Hawfinch Hordes

 Another Sunday of county treachery I'm afraid in the company of my brother David and one that brought some decent results for us. A notable drop in temperature brought us a foretaste of winter after what has been quite a mild spell and we also had to contend with some heavy rain showers. Our day began in the Brecks before taking in both the Ouse and Nene Washes.

Brambling and Hawfinch.

Lynford Arboretum was our first port of call and our primary goal here was to find some of the Hawfinches which have been reported in the area. First finch to attract our attention was however Brambling, David picked out the first of at least half a dozen feeding on the ground in the company of some Chaffinches. It didn't take us too long to reach the area favoured by the Hawfinches and we got views of one almost as soon as we arrived. Looking through the scope revealed several more in the tops of the trees and the numbers fluctuated a little as some birds dropped down and others flew in. When something caused the birds to take flight a surprising total of about thirty five was guesstimated by a birder next to me, there certainly did seem to be a lot of them! Other birds noted in the general area included Fieldfare, fifty plus Siskins and several Marsh Tits.

Whooper Swan and Black-tailed Godwits

Our travels next took us along to Welney where a heavy shower of rain delayed our start somewhat. Once it had eased a little we headed to the visitor centre from where a decent sized group of Tree Sparrows were noted. On the reserve itself Whooper swans were perhaps the highlight, about forty were present. Several hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits were noted while other waders on site included Dunlin, Golden Plover and Redshank. Pick of the ducks were a good sized number of Pintails while the best raptors were a couple of Marsh Harriers.

Pochard and Teal

Final stop of the day was the wind magnet that is Eldernell and the place lived up to its reputation though thankfully the rain did at least stay off here. David picked out a group of five Cranes feeding distantly, an eventual total of at least seven were found. Not much else to report from here other than a few more Whoopers and at least two more Marsh Harriers. Most of today's pics are of the record shot variety but I suppose they're better than nothing.

Cranes.