Beautiful Plummage! A Prickly Customer

Beware the Scots’ secret weapon to defeat invading armies

“A brother of the dancing leaves” is Wordsworth’s poetical description of the greenfinch, with its green plumage showing a flash of yellow as it flies. One of our larger finches and “… far above the rest in joy of voice and pinion”, it has a loud twittering and wheezing song (“dzweee”). As for many birds, it is the male that shows the brighter plumage: olive-green with yellow edges to the outer primary wing and tail feathers and a yellow-green rump. The female is a more grey-brown and slightly streaked, with duller yellow trimming, and the juvenile is similar to the adult female but with darker streaks. On dull days individuals can appear very drab (almost brown in colour) but the yellow wing flashes are obvious in flight.