My favourite hedgerow bird.

Bullfinches are my favourite hedgerow birds. They are monogamous, gentle and really beautiful - what's not to like about them? I love the male's song, it appears to consist of chords rather than notes and it is so delicate and always just on the edge of your hearing. Sometimes you question what you are hearing and then you realise it's a male Bullfinch singing. They are in my garden all year round and they breed some years, deep in cover in the Hazel hedges, but they rarely show right out in the open for me to photoghraph.
Today I spent an hour down in my little nature reserve just watching if anything was coming in to drink in my elevated pond in this humid weather. Very briefly both male and female Bullfinches came in for a quick drink and then disappeared - it's what they usually do, so no surprise!
I was going to call it a day becaus it's so uncomfortably hot in my wooden hide when suddenly out of nowhere a male Bullfinch landed right on one of my perches for about ten seconds. In my garden this is really unusual behaviour, they just don't do it, but I wasn't complaining - it was lovely to see him out in the open for once.

Notice the conspicuous white rump patch which always shows very prominently on male and female when they fly - always a good way to identify Bullfinches.