A sturdy, sociable finch, marked by yellow streaks along (but not across) wings and tail, with a distinctive large, pale orange-pink bill. Feeding flocks fly up in dense, synchronized groups when disturbed.

It is a bird of tall, overgrown, thorny hedgerows, orchards, old gardens, and parks, with plenty of trees and belts of tall, leafy trees such as limes and poplars. In winter Greenfinches move to open fields, the edges of saltmarshes and even lake shores where seeds are heaped up in the waterside drift by the wind. They often mix with Sparrows, Chaffinches and other seed-eaters such as Reed and Corn Buntings.