Street art showing green foliage behind the bare branches of a tree in Finsbury Park has been confirmed as a Banksy.

The elusive artist claimed the piece through his office, Pest Control, this morning (March 18).

The graffiti, in which green paint has been splashed onto a whitewashed wall so it looks like foliage behind a pollarded tree, was first spotted in Hornsey Road yesterday (March 17).

The mass of green appears above a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose.

Many instantly speculated that the piece, next to Christie Court, could be by Banksy – and around 24 hours after it first appeared, this has now been confirmed.

A series of pictures showing the mural was also posted to Banksy’s official Instagram account.

The first shows the building as it looked before yesterday – a bare tree with no graffiti behind it can be seen.

The second shows it as it looks now, and the third is a close-up of the piece, focusing on the figure holding a pressure hose.