Specialised in seeds and buds: - Spring: buds of fruit trees (pear, cherry, apple), ash and birch — can cause damage in orchards. - Autumn and winter: rowan berries, rosehips, hawthorn, apple, birch seeds.
The Eurasian Bullfinch eats the seed kernel and discards the husk — these fall like red flakes beneath the rowan tree. Unlike most finches, the bullfinch feeds its young on seeds rather than insects, carrying the food in a special pouch in the floor of its mouth.