One day towards the end of March I could hear a Goldfinch somewhere in the Sycamore tree…………. they have a very twittery song – a mixture of different sounds…………… and stood searching for it for several minutes because I’ve rarely seen any in the garden here. Later it was on the birdfeeder and I grabbed the camera and got a couple of not very good photos.
I bought a special Niger seed feeder to try and persuade them to visit but this one preferred the general seed feeder.
When the family were visiting a couple of weeks ago Son (the only one of our 3 children to take after me and Colin in having any interest in birds) spotted two in the garden and there’s been one singing almost every time I’ve been outside since. Hopefully they are nesting somewhere around.
I did a search in posts to see if this was my first post mentioning seeing Goldfinches here and it is. Back in 2018 I took a picture of a whole group or “charm” of them on the ground under the feeders at Clay Cottage. A real difference in what we saw there – a cottage surrounded by fields with hedges and trees all round compared to here – a smaller garden surrounded by houses.
Looking in my frequently mentioned book ” A Sparrow’s Life’s as Sweet as Ours” I discovered the reason for a “charm” is because of the Old English for their twittering call “c’irm’.
It’s a wonder we see any at all because in 1532 Henry VIII’s Preservation of Grain Act put a price on the head of anything feathered or furred, that ate marketable food. It included the Goldfinch even though they feed mainly on thistle seed. The Act wasn’t repealed until the eighteenth century.
Then during the C19 they were often kept as caged birds. W.H.Hudson wrote in 1895 “Unhappily it is now not very easy to see them, for the Goldfinch is a favourite caged bird and so long as bird-catching is permitted, this charming species will continue to decrease”
The Caged Goldfinch
Within a churchyard, on a recent grave
I saw a little cage
That jailed a Goldfinch. All was silence save
It’s hops from stage to stage.
There was inquiry in it’s wistful eye,
And once it tried to sing,
Of him or her who placed it there, and why
No one knew anything
True, a woman was found drowned the day ensuing,
And some at times averred
The grave to be her false one’s who when wooing
Gave her the bird.
Thomas Hardy 1840-1928
Number have increased since the mid 1980’s when imported Niger seed became available for garden feeding and seemed to be a Goldfinch favourite.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
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