The species can be surprisingly skulking and on passage, singing males are often concealed deep within buckthorn or thick vegetation. The majority of birds that reach Britain are sub-adult, and males rarely have the bright red on the head and upper breast that they gain in full adulthood. Autumn individuals are much streakier and are possibly one of the most nondescript and uninspiringly plumaged migrants that visit our shores. In an average year, about 40 are recorded in spring and about 75 in autumn, but the vast proportion of these are found on the Northern Isles and Scilly. Rosefinches in Spring Common Rosefinches are noted in spring between the 10th May and 10th July, with the majority appearing in the Northern Isles in June.
Sightings generally follow a period of south-easterly winds.
Rosefinches in Autumn Common Rosefinches are noted in autumn between the 24th August and 30th October, with up to 75 being recorded in an average autumn. As in spring, the majority of sightings are confined to the Northern Isles, where the Sumburgh area, Fair Isle and North Ronaldsay monopolise most of the occurrences. Elsewhere, small numbers are restricted to various east and south coast localities, with the best chance of connection on the Isles of Scilly in October. Here, birds congregate with flocks of Linnet and Goldfinch in fields at Borough Farm, Maypole, the Silver Trail, Penninis Head and Pelistry on St Mary's and in the Borough Farm fields on Tresco.