Bullfinch  (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

Between 1968 and 1991 there was a massive 75% decline in bullfinch numbers on farmland and a 47% decline in woodland in the same period (4). The precise causes of this decline are not yet known, but the following factors are thought to be involved. In the last 50 years there has been a general trend of removing trees and hedgerows in agricultural land, and of over-trimming the remaining hedges. This has removed nesting sites and food sources for the bullfinch. In common with most farmland birds, other changes in agricultural practices such as the loss of winter stubble fields and increased use of herbicides have impacted on the bullfinch. Furthermore, despite being protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it was legal to trap and kill bullfinches as pests until recently. After new licensing laws came into force in 1996, trapping is now only permitted under licence once serious damage has been proven and no other alternatives exist (4).

As the bullfinch was not recognised as a species of conservation concern until recently, very little conservation work has been focused on it. It may have benefited from general measures such as the creation and management of broadleaved woodland. Agri-environment schemes such as Countryside Stewardship encourage sympathetic hedgerow and field margin management that will help the bullfinch, as will the new Hedgerows Regulations. The bullfinch is a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, the plan aims to halt the decline by 2003 and promote a recovery of numbers (4).