I had never seen any Ash seed predators, until today I spied a charm of Goldfinches atop a weeping ash tree in the park. The Goldfinches were sitting on bunches of keys chomping away at them. I was so surprised I checked sure they were eating the seeds and not the buds or just loitering on the tree. But, yes, they were manipulating the seeds with their bill (bottom photo). I could only find a photo of goldfinches feeding on ash keys (here). The coat of the ash seeds seems quite tough and leathery so that shows how versatile goldfinch bills are, not only extracting tiny seeds like teasel, birch or alder from their pods, but also dealing with these.
UPDATE 18/01/2014
I watched another flock in a different Ash tree today. I photographed an individual using its foot to hold the whole seed while it pecked it with its bill. Photos follow.
