A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Collective Nouns

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By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Their underparts are a pale yellow-buff colour, and instead of the vivid yellow wing bars seen on adults, in juveniles it is a more indistinct shade of brownish-yellow. Pairs form in late winter, and it’s unlikely that the same pair will reunite and raise young together again.

A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Collective Nouns A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Collective Nouns

from the IntroductionWhether you're an animal lover or a grammar geek, illustrator Matt Sewell has the perfect menagerie of beasts (and beast-related terms) for your reading pleasure. Due to the wide availability of their favourite foods in back garden bird feeders, goldfinches no longer need to travel far to find enough food to help them survive winter, so it’s not uncommon to still be able to enjoy their colourful presence and hear their familiar song throughout the year. At close range, the sexes can be distinguished by the size of the red facial patch, with the female’s not extending past the eyes as it does in males of the species. Illustrated in inimitable watercolor, this book makes a great gift for nature and art lovers everywhere.

That geese in flight are also referred to as ‘a team’ or ‘a wedge’ both reflect the graceful birds’ distinctive mode of travelling en masse. They are fairly secretive birds, and with a maximum 1,000 breeding pairs in the UK, sightings would certainly count as memorable.

Goldfinch - British Trust for Ornithology Goldfinch - British Trust for Ornithology

Goldfinches are present throughout the UK, and are only missing from the most mountainous regions of the Scottish Highlands. Results from the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch confirms the trend with the goldfinch holding the number 6 position for the last three years. Goldfinch eggs are white and finely spotted and they take two weeks to hatch, in this time the male collects food for the female to enable her to incubate the eggs almost continuously. All these and more are portrayed in this enchanting new book by much loved artist Matt Sewell, playing on the theme of collective nouns for animals.Given their gregarious nature you would expect them to co-operate but nothing could be further from the truth. A seed-eating finch, widespread throughout much of the UK, linnets are a colourful presence on heathlands and scrublands, particularly in coastal areas or in hedgerows on agricultural land, where they feed on weed seeds, including dandelion and dock, around the edges of cultivated fields. Goldfinches also like to bathe regularly and their enthusiastic approach to washing is great to watch.