Charmed

The garden's bird population varies considerably from one winter to the next. This year we've seen an unusually large number of goldfinches, but they haven't been behaving as normal goldfinches should.

According to the literature, goldfinches feed on seed. Locally, they certainly do this in the late summer, when they make good use of the masses of seeds released by the thistles and the occasional teasel. Those of us who feed goldfinches in the winter are urged to provide them with suitable seed such as niger, but ours ignore the seed feeders in favour of the peanut dispensers, where they fight a constant battle with the tits and siskins, and with the voracious hoards of chaffinches.

Goldfinches are beautiful birds, always smartly turned out, and fly around twittering cheerfully, a habit they may have regretted in the past as they were often caught and put into cages to keep humans amused. But they can also be aggressive, coming second of the peanut pecking order behind the great tits.

It's supposed to be possible to tell the sexes apart, the males having a larger red patch on their faces than the females. The Diary hasn't been able to do this - or, maybe, we only have one sex around here.

Last summer saw masses of goldfinches in the Ormsaigbeg skies. Prettily, and very appropriately, such a flock is called a 'charm' of goldfinches.