Hawfinches.
17th March 2015
At last spring is on its way and the first trickle of migrants are arriving in the UK.
Northern Wheatears are very early this year with birds already on upland sites. Some Chiffchaffs have arrived, although its hard to tell if they have overwintered or not and a few Willow Warblers are here, again very early this year. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are singing, march is their most vocal month, but very hard to pin down, they must be grossly under reported. Later this month hopefrully Ring Ouzels will arrive at their breeding sites in the beacons.
There is one of my favourite birds that spends all year round in the UK and that is the Hawfinch, in winter their numbers are also swelled by migrants coming from the north. There have been a few seen in the Forest of Dean this passing winter and they have been feeding under some yew trees for a few weeks now, nevertheless still very hard to see. I know most of the sites there and I am familiar with their present location, so I went over yesterday to try and locate them. I was on site at first light but the morning was very grey and unsettled with frequent drizzly showers, not the best conditions for photography. However, I set up and stayed in my car with a lens on a beanbag just waiting to see if they would come down to feed in the ground litter. I could hear their distinctive calls and after some time one or two dropped down briefly to feed, as usual they were very wary and shot back up into the yews at the slightest sound.
Their behaviour and the horrible weather was very challenging, but I was able to get a few record shots of these beautiful birds just coming into their breeding plumage. This was also my first shoot with my new kit, so a baptism of fire in some respects.
Please see Latest Images, Hawfinches.
Northern Wheatears are very early this year with birds already on upland sites. Some Chiffchaffs have arrived, although its hard to tell if they have overwintered or not and a few Willow Warblers are here, again very early this year. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are singing, march is their most vocal month, but very hard to pin down, they must be grossly under reported. Later this month hopefrully Ring Ouzels will arrive at their breeding sites in the beacons.
There is one of my favourite birds that spends all year round in the UK and that is the Hawfinch, in winter their numbers are also swelled by migrants coming from the north. There have been a few seen in the Forest of Dean this passing winter and they have been feeding under some yew trees for a few weeks now, nevertheless still very hard to see. I know most of the sites there and I am familiar with their present location, so I went over yesterday to try and locate them. I was on site at first light but the morning was very grey and unsettled with frequent drizzly showers, not the best conditions for photography. However, I set up and stayed in my car with a lens on a beanbag just waiting to see if they would come down to feed in the ground litter. I could hear their distinctive calls and after some time one or two dropped down briefly to feed, as usual they were very wary and shot back up into the yews at the slightest sound.
Their behaviour and the horrible weather was very challenging, but I was able to get a few record shots of these beautiful birds just coming into their breeding plumage. This was also my first shoot with my new kit, so a baptism of fire in some respects.
Please see Latest Images, Hawfinches.