Twite

Seen one? Add it to your free UK BirdedexHear its song and see the mapFree, no app download. Rare bird: +8 points when you log it.

Twite in the UK

Twite breed in the UK and stay all year, moving to the coast for winter. The breeding population is put at 7,850 pairs (2013), with almost 98% in Scotland: the Northern Isles, the Hebrides, the western seaboard and parts of the Highlands. Small numbers hang on in the Pennines, North Wales and the Southern Uplands. English breeders fell by 72% between 1999 and 2013, and the breeding range across Britain has shrunk by about a fifth since the late 1960s. Red listed.

Where and when to see a Twite

Easiest on Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides, where flocks feed on crofts, weedy field edges and shorelines all year. RSPB The Oa on Islay also holds them. In England look from October to March on saltmarsh and strandlines. Pennine breeders winter on the east coast, mostly between Lincolnshire and Essex, and flocks also use the Lancashire coast. A rising tide pushes feeding birds off the marsh and closer to the sea wall.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Uplands (summer); coast (winter).
Diet: Seeds.
Field note: "Twite" call; declining fast.

How to identify a Twite

Linnet-sized, about 13 cm, with a slightly longer, more forked tail. Streaked tawny-brown above and along the flanks, with a warm buff face and throat. It lacks the Linnet's grey head, chestnut back and whitish throat. The bill is yellow in winter and grey in summer. Males have a pink rump, hard to see unless the wings droop. A thin pale wing bar and white edges to the flight feathers show in flight. Flocks rise together, bounce around and drop back into the same weed patch.

Call and song

Named for its call: a nasal, twanging 'tweeit' or 'chweek', harsher than any Linnet note. Flocks keep up a hard, dry twitter in flight. The song is a fast rattling twitter with buzzing notes mixed in. Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Common Linnet: Linnet has a grey bill all year, a whitish throat and a plainer chestnut-brown back, and its flight call is a softer, bouncing 'tig-ig-it'.
• Lesser Redpoll: Redpoll has a red forecrown and a small black bib, and feeds in birch and alder rather than on the ground in open country.

Related guide Bird migration in Britain.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Twite is a Rare tier bird, worth +8 points when you log one. It is Red-listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 5, the highest level of concern in the UK.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Common LinnetCommon · Heaths
• MerlinUncommon · Moorland (summer); coast (winter)
• Red-throated DiverUncommon · Lochs (summer); coast (winter)
• Iceland Gull (kumlieni)Rare · Coast (winter)
• DunlinCommon · Estuaries; uplands (summer)
• Eurasian CurlewCommon · Moorland (summer); estuaries (winter)

Twite: quick answers

Where can I see a Twite in the UK?

The Northern Isles and the Outer Hebrides are the most reliable places, at any time of year. Further south, winter is the season: check saltmarshes and shorelines on the Lancashire coast and around the Wash for small finch flocks. Inland in England they are now very hard to find.

Is the Twite rare in the UK?

It is scarce and local, and Red listed because of long-term decline. Scotland still holds thousands of pairs, but the English population in the South Pennines has shrunk to a tiny remnant that depends on conservation work on hay meadows and moorland edges.

What does a Twite eat?

Seeds, all year. In summer breeding birds rely on dandelion and sorrel in hay meadows and on road verges. In winter they switch to saltmarsh plants such as glasswort and sea aster. Unusually for a songbird, the chicks are fed on seeds too.

Kit that helps

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