Linnet Original Gouache Painting

Linnet Painting

The linnet, scientific name Linaria cannabina, is a small passerine finch native to Europe, western Asia, and parts of North Africa, noted for its melodic song. Adult males display a distinctive pink flush on the crown and breast during the breeding season, contrasting with their otherwise streaked brown plumage, while females and juveniles lack this vivid colouration. The species is strongly associated with open countryside, favouring heathland, farmland edges, and scrub, where it forages primarily on the seeds of weeds and herbaceous plants, including dandelion, chickweed, and sorrel. Once widespread and abundant in the British Isles, the linnet has undergone significant population declines over the past half-century, largely due to agricultural intensification and the loss of weedy fallows, leading to its current classification as a Red List species of conservation concern in the United Kingdom. Outside the breeding season, linnets gather in large flocks, sometimes alongside other finch species, with a characteristic undulating flight.
Did you know? The linnet was once highly prized as a cage bird in Britain, not only for its sweet, warbling song but also because it could be trained to mimic the notes of other species, a practice that contributed to local declines before wild bird trapping was outlawed.

Artwork Specifications

• Original artwork
• Gouache paint and coloured pencil on high-quality 300gsm watercolour paper
• A4 – 29.7 × 21 cm (11.7 × 8.3 inches)
• Signed on the front
• Certificate of authenticity included
• Unframed. If you would prefer the painting framed prior to shipping, please see the available framing options here.

Fine art giclée prints available here