I noticed Redwings were flying in from the east in small flocks, with about 35 seen plus a couple of Mistle Thrushes but no Fieldfares.
Quite often luck plays a big role in finding wildlife, today was no exception, above the noise of a passing HGV I heard a bird calling, the call was the sort that made me think "I know that" but "what is it", looking up I saw three brutish looking birds fly towards, then over and past me heading SE, immediately they could only be one species, the broad white bar on the underwing, heavy front end and short squarish tail, and that call! all said HAWFINCH.
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Hawfinch
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
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Although there is a decent breeding population in the UK there has been an influx of Hawfinch into the country from the continent, tied in I think with the stormy weather experience in October, which also affected Europe.
I've seen them "properly", that's to say feeding on the ground in the Forest of Dean they are brutes, and according to those working on the several ringing projects they hurt a lot when they bite with that cherry stone cracking bill.
I have never had the opportunity to photograph the species myself so I've used two shots from Wikipedia under their "free to share and use" license
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Hawfinch, the bill has an applied force of c50kgs
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
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