The twite is a small brown bird from the finch family. In Ireland it is a very rare breeding species, found only in coastal bogs in Mayo and Donegal. The twite builds its nest in a bush and lays five or six light-blue eggs. Treeless moorland is the favoured habitat for breeding and it feeds mostly on seeds.

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The decline of the twite in Ireland is attributed to changes in agricultural practice including overgrazing of heather hillsides and it is categorised as red-listed due to the reduction in breeding population.

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Image (c) by MPF used under Creative Commons License BY-SA 3.0.