239 : Common Bullfinch

Common Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula 

I managed to get a quick shot of this shy and elusive bird at RSPB Conwy in North Wales on the feeders last Summer.

I was a "born again" birder in adulthood. I had been a member of the Young Ornithologist Club ("YOC") when I was younger - the youth arm of the RSPB in those days. A community minded guy called John Williams, a plummer by trade ran a small club from our Primary School, Hillmead in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. It was over subscribed at first and then settled down to a steady group of 10-15 kids. We went out doing clearance work at the Essex Wildlife Trust Sawbridgeworth Marsh site, trapsed around local woods, had coach trips to places like Welney and raised money for the RSPB. That all petered out for me as I entered my teens and birding along with a very poor pair of plastic binoculars was forgotten for a good 16 or 17 years.

I picked up birding again when I was 29. My then girlfriend, now wife's father was a vet and always carried a pair of binoculars and was an active visitor to places like Slimbridge WWT or local RSPB reserves. I decided that birding was something that I could do again and bought myself a new pair of binoculars (after an extreme embarrassement of birding at Cley with the 10 x 50 plastic binoculars from the 70's - they stank and every bird was blurred and yellowed). I decided that year listing and life listing were good for the soul and after I moved in with Jane and then got married most weekends would involve some sort of walk or visit to a reserve. My list followed me around for many years and I racked up possibly 240 or so birds in the UK, a couple of hundred overseas maybe and used to see about 130 or 140 bird species in the UK in a year - mostly concentrated in holidays or the like.  

One bird through that first 5 or 6 years of new birding (from about the age of 29) that always eluded me was Bullfinch. I'd hear that there had been one in Jane's parents Worcestershire garden or I would read about them in "Where to Watch" county guides. They simply eluded me. I didn't spend enough time in the field or try enough different places. It doesn't help that they are shy and flitting birds living deep in the hedgerows and that I lived in Clapham and then Balham as the children came along.  

One thing Bullfinches will do however is come out for a decent feeder as you can see from this only photograph I possess of one. In 2004 we escaped London through my work and moved to the North-West as I got a position with my Law firm in Manchester. A whole new gamut of sites and places opened up and I set about getting out and about most weekends with kids in toe at times. Living on the edge of the countryside in Hale I could get out to open spaces far more easily than in London (I will talk about London birding another time). I saw my first Bullfinch in amongst a group of 4 or 5 ! On a feeder in a small local wildlife reserve next to a resevoir. It was a well known spot with a hide where you could get up close and personal with this most beautiful of British birds.

They are still scarce. As a snapshot I quote from the Lancashire Bird Report for 2001 (yes I will collect these things - you never know when they come in handy) eg " At Warton Crag 18 territories were found compared with an average of 13 in the last 13 years...Mere Sands Wood estimated 5 breeding pairs, the highest count being 10 birds in April, the largest counts came from Lee Green resevoir with 9 on 1 January and 11 (mainly juveniles) on 28 September..." Such is the stuff of County bird reports  - it goes on. In the main " Several pairs were reported visiting gardens" and "At Heysham two territories were recognised during 2001".  These birds are not ubiquitous. They are highly localised to special sites and in particular special feeders in the Winter ! Right place and right time. Perhaps there were a few hundred pairs in every county at best ? Not every site is watch and only a tiny fraction of bird sightings are reported.

Those first views were a blessing and a pay back for years of chasing Bullfinches. I honed in on them by using reports and watching the boards at all the reserves I visited. I think it was at Lee Green that I found the feeders. I had my Bullfinch mecca and every Winter I would visit to spend 20 minutes with Bullfinches and tick them off on my year's list. Gooseander and Siskin if I was lucky at the same spot - you develop your routine as a year lister with British birds.

Now when I see one I still get excited and never take them for granted. Wherever I wash up when I grow up I would count myself lucky to have Bullfinches on a feeder in my back garden. In times gone by licences were granted to fruit farmers to cull them because of their habit of feeding on the buds of apple trees - heaven forbid.

Hawfinch is a whole other story - thats the one that got away. I have never seen a Hawfinch - the rarest of British finches - take the entire entry from the Lancashire bird report 2001 as an example "Birds were in evidence at Woodwell, Silverdale in January, February and December with a maximum of 3 (!!!) on 9 February. The only report away from this site this year came from Martin Mere WWT when one was seen and heard flying east on 22 October". Bad news is I have to get a photo of one of these birds. It is going to take research and a pin point strike at a Winter roosting site. If Bullfinches are elusive Hawfinches were the Yeti or Lock Ness Monster or my British birding. They are a white stag. If you have one in your garden keep it to yourself as you will start a stampede.

Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula,

RSPB Conway, North Wales

August 2012