Spotlight on Linnets

This month: linnets (Linaria cannabina)

Today I thought I'd focus on a species that, after many months of frustration, I've been lucky enough to photograph multiple times lately - the common linnet (Linaria cannabina). A small passarine bird of the finch family, the linnet derives its name from its fondness for both hemp and flax seeds (flax is the english name for the plant from which linen is made). It is a small, slim finch, once very popular as a cage bird due to its melodious song (now, fortunately, illegal due to its Wildlife and Countryside Act schedule 1 status . Males are attractively marked with crimson foreheads and breasts, females are much browner. It has an undulating flight, usually twittering as it flies and may be seen in large flocks during the winter.

The common linnet breeds in Europe, the western Palearctic and North Africa. It is partially resident, but many eastern and northern birds migrate farther south in the breeding range or move to the coasts. In the UK they are still resident over heathland across much of the uk although I had personally never seen any until coming to cumbria where i've been lucky enough to see them sporadically all year round. However, Like many species that i feature on here and on facebook, populations of linnets are declining quite rapidly in the UK. Between the 1960s and 1980, populations declined by over 50%, attributed to the herbicides being used by the aggricultural industry at the time, then declined a further 62% between 1980 and 2009, with this latest decline attributed to aggressive farming methods and hedge trimming, thus resulting in a red UK conservation status.