Young finches

The garden has been busy with birds all summer but, apart from the sparrowhawk, they have been missing from the blog recently, mostly displaced by foxes, otters, dragonflies, etc.  In the past couple of weeks there have been lots of very young-looking goldfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches, presumably from second broods.  The first young bullfinches always seem to appear here very late in the season and there are still several youngsters demanding to be fed by their parents.  Most of this activity goes on out of reach of the camera lens but this young bullfinch was patiently sitting in a yew tree, waiting for a parent to bring more food.

The BTO website says that bullfinches have two or three broods a year with first clutches laid as late as 21st July.  With a combined incubation and fledging time of 31 days this would fit in with these newly appearing birds.