Linnet

The linnet is a small finch with a delicate, cone-shaped bill designed for eating seeds. Male linnets in breeding season are easy to recognise by their bright red foreheads and chests, grey heads, and chestnut-brown backs. Females and males outside the breeding season have streaky brown feathers. Both males and females have white edges on their tail and wing feathers, which are especially noticeable when they are flying. Their song is a cheerful, twittering sound often heard from high, visible spots. Linnets live in open countryside, preferring heathland, rough grassland, hedgerows, and scrubby areas across much of Europe and western Asia. In the UK, linnets are found widely but their numbers are falling. They live mostly in lowland areas where gorse and other thick bushes provide places to build nests. They move around depending on the season. Birds from northern areas travel south in winter, often gathering in large groups that feed on leftover crops and waste land.