Goldfinches on the Teasels (gouache style)

The goldfinch is a small finch with a red face, a black and white head and a broad gold bar across black wings that flashes as it flies. Its call is a light, liquid twitter. Goldfinches have fine, pointed beaks, ideal for picking seed out of teasel and thistle heads that heavier-billed finches find hard to reach. A group of them is called a charm, and they're often seen in small flocks outside the breeding season.

Teasel is a biennial, so sow it in spring or early summer for flower heads the following July and August. Leave the heads standing through autumn and winter for goldfinches to work over. Knapweed, field scabious and sunflowers are good seed plants to leave uncut too. At feeders they'll take nyjer seed and sunflower hearts. Finches are vulnerable to trichomonosis, a disease spread at feeders, so clean feeders and bird baths regularly and stop feeding for a few weeks if you see sick birds.

Three goldfinches feed on dry teasel heads in this late summer garden. The heads have dried and the seed is ripe, which is exactly when goldfinches start to arrive. That timing is why the moment was chosen: it shows what happens when a gardener leaves seed heads standing and lets the birds take over.