Linnet

Linaria cannabina

Linnets are one the most typical birds of open country. They love to hang out around a bit of gorse, bramble or other marginal scrub, close to the field edges and pasture that they like to feed in.  

Linnets are neat and compact finches, and in the spring the males look like they’ve been into makeup - a blush of pink on the chest and above the bill, a smart grey head, chestnut on the back and wings, and flashes of white in the wings and tail.

Considering their looks and the sweetness of their twittering, it’s unsurprising that they were one of the most commonly caught and caged birds in the Victorian era.  

Linnets are rather social throughout the year. So you might just come just across a pair, but it will just as easily be a small group, even in the breeding season. And perhaps because of this they are one of those birds that seems to be making a noise all the time, with birds chattering away to each other when they perched and when they fly. 

Now hands up: I’ve listened to a lot of Linnets in my life and I still find them tricky at times. The song and calls are a real flurry of quizzical little notes, and isolated notes in flight sound very like the calls of other finches. 

The landscape is often a good clue. You’re unlikely to find Linnets in dense woodland or in very built up areas. They prefer open spaces, especially where there are hedgerows or fringes of scrub.

In these places, the likeliest confusion is with Goldfinch. However, many of the Linnet’s sounds are lower pitched, and they often add a little series of nasal buzzes at end of the phrases. These are quite distinctive if you hear them. 

And fortunately Linnets like to sit right out on top of the gorse or the top of a hedge when they sing, often at human head height, or thereabouts. So if they are stationary and vocal, there’s a good chance you may be able to see them and confirm what kind of quizzical finch you are listening to.