Brambling
Key facts
Scientific name: Fringilla montifringilla
Status: Winter visitor, occasional breeder
Breeding birds: 0 – 2 pairs
Wintering birds: 45,000 – 1,800,000
Conservation status: Green
Length: 14 cm
Wingspan: 24 – 26 cm
Weight: 22 – 30 g
Description
Bramblings are medium sized finches with a black head and mantle and orange patches on their breast, shoulder and throat.
Underparts are brown and wings are black with white and orange bars.
Females are duller than males and juveniles are similar to females with dark head and grey cheeks.
Nesting
Bramblings mostly breed in Scandinavia and north west Russia. They have occasionally been known to breed in Scotland.
They site their nests high in trees and they are made from moss, lichen, heather, and cobwebs lined with feathers, soft grass, wool and hair.
5-7 smooth, glossy green-brown eggs are incubated by female bramblings for 11-13 days. The young birds fledge at 11-13 days.
Feeding
Bramblings eat seeds, berries, beech mast and insects.
During breeding season they will feed mainly in trees and in winter will form large flocks with other finches feeding on open farmland.
Where to see them
Look out for bramblings from mid-September to early April. They will be in woodlands and fields and will sometimes visit gardens during winter.
Listen
Fernand DEROUSSEN/xeno-canto
Did you know?
Bramblings have unpredictable migrations and birds that winter in the UK one year have been found in Italy the next.