Had a chance for some birding after tea the other night, wondering where to go,I got an e-mail from Birdguides -Hawfinch at Crown and Anchor, Kilnsea.
I've never seen a hawfinch before so after battling rush hour traffic, I got to Kilnsea for about 5.30.A beautiful Spring like evening.
There was initially no sign then another birder appeared and apparrently the hawfinch kept doing a circuit every 20minutes or so.
Almost immediately it appeared and flew to the top of a tree.I tried to get a shot, but there were branches in front of me so the camera focusssed on them and not the bird, but wow what a stunner!
It disappeared again for about half an hour then a plump bird appeared on some branches in almost direct sunlight, i went closer to check and sure enough it was the hawfinch.The sun spoilt the view but at least i managed a couple of shots.
I was joined by a couple more birders and a few more fleeting views.
Then the hawfinch flew up to a branch stayed in almost perfect pose for about 30 seconds.Its at times like this when digiscoping can be extremely frustrating i must have focussed on every twig and branch in view apart from the bird.When I got onto the bird it dropped down out of sight.
We were treated to great views of a song thrush in the meantime plus plenty of green finches, goldfinches and robins.A single siskin stopped briefly in the tree tops but the star of the show was the Hawfinch a very special and memorable bird.
