Mystery of goldfinches’ new favourite foods
sir – Joe Shute writes of the joy of seeing a goldfinch in his garden (Weather Watch, December 16), but adds that the bird ignored the niger seed that was meant to attract it.
It was just after purchasing a huge sack of niger seed that I was told by an expert, at a chance meeting in a bird-hide, that goldfinches have changed a habit of many lifetimes and discovered that sunflower hearts provide a far superior diet.
I have found this to be true. Our niger feeders remain untouched but the sunflower hearts are attacked with relish. Have other readers noticed similar avian behaviour? Janet Newis
Sidcup, Kent
sir – We had the same experience as Mr Shute, and found that, if we left our Michaelmas daisies to go to seed instead of tidying them away in the autumn, the goldfinches always came to pick at them, as well as the dead-heads of rudbeckias, evening primrose and other perennials.
They also love to hover over the seeds of dandelion, if those are left to go to seed in the spring.
Andrea Bates
Enstone, Oxfordshire
sir – We had the occasional goldfinch until we started providing niger seeds, and then the numbers increased. However, when we switched to sunflower hearts for the other birds, the goldfinches took to these and their numbers swelled: we regularly get up to 20 at a time.
Recently, we noticed the goldfinches eating seeds from goldenrod, so we tried niger again and they now eat these as well. Perhaps they know that different foods have different nutrients?
Reg Darge
Usk, Monmouthshire