Proclamation!

After a couple of days of tentative rasping, last week this greenfinch announced his claim on my fir hedge. The yellowhammer, that sings continually down the bank, popped up to sing in the hedge for the first and last time. The waxeyes ignored him and went about their business in the hedge. It is more than three years since greenfinches claimed territory in my garden.
I love their sweet song and the curious rasping sound they make. Along with the grey warblers' quavering song it evokes for me hot summer days in the countryside of my youth.

I think this chap is a young one because he doesn't have much yellow on him.

Carduelis chloris