Fact file: linnet

Scientific name: Linaria cannabina

Family: finches

Description: sparrow-sized and the female is sparrow-coloured (see below) but the male has a grey head, red brow and a red breast (see above).

Habitat: rough ground and hedges: in the reserve look for them in the set-aside in Kestrel Field or Village Green, or in the wide hedges of Sleepers.

Nutrition: linnets are seed eaters

Population: 560,000 breeding territories; numbers fell by 57% between 1970 and 2014 due to modern farming practices and loss of habitat; the decline is slowing but the trend is still downwards.

UK conservation status: Red; Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

DYK: linnets used to be popular cage birds because of the male’s beautiful song. 

Audio: recorded by Thomas Berman (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) and downloaded from xeno-canto

Header image: Linnet by Joe Pell (CC BY 2.0) wikimedia.org)