Illustrated with Matt's inimitable watercolours, and imbued with a love of his subjects that will resonate with people everywhere and of all ages, this book is a great gift for nature and art lovers. Illustrated with Matt’s inimitable watercolours, and imbued with a love of his subjects that will resonate with people everywhere and of all ages, this book is a great gift for nature and art lovers.

A Charm of Goldfinches? » UK Nature Gifts A Charm of Goldfinches? » UK Nature Gifts

In our current garden we have at least 4 generations of birds that have only known this food being available year-round, (some species, including goldfinches, have more than one brood a year). A rare breeding bird in Britain, found mainly in pine forests in the Scottish Highlands, the parrot crossbill is both the rarest and the largest of the three crossbill species found in the UK. She is well known for her stunning watercolour artworks and loves to walk near her home by the sea, watching and dreaming of bears and whales.If you can get close to a goldfinch feeding on a teasel you may hear the vibration as the finch shakes its beak in the seed hole presumably to widen the gap or loosen the seed.

Feeding a charm of goldfinches Feeding a charm of goldfinches

Whatever the reason, a flock of goldfinches excites the senses with flashes of yellow and red adding visual impact to the exquisite song; this is my finch charming. Illustrated in inimitable watercolor, this book makes a great gift for nature and art lovers everywhere. One of the most remarkable things about the animal kingdom and just one of the many crazy things about the English language is the variety of collective nouns that all mean ‘group’. Male goldfinches have vivid red facial markings around their bill, marked with black around the eyes. The goldfinch nest is made from grass and mud and is lined with wool to create a deeply cupped extremely well insulated nest.Once you have attracted goldfinches to the garden it is possible to keep them coming throughout the year by providing niger seed in a special feeder available from bird food retailers. That geese in flight are also referred to as ‘a team’ or ‘a wedge’ both reflect the graceful birds’ distinctive mode of travelling en masse. Some British goldfinches migrate south to France, Belgium and sometimes as far south as Spain, while others will stay in the UK for winter. With the Thistles now going to seed there are large flocks of Goldfinches around the reserve making use of this bounty.