This time of year can be a little uninspiring at times, with the drab grey sky and so few hours of daylight.

However, the hard frosts have produced a landscape fit for the cover of a Christmas card.

On a recent visit to the Rifle Range Nature Reserve during late afternoon, I was greeted by this spectacle. The sun was low in the sky, lighting up the frost covered heather.

It was bitterly cold standing still long enough to admire the beautiful landscape before me, but I have to admit it was a real treat to witness.

It was around this time that the silence was broken by the soft piping call of a group of bullfinches.

This is becoming quite a rare sight so I was keen to take a closer look at this flock of stunning little birds. Even if you don't recognise their call, once spotted they are truly unmistakable, with their vibrant contrasting red, black and white livery, although the most usual view is a fleeting glance of their white rump flitting into the trees.

They are present all year round, however it is at this time of year I have had most encounters with them. Their diet varies greatly with the seasons, during the autumn they concentrate on the seeds of herbaceous plants, with the onset of winter they feed largely on the seeds of trees and during spring they turn their attention to tree buds, particularly those of fruit trees, with a single bullfinch reportedly capable of taking up to 30 buds a minute.

It is this taste for fruit buds that has possibly played a part in them becoming such a rare sight and earning them a place on the RSPB's red list of threatened species.

During the 1950s and 60s there was a dramatic increase in the population of bullfinches to such an extent that in the 1950s they were perhaps one of the biggest problems the fruit industry had faced. This led to farmers trapping up to a 1,000 birds a year using cage traps. This went on for many years, but even this seemed to have little effect on their numbers until the 197's when bullfinch numbers quickly declined resulting in them being placed on the red list.

This means they are of high conservation priority with urgent action needed. There are 40 birds making up the list and in order to make it onto the red list, a species has to fulfil certain criteria. In the case of the bullfinch, its numbers have rapidly declined over the last 25 years leaving less than 50 per cent of its original population. Quite a sobering thought that in 25years we can lose half the population of an entire species. It would be a real shame if this inspiring natural wonder disappeared from our landscape completely, and I really hope it is around for many more generations to enjoy.

10:02am Friday 28th December 2007

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