Rosefinch: the invasion

Today I spent late afternoon/evening at Stevns Fyr (Stevns Lighthouse), about an hour south-west of Copenhagen. A few days ago a couple of Rosefinches were reported and I thought I'd try to see if they were still around. Rosefinches are a bit of an enigma. They are pretty rare in the UK and most of the records are young birds which are very drab brown looking things.. Rarely is the UK graced with a spectacular red adult male. In Denmark, Rosefinches are officially "scarce" ie more common than rare but not widespread. Even though the majority of records in Denmark are young birds, they do breed here in small numbers.

I arrived at about 4pm, a pretty quiet time in birding terms (birds are usually most active first thing in the morning and in the evening). There was no sign of any rosefinches but I did manage to see a Grey Partridge (only my second in Denmark), 6 Icterine Warblers and some House Martins nesting on cliffs (that's what they used to do before houses were built!). I walked up the coast admiring the Danish cliffs (they are not very high but in Danish terms they are mountainous) and, on my return, I immediately heard a Rosefinch singing. It was a young bird (2k as they call it here - a second calendar year bird, born last year), so very drab and brown. As I was watching it sing I heard a second bird singing only a few metres away. I moved towards the second bird and I was stunned to see a cracking red male singing on top of a bush.. wow! Then, just a few seconds later, a female popped up next to the male with the young male still singing.. that's 3 birds in the space of about 50 metres! All 3 continued to entertain for a couple of hours on and off.. when they weren't singing they were surprisingly elusive. It is the first time I have seen a red male so I was very pleased indeed.. I wasn't sure whether it was an adult - the red on the breast was limited so maybe a 3rd year bird? Views welcome. Hopefully they will breed.

Photos: the 'red' male; the pair; and the young male