Latin name: Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Length: 16cm

Where: Inchcailloch; along National Cycle Route 7; in Tyndrum Community woodland; parks and gardens

When: All year round

In winter and spring you often see the rosy glow of a flock of bullfinches hanging like Christmas baubles in the branches of garden shrubs and fruit trees. They are looking for buds – their favourite food – although seeds and berries will do if buds are in short supply. They like to eat their food directly from the branches. You can see their coal-back heads bobbing this way and that as they manipulate the buds to get at the tender centres. Their true habitat is woodland edge and forests, where the only clue to their presence is often the soft whistles and warbles they make as they move through the trees.

Find out more at:

www.rspb.org.uk