how charming they are, it originates from the old English word C’irm with describes the birds twittering song which I’ll share with you later in this video. Their habitat is traditionally farmland and open countryside but they are becoming increasingly common in urban areas, including along roadsides, in parks and in overgrown wasteland and they can become regular visitors to garden bird feeders. Their diet is mostly made up of seeds, particularly thistles and teasels but they will also take sunflower seeds and nyger seeds from bird feeders. When they are rearing chicks they do sometimes eat insects and invertebrates.
Goldfinches in the UK start to breed later in the year than a lot of other species, probably due to their reliance on seeds. This begins around the beginning of may when a pair will form and begin the construction of a cup shaped nest of grass, lichen, roots and moss, lined with wool and hair. Once the nest is complete the female will lay between 4 and 6 pale eggs with brown splotching. These eggs measure around 17mm in length and once the clutch is complete, the female will incubate them alone for 12 to 13 days. At first the chicks are featherless and pink. Both parents bring a constant supply of food to them in the nest and as a result, they grow rapidly. By just 13 to 18 days of age, they are ready to fledge. The parents, especially the father continue to feed the young for several weeks after they leave the nest when they join larger charms and learn how to fend for themselves. Young goldfinches do not have the bright head markings of their parents and don’t get these until their first moult. In a single year each pair of goldfinches can nest 2 or three times, sometimes rearing young way into September.
Goldfinches are found across the whole of the UK except for some upland parts of Scotland and they are also found across mainland Europe, north Africa, west and central Asia. They are an introduced species in Australia, new Zealand and Uruguay. Around 1.7million pairs currently breed in the UK each year, which represents an increase of more than 100% since the 1970s and their numbers are still thought to be increasing. Some goldfinches in their northern range in Europe and in the UK do migrate south for the winter, heading towards Spain and the Mediterranean whilst some also stick around for the colder months. They have an average lifespan of 2 years but as usual with wild birds the oldest known individual lived much longer, to 10 months and 2 days of age.
#gardenbirds #britishbirds #birdwatching

Thanks to Ian Wicks, Sabir Bapir and WhiteBlackbird for letting me use some of their nesting footage, their channels can be found here:

Some of the other images and footage used in this video was is licenced under creative commons, the originals and their licence details can be found here:

[AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching this video and taking a look at the comments!
Cheers.

[General_Confusion]

I'm in North Suffolk and i have about 50 of them coming to my feeders for sunflower hearts all day every day, they manage to wade through about a pound of seed a day from Five feeders. Really nice to see something doing well.

[spacecadetlottie]

Goldfinch are one of my favourite birds + are a sign of good luck for me 🍀
I wasn't aware a flock was referred to as a charm 🤔 🥰
Very awesome content sir! 😎
Thank you kindly 🙏

[coecludd]

Another lovely informative video. Many Thanks 😊

[bronzewand]

I saw one in my South London garden yesterday just after subscribing to your channel! I have only ever seen one before, a few years ago. Made my day!

[terencemeikle]

Delightful video. Many thanks. Nice to hear of a species expansion in the UK, particularly these colourful and melodious little characters. 😀

[missapippin]

Thank you Liam. Goldfinch are beautiful and their song is beautiful too.

[nickwebb]

Totally agree Liam, these are beautiful birds. Another super post, thank you 🙏

[Monicas__Sleepstream]

Goldfinches are so cute and funny when they make the "skreaming" noices and fighting in the air, when they battle for food on feeding places.

[pauldurkee]

I can confirm in Wales, they are more common now than at anytime I can remember.
They love the sunflower hearts and nyjer seed, we have had flocks of about 20 in a relatively small garden.

[frenzyviz]

I get a few of these in my garden. I feed sunflower hearts.

[shiningxie]

Great job MATE Thank Yes they are a BEAUTIFUL BIRD' MATE! Great STUFF. Thank you for sharing. Cheers Andre South Australia...🤲🙏🤲👏👏👏👌👌👌👍

[Biffo]

They appeared in my garden about 6 years ago and stayed. We have a good sized feeding station, pond and small artificial stream. They most we see at any one time is about 15 to 20. Since the pond and stream have become established we have had in addition to the Golfinch, Goldcrest, Brambling, two breeding pairs of Bullfinches, Long Tailed Tits, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Sparrowhawk who is a bit of a PITA, Dunnock, breeding Wrens, Chaffinch though less and less of them, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, all the usual LBJ's, Starlings (greedy beggars), Mistle Thrush, Red Kite overhead, numerous Buzzards, Magpies far too many, Grey Heron unfortunately for the fish, Jays, Willow Warbler and numerous Robins. My garden has an overgrown allotment at the back and we are situated in Salford near peat mossland but actually in an urban setting. I put the variety down to the feeding station, pond and shallow feeder stream which is very popular in hot weather. The overgrown allotment is full of impenetrable brambles which has attracted many breeding birds, notably the Bullfinch and the Goldfinch. We have a mix of conifers and well established cherry trees. Our garden has become an absolute delight but it costs a small fortune in sunflower heat, peanuts, niger, millet, mixed seed and fat balls. They eat better than we do.

[tinapeds]

Love these beautiful birds, they always come to my bird feeders in my garden for their favourite feast sunflower hearts.

[celestenova]

Lovely video. I used to see them in my garden in Scotland as well as the Bullfinch, another beautiful bird but now I'm living way down South I rarely see them. Great "charming' video, thank you.

[mazhayumveyilumeli]

Nice, yesterday i saw one lovely pair gold finch 🌹

[MelgaardBosch]

i have up to 70 gold finches in my garden here in Denmark, they devour my sunflower heart feeders. need to refill daily. its pretty hard on the wallet. but lovely bird to watch.

[lyestrance]

GoldFinch is a real artist .he is real singer bird not like others bird! goldfinch make release several melody each year (he mix and remix and compose and editing note and pitch and more) he do too mixing and mastering . he do harmony for each note and each note put it in mode like musician (i can say he do it well better than muscician) i studied GoldFinch for 5 years he is amazing creature incredible .
i learn much musical lesson by GoldFinch. (he make too effect for his melody) maybe you will not believe me.
it's less too much to talk about this bird. he is just amazing!
take care about this bird! thanks for your video. i wish you best all!

[mairnealachamu]

I love these birds.
Their name in Irish is Lasair Choille, which literally translates as Flame of the Forest, which I think is just prefect for them.

[vetworker]

A regular visitor to my bird feeders. Probably my favourite garden bird because of their colour. A friend of mine who works for the RSPB told me their favourite food of all time is black sunflower seeds.