Linaria cannabina
A small, sociable finch with a crimson flush and a delightful twittering song.
Size: 13-14 cm | Habitat: Farmland & Countryside Birds | Season: All year
A slim, small finch of farmland, heath, and scrub, the linnet is named for its fondness for flax and hemp seeds — "linnet" comes from the Latin for flax, linum. Breeding males develop a rosy-crimson forehead and breast, lost again by winter.
Small and slim · crimson forehead and breast (breeding male only) · grey head · chestnut-brown back · white flashes on wings and tail in flight
Linnets feed almost entirely on small seeds, especially from weeds like chickweed and dock, and gather in loose, twittering flocks outside the breeding season on farmland, heathland, and coastal scrub.
Linnets were once popular cage birds, prized in Victorian Britain purely for their pleasant, twittering song — a practice long since ended by law.
The Linnet (Linaria cannabina) is a small, sociable finch of farmland, heath, and scrub, named for its fondness for flax and hemp seeds — "linnet" comes from the Latin for flax, linum. Breeding males develop a striking rosy-crimson forehead and breast, lost again by winter.
Linnets feed almost entirely on small seeds from arable weeds such as chickweed and dock, and gather in loose, twittering flocks outside the breeding season. Like many farmland finches, their numbers have fallen sharply since the 1970s as herbicide use and the loss of weedy field margins reduced the seed supply they depend on.
Once prized as a cage bird purely for its song — a practice ended by law in the 20th century — the linnet's story has shifted from human exploitation to habitat loss as its main challenge, a pattern shared by several once-common British finches.
🔴 Conservation status: Red (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Red-listed under BoCC5 following a UK population decline of around 57% between 1970 and 2014, driven largely by the loss of weedy arable habitat and changes in farming practices.