Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula
With distinctive red underparts and black cap, the colourful Bullfinch can be seen in parks, gardens and hedgerows and particularly enjoys feeding on the buds of fruit trees.
Conservation status in Norfolk
Nationally bullfinches have declined by more than 50% over the past 25 years. They are now on the red list of birds of highest conservation concern.
How to help
Plant old-fashioned orchards and taller growing fruit trees. An apple, plum or pear can provide you with fruit, windfalls for the thrushes and blackbirds in autumn and nutritious buds for bullfinches in late winter.
Chris mills
Bob Carpenter
Elizabeth Dack
Information on the Bullfinch
How to recognise
The male is extremely distinctive, with beautiful red underparts, black cap to the head contrasting with a grey back. The female is duller – but still striking – with pinkish-brown breast and similar patterns as the male. In flight the white rump and white wing bar are usually obvious and contrast with the dark tail and hind wings.
Where to see
Parks, large gardens, churchyards, tall hedgerows and woodlands including young forestry plantations are all good areas to look for bullfinches.
When to see
Pairs begin to establish territories in March, with nests being built in April often in dense hedges or scrub. In May 4-5 eggs are laid which hatch after 12-14 days. Bullfinches have a long breeding season, with 2-3 broods being attempted. In late winter birds are attracted to orchards where they feed on the blossom buds
Did you know?
Bullfinches often pair for life and this is one reason why the song of the bullfinch is rarely heard.
Related questions
What plants can I grow in my garden to attract birds?
Plants provide three essential resources for wild birds. The first, often overlooked, is cover. Birds need shelter and protection from predators and weather for themselves and especially for their nests. Secondly, wild birds need invertebrates, such as tiny caterpillars, aphids, beetle and sawfly larvae, etc., to feed themselves but most importantly to feed their chicks. Even house sparrows, which eat almost entirely seeds as adults, require huge numbers of invertebrates to survive their first few days after hatching. Thirdly, the seeds, berries and fruits of plants are vital food for birds in winter. It follows that to attract and help the most birds; your plants should offer all three of these resources.
Cover means hedges and bushes, dense, preferably thorny and absolutely not pruned in summer when thrushes and finches are rearing late broods. Robin boxes, by the way, are useless in the open but readily used if hidden behind a spiny shrub pyracantha. Hawthorn is ideal, not only excellent at concealing nests but being native it supports invertebrate larvae and provides the added bonus of autumn berries. Other plants that tick all three boxes include ivy, holly, yew (females for berries), blackthorn and bramble. For invertebrates, native plants are best, but be tolerant; cotoneasters feed moths as well as providing cover and fruit, buddleia from the Himalayas feeds the butterflies while they search for native plants to lay eggs on. Of course, starting from scratch it’s far better to plant native species; barberry, thyme and marjoram, an oak if you have room. For autumn fruit, elder is the king with enough berries for us to share. Apple trees (unsprayed, of course) are also excellent for both invertebrates and fruit. Don’t forget seeds: teasels for goldfinches, honesty for bullfinches, sunflowers for greenfinches. Planting for wildlife can become an absorbing hobby; butterflies and moths, for example, require specific food plants which are easily researched in books or on the Internet. Many of these plants are attractive; a garden that provides a healthy food web for wildlife, rather than a sterile display of alien curiosities, can still be a beautiful garden to enjoy.