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| Hawfinch on Yew tree, illustration |
A natural event is currently taking place across Britain that is
genuinely exceptional, and rather exciting for anyone with an interest
in birds. Every birder, me included, is well aware of the difficulty of finding and
seeing a
Hawfinch. One of the scarcest of
British breeding birds, a fleeting glimpse of one of these big beaked, shy and beautifully plumaged finches is normally all we birders can expect, but over the past few weeks many 1000s have been spotted ..its a proper 'irruption'!
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| Hawfinch sightings across the UK, 25/10/17 |
Hawfinches are birds of tall tree-tops or root clusters where windfall fruit seeds gather.
Those hefty beaks powered by strong jaw muscles can exert pressures that make cracking cherry pips and even olive stones a cinch. Mass movements of this kind or 'irruptions' are usually associated with dwindling food sources in a bird's native land as per
Waxwings (been a few of those about too) and this may well be the case here but another theory has been gaining credence for this unexpected influx - remember that storm
Ophelia?
Paul Stancliffe at the
British Trust for Ornithology, explained how, in many years living on the Isles of Scilly, he could
count on one hand the
hawfinches he saw. Last weekend there were 70. “Birdwatchers in southern Britain have enjoyed an influx of this large finch, almost certainly courtesy of ex-hurricane
Ophelia. “While
this huge storm was spinning anti-clockwise off the west coast of
Europe, it was sucking a stream of warm air northwards towards
Britain,
and presumably,
hawfinches, too. “The
hawfinches are
likely to be birds heading from breeding woodlands in
Central Europe to
the
Mediterranean, but were then pushed towards our shores.” (
Paul Stancliffe talking to the Daily Express, 22/10/17)
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| Hawfinch, East Lancashire, 27/10/17 (pic c/o Jen Coates) |
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| Hawfinch, Poole, 01/11/17 (pic c/o Brian Whally) |
They've now spread right across the country with scores of new daily records. Fantastic but I still haven't seen one! Hope to remedy that tomorrow with a trip to the arboretum at
Castle Howard where there are a reported 50 or so. I 'll post pics if I get anything decent but as well as the one above here's a few more of these big billed and elusive finches that have been seen up and down the country.
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| Hawfinch, Sandy, Beds, 31/10/17 (pic c/o rspb images) |
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| Hawfinch, Cotswolds, 03/11/17 (pic c/o Richard Tyler) |
I'll get my lens on one soon!
