I WAS carrying out a patrol on the Rifle Range Nature Reserve last week when I saw a pair of birds that took me back to my childhood. It was a pair of bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula). When I was growing up I was lucky enough to have a pair regularly visit my back garden feeding in the hedge. I would always run around the house looking for some binoculars so that I could watch them. It has been a while since I have seen any so I was delighted to make this sighting.

Perhaps one of the reasons I am so fond of this bird is due to the fact is easily identified and quite sticking. The male has a rosy-pink face and breast with a black cap, blue-grey back and a bright white rump.

For me it is their rosy-pink breast plumage that makes the bullfinch so instantly recognisable. The female is very similar but with much duller colours.

It has a very soft piping, some say mournful, call and is never too far from a cove to hide away in. It feeds on seeds and the buds of trees and feeds its young with insects. It can be found in woodland, orchards and hedgerows, but is best looked for on the edge of woodland.

Bullfinches usually nest in shrubs or bushes, such as blackthorn and hawthorn, in woodland, orchards or agricultural farmland.The nest is made between four and seven feet off the ground in cover and is made from fine twigs, moss and lichens, and lined with a thick layer of fine roots. They can raise one to three clutches a season with between four and seven eggs in each clutch. These beautiful little birds can be found all year round right across the British Isles except in the far north or west of Scotland.

However, even though they are well distributed their numbers are low and they are on the Red List of high conservation concern. The reason for their decline is very much related to their diet. In the 1950s the numbers of bullfinch were at a high, however due to the fact they eat the buds of trees they were having a massive effect on fruit farms. A single bullfinch can eat 30 buds per minute.

The solution to this problem was to trap the birds and dispose of them. Although trapping has now been vastly reduced the bullfinch is still struggling.

The reason for this is thought to be related to the loss of hedgerows which are important to bullfinches for both nesting and feeding. This problem is often added to by the way in which we now manage our remaining hedgerows. We tend to trim hedgerows much more frequently reducing their usefulness to the bullfinch. With all of this in mind I feel even more pleased that we have a pair using one of our nature reserves and really do hope that the efforts that are being made to conserve these areas will have a positive effect on bullfinch numbers. Then maybe others will be inspired by these colourful, shy little birds just as I was and still am.

By DAVID FARTHING