goldfinches (1 Viewer)

[Cartoonman]

Hello, for the past few years I have had goldfinches, sometimes as many as 10, in my London garden feeding on sunflower hearts, along with blue, great and coal tits. Suddenly the goldfinches have all gone. The tits are still there. There have been a couple of frosts in the morning. Any ideas?

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Our Goldies tend to come and go tbh. Though they appear much more regularly up at my parents.

Rich

 

[Allen]

Now that you mention it Cartoonman I've not had my usual winter flock yet

 

[thickmike]

I’ve noticed many more farmers are planting sunflowers at the margins of fields around me (Home Counties). I’m wondering if finches are feeding on these preferentially?

 

[Peregrine Took]

There are plenty of them here in the Cotswolds (most of the year around) - we had 15 on a rudbeckia yesterday and several in our silver birch trees, after the seeds... feeding voraciously before vacating to Spain for the winter, or just storing fat for the cold weather here in the UK. They don't seem to scare as easily as other birds, so they're easy to watch at close quarters. Gorgeous birds.
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[Cartoonman]

Hello, for the past few years I have had goldfinches, sometimes as many as 10, in my London garden feeding on sunflower hearts, along with blue, great and coal tits. Suddenly the goldfinches have all gone. The tits are still there. There have been a couple of frosts in the morning. Any ideas?

Cartoonman again, the goldfinches came back about a week ago but only in ones and twos. One day I saw what I think was a gang of them fly over, my guess is they have been in the very nearby Epping Forest.