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A bright finch with a red face and gold wing-flashes, seen in tinkling "charms".

How to spot it

A small, dapper finch about 12 cm, with a vivid red face, a black-and-white head, a warm brown body and broad gold bars across black wings. The sexes look alike.

Where it lives

Common across Europe, North Africa and western Asia in gardens, orchards, waste ground and woodland edges, wherever thistles and teasels seed.

What it eats

Small seeds, especially of thistles, teasel and dandelion, reached with its long fine bill; it also takes nyjer seed at feeders.

Song & behaviour

A liquid, tinkling twitter that gives its flocks the collective name a "charm". It is sociable and often feeds in bouncing groups on seedheads.

Nesting

The female builds a neat, deep cup of moss, lichen and wool near the end of a branch, often high in a tree.

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