Bath time
IMG_0879
A Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), bathing in the 'Coach Wash', Saltram House (National Trust), Plymouth, Devon, GBR.
The Chaffinch, one of Britain and Ireland’s most widespread birds, was recorded across 94% of the UK during the Bird Atlas 2007–11, primarily inhabiting gardens and woodlands.
Present year-round, the brightly coloured male and the more subdued female are familiar sights at feeders, with the species' distinctive, melodic song common during breeding. Breeding numbers rose by a third between 1970 and 2010 before declining sharply, a trend linked to the disease Trichomonosis. In winter, migrant influxes from Fennoscandia boost the population, and Chaffinches often join mixed-species flocks to feed in environmentally managed farmland.
Ornithology, British Trust for. ‘Chaffinch’. BTO - British Trust for Ornithology, 7 April 2015. www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/chaffinch.
Bath time
IMG_0879
A Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), bathing in the 'Coach Wash', Saltram House (National Trust), Plymouth, Devon, GBR.
The Chaffinch, one of Britain and Ireland’s most widespread birds, was recorded across 94% of the UK during the Bird Atlas 2007–11, primarily inhabiting gardens and woodlands.
Present year-round, the brightly coloured male and the more subdued female are familiar sights at feeders, with the species' distinctive, melodic song common during breeding. Breeding numbers rose by a third between 1970 and 2010 before declining sharply, a trend linked to the disease Trichomonosis. In winter, migrant influxes from Fennoscandia boost the population, and Chaffinches often join mixed-species flocks to feed in environmentally managed farmland.
Ornithology, British Trust for. ‘Chaffinch’. BTO - British Trust for Ornithology, 7 April 2015. www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/chaffinch.