Chaffinch ( Fringilla coelebs )

Well, at least it makes a change from Blue Tits!   Interestingly Siskins have been absent since the autumn and in the last couple of days have reappeared.  While the majority of the country's population are resident I suspect they have moved a bit south for the winter.

Back to Chaffinches, at one time they were regularly called the UK's commonest bird.  I suspect they possibly still are with over 5,000,000 territories (in other words 10,000,000 birds).  The population has however declined by 15% since the late 1960s.

The Atlas survey of 2007-11 shows Chaffinches in literally every tetrad in the UK apart from a handful mainly in NW Scotland.

I resisted the temptation to drop into my native tongue and call it a "Scoppie".