Linnet
UK status:
Resident breeder, 85% population decline in last 1960-2010
Status at Abbey Farm:
Present throughout the year
Notes from Abbey Farm:
- In our monitoring of wintering birds on arable land, the majority of Linnets were on unsprayed cereal stubble. As they seem to make little use of wild bird cover these stubbles are their most important wintering habitat at Abbey Farm
- In early autumn we can get large flocks (up to 450) on winter oilseed rape stubble
- There are communal roosts in bushy hedges during the winter, including in Japanese Privet – the non-native privet which keeps its leaves over-winter
- census work in the 1990’s seemed to show nesting Linnets particularly like double hedges or hedge intersections. They also seem to like overgrown hedges
- Linnets use some supplementary bird feeding in the spring
- Linnets use some sites rich in arable weeds such as cultivated ground for ground-nesting birds and organic green manures. In early summer they also feed on the seeds of cultivated Corn Gromwell