Uncommon resident and passage migrant.

In the nineteenth century major immigrations of Linnets to Britain were regarded as commonplace, these major immigrations no longer occur. They are susceptible to hard winters and in severe weather they migrate to south – western France and Spain. Their numbers fell after the hard winters of the early 1960’s. Despite a recovery in the late 1960’s, when they began exploiting the scrubby verges of roads and motorways, their numbers are now at an all-time low. This is due to the loss of seed bearing weeds in rural areas due to the efficient use of agricultural weed killers. 

They were confirmed as breeding from seven of Stevenage’s tetrads in the 1973 Breeding Atlas, from five in the 1992 Atlas but, from none in the 2012 Atlas. Records of possible breeding came from Norton Green in 2014.

The 2012 Winter Atlas confirmed their presence from the tetrad covering Boxbury Farm.

The Common Bird Census at Watery Grove recorded a pair holding a breeding territory in 1988.

The following large flocks have been recorded: 200 roosting at Box Wood on 12 February 1965; 156 at Box Wood on 26 March 1965; 300 at Box Wood on 11 December 1965; 200 roosting at Box Wood on 3 January 1966; 50 plus at the Old Sewage Works, Roaring Meg on 4 February 1967; 100 plus at Broaches Wood on 19 August 1974; 40 at Astonbury and 40+ at Fairlands Valley in April 1977; between 100 and 150 roosting at Box Wood in November and December 1979; 25 at Norton Green Tip on 1 May 1984; 50 at Norton Green on 25 September 1999; 20 to 30 at Norton Green Tip in the autumn of 2007; 50 at an unrecorded location in July 2013, 200 near Stevenage on 23 November 2011; 200 at a roost in east Stevenage in 2014; 150 plus at a regular roost at the Glaxo site in 2014; 40 plus at Aston End on 11 September 2014; 230 at the Glaxo site on 27 February 2015; 50 plus at Norton Green Tip on 4 August 2015.