Common rosefinch, Kendal

I wasn't expecting much when we decided to call in for a common rosefinch at Burneside near Kendal today, because the way it was being reported seemed to indicate that it was audible rather than visible in a private garden for most of the time. The suggested viewing area from Crook Road off Plumgarths Roundabout on the A591 did nothing to convince me that things were going to be any different than expected, with the bird just about audible in between the noise of traffic, in trees a third of a mile away to the north. In fact it was even worse than I had expected to be honest, I was expecting the bird to be out of sight but close, yet the reality was that it was out of sight but miles away.

However, I looked at a map and spotted a public footpath that headed north towards the trees where the singing was emanating from. Surely that would be closer? We set off along the footpath, through a farm yard and dodging a herd of cows with calves before arriving at the line of trees that we had previously seen in the distance. Almost immediately we heard the rosefinch singing and obviously quite close, in fact it was right above us! We had to move back to get a decent view of the tree. It still took about 30 minutes of fleeting glimpses of a flying bird before finally it flew out into the open and perched on a bare branch and started singing. Now it was a fabulous view with the sun in the perfect position, a really stunning bird. It stayed here for about 10 minutes before flying over the trees and away.

The bird has a ring on it's right leg which has been read and confirms that it was ringed as a 1st sum male on Fair Isle on 13/06/2022.

Only my second ever common rosefinch and both have been singing males of a species which in my experience has been very far removed from the slightly silly name of grotfinch given to it by some other birders who to be fair, are probably referring to juveniles in autumn rather than a stunning adult male!