I often get the impression that we take some of our birds for granted. If we saw birds like chaffinches while on holiday abroad, we'd be bowled over by their beauty. At home, however, their peaches, greens and golden stripes seem somewhat muted. If we're blind to the peachy breasts of the males, we definitely miss that underneath those wings is a back that's the most wonderful shade of green. 

Next time you look through a window or take a walk in your local neighbourhood, keep an eye out for these beautiful birds. With leaves dropping from the trees, this is a great time for spotting chaffinches and, if you're very lucky, you might also spot a flock of their relations, bramblings.

British chaffinches, familiar in gardens but traditionally a bird of woodlands, are relatively sedentary and pretty much stay put in their familiar surroundings. Their Scandinavian counterparts, however, are migratory and move through Europe as cold weather pushes them further afield in the search for food and shelter. Some arrive here in the UK so the birds you see in your garden and local greenspaces at this time of year may have flown a long way. Unlike our British birds, which stay together in breeding pairs, migrating chaffinches split up – males winter further north than females and juveniles, often congregating in large flocks that have earned them the nickname ‘bachelor birds’.

Their brambling relations also have itchy feet but how many of them arrive here in the UK fluctuates each year in relation to how much food remains back home and just how harsh the winter gets. Good numbers have arrived in the UK already this year so keep a look out if you're walking near beech trees as beechmast is one of their favourite foods. Bramblings share the peachy colouring of male chaffinches but they have bars of white, rather than golden yellow, on their wings. If you get a good look, you'll also see that they have darker tones, mottling on their backs and a more distinct peachy upper breast that compares with their whiter tummy. Males might show hints of the black head that they moult into for breeding in summer. 

All this movement and additional birds might lull you into a false sense of security. Numbers of chaffinches, however, have dropped significantly over the last few years. Whilst this year's State of Nature report looks at the decline across British wildlife, chaffinches alone have seen a 30% decrease between 2007 and 2018. Research into the causes of this decline is ongoing but it looks likely that a disease caused Trichomonosis lies at the heart of it. So, whilst we can give our feathered friends a helping hand by providing food and water in our gardens, it's really important to keep the feeding stations clean, washing regularly to reduce the chances of the disease spreading between birds. Take a look at the links below to see how else you can help wildlife where you live.