The European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
- Goldfinches are easy to spot on Cowbar, especially in the late summer and autumn as they feast on the seed heads.
- They are sociable birds and in 2023 there have been more than ever here – a flock of up to 30 have been seen most days this summer and autumn. Perhaps this is because the bund has been so successful and full of seed food for them.
- They have fine beaks to extract seeds from Thistles, Dandelion and Ragwort and Teasels. They sometimes eat insects when they ae rearing chicks.
- In winter, some migrate as far as Spain but most can be seen in the UK all the year round.
- These beautiful little birds are cream, brown and buff with flashes of pink, gold, grey, green, red, black, yellow and white.
- They have a melodic, twittering, silvery song which always includes a tri-syllabic call phrase – something to listen out for.
- The collective noun for goldfinches is “ a charm of goldfinches”. This comes from the Old English word “c’irm “ meaning ‘song’.
- Chaucer used the English word ‘Goldfinch’ (‘goldfynch’ ) in the Middle Ages in his Canterbury Tales when describing his jaunty cook, ‘as merry as a goldfinch in the woods’.
- There are about 1.7 million pairs currently breeding in the UK. Their numbers have increased by more than 100% since the 1970s (against the trend for much wildlife) and they can breed 2 or 3 times a year, sometimes raising young into late September.
- They normally live for at least a couple of years but one individual, ringed when it was in the next, died in 2016 aged ten years and two days.
- In folklore, the goldfinch is said to have been stained by the blood of Jesus when the bird plucked a thistle from his crown of thorns, which resulted in the red mask around its face.
- They used to be seen as protectors of humans against the plague who could take the disease from a person by staring at them.
- In Greek mythology, the goldfinch represents the soul leaving the body when death comes.
- The goldfinch is sometimes known as ‘proud tailor’ or ‘redcap’ and one of its Irish names means ‘flame of the forest’. It’s Anglo Saxon name translates as ‘thistle-tweaker’.
- Goldfinches ae protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
