The Linnet was first spotted on the cliff in early April 2002, although it could well have been there for a while without my noticing.
Both males and females were prominent for the rest of the month, and after a quiet May, they re-appeared in numbers in June and July, only to vanish again at the end of October.
TheLinnetsreturned towards the end of March 2003. They are surprisingly difficult to see against the gravelly cliff and so the first sighting is often of the group flying away because you have disturbed them. I have managed to get a few more pictures though, which illustrate the difference in plumage between the sexes. All the pictures will enlarge.
Photograph (above - August 2003)
Photographs (left) - June 2006
Photographs (right) - July 2003
Photograph (left) - April 2004
The picture on the right shows a youngster being fed. The two on the left a male in full breeding plumage.
Photograph(right) - August 2003
Photographs (left) - August 2006
Finally, this may not be the best picture on the page but it does represent the one and only sighting so far of a Linnet in the garden. It was picking the seeds off a dandelion head and, as you can see from the denuded seedhead in the foreground, I got the picture in the nick of time!
