Goldfinch ( Carduelis carduelis )

It is a while since I blipped a bird so today I took the easy way out and took shots of birds at the feeders.  Currently, there aren't many using the feeders, which means,I hope, they are finding ample natural food for both their fledglings and themselves.  In some years the adults seem to use the feeders for a quick "top up" while they search for protein rich food for the growing youngsters.

Goldfinches may be familiar to our Australian readers where I am given to understand they have been introduced in some areas.  While I don't agree with the introduction of alien species I can see why, in less enlightened times, people would want to introduce such a beautiful bird.

Since the mid 80s the population has prospered and there are now about four times as many as there were then.  They are well distributed throughout the UK apart from the very NW of Scotland and the Islands where the habitats don't really suit them.