WINTER’S WILDLIFE Greenfinch is on path of recovery
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Emerald shapes decorating a sycamore trapped in winter torpor brought a sense of joy as if the tree had erupted suddenly into leaf burst.
Seven greenfinches were wheezing their hoarse trills while balancing precariously on bare branches, whipped by a brusque dawn breeze.
It had been an age since I had last heard the rolling calls of these bright if unassuming birds on my morning walk with Molly the spaniel around the fields near our home.
She was far from pleased that I was paying more attention to the greenfinches than to her. Seeing what constituted a proper flock on our yomp was hot news.
An occasional individual flitting overhead or resting in a hedgerow had meant the species was keeping a tenuous claw-hold in my part of the Chiltern Hills, but for more than a decade greenfinches have been losing the billing as “common” or “garden” birds across the UK.
While ornithological surveys from 1972 up to 2000 reported rising numbers, the greenfinch has suffered such a catastrophic decline in the 21st century that it was recently red-listed as a Bird of Conservation Concern.
The crash began in 2005 with a severe outbreak of trichomonosis, a disease caused by protozoan parasites, and spread through contaminated food and water. Infected bird tables and feeders became deadly hazards, especially in springtime when birds nourish each other with regurgitated seeds.
Warnings about the “trich” peril and the need to keep garden feeding stations clean have been so well heeded by bird lovers that the greenfinch is hopefully having a renaissance.
Although the record books show today’s breeding population of 785,000 pairs is still 69% down from the 1960s, there is evidence that the greenfinch is now winging its way back into suburbia.
Findings from the RSPB’S 2023 Big Garden Birdwatch revealed that greenfinch sightings were 11.2% up on the previous year’s records, giving hope that the butterfly-like song flights males perform to mark their territories in spring will be chiming overhead in coming weeks.
Bird lovers now know it’s vital to keep feeding stations nice and clean