Anyone seen a Pyrrhula pyrrhula?

Arguably the handsomest bird in the land is the male Bullfinch. Although historically rare in the west of the country, it does seem to be getting scarcer nationwide. The Common Bird Census indicates that the decline between 1968 and 1991 has been 75% on farmland and 47% in woodland, with a breeding population now of under 200,000.

The Bullfinch has never been a popular bird with fruit growers due to it's voracious spring appetite for tree buds: a flock of Bullfinches can strip an orchard in no time with a single adult removing 30 or more buds a minute. Indeed, as recently as 1996 a licence to kill Bullfinches was issued to commercial fruit growers in Kent. A Biodiversity Action Plan has been drawn up to (attempt) to arrest this decline.

Sources

Species Action Plan for Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) UK Biodiversity Action Plan http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=542#1

RSPB Birdguide http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/bullfinch/

Birds of Britain http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/bullfinch.asp