How to attract Greenfinches to your garden

There are a number of ways you can try to attract the Greenfinch to your garden, including putting out the right food, planting certain plants in your garden and ensuring nesting materials or nesting locations are available.

Food

Greenfinches eat a variety of seeds including sunflower heats, black sunflower seeds, rosehip seeds and peanuts. We have a great article on what to feed Greenfinches here.

Circa 100 years ago, in the early 1900s, Greenfinches did not visit UK gardens too often. They stuck to woodland but now visit gardens more as food has become more readily available.

There are a number of plants and flowers you can grow in your garden to try and entice the Greenfinch to become a regular visitor.

Garden Plants & Flowers

Growing sunflowers is a great way of providing Greenfinches and many other garden birds with a natural food source . After they have flowered, leave the heads up. Birds will cling to the plant and peck out the seeds until the head has been stripped!
A single sunflower provides a surprisingly large amount of seeds too!

Greenfinches eat seeds from the Yew and Hawthorn, having these in the garden can help to attract them. But they are more likely to be attracted to these if in the countryside rather than built up areas.

Nesting

If you have spotted or heard a Greenfinch near by to your garden, it is likely you have a resident close by. Ensuring Greenfinches have access to nesting materials is a way of encouraging them to nest close to your garden.

Greenfinches use moss, twigs, horsehair and lichen predominantly in their nests. They like to nest in hedges, bushes and trees, but prefer dense shrubbery and hedges the most.

Other ways to encourage Greenfinch activity in your garden are to generally have some shrubbery, nearby trees or bushes for them to land on. A garden with a few low borders and fencing won’t attract many as they have no where to fly to and land after feeding on your feeders.