Booth Museum Bird of the Month, August 2019: Fringilla coelebs

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, is the Bird of the Month for August.

Chaffinches are one of the UK’s commonest birds. They were originally woodland birds, though they are now often seen in gardens. Chaffinch numbers increase during the winter in the UK, as the resident birds are joined by those from Scandinavia.

Male chaffinches claim a breeding territory in February. The females take over the territory in April during nesting and the male keeps his distance from her.

You may see more chaffinches in your garden in years when there are fewer beech seeds (mast). They will often be seen below bird feeders, scratching around for fallen seeds.