A small family of Green finches booted off the resident sparrows from the sunflower heart feeder today and seeing as there are only two parking spaces they indulged in a bit of mid-air refuelling for those that couldn't land. I assume that the bird in flight is a youngster – it certainly looks more speckled and drab overall, and it makes sense for the parents to be feeding it still if it only recently fledged.

Finches are in general distinguished by their big, powerful bills, ideal for crushing seeds and the like (though they're getting an easy ride from these sunflower hearts). This next picture shows a particularly good example of just how chunky that bill is. Personally I wouldn't mess with that finch on the left!