Hawfinch (Dave Hutton)
Having had to abort a meeting in London because of the snow, I was working at my PC and glancing out of the window at the throng of tits and Chaffinches and Greenfinches on my feeders hoping to perhaps get the first Brambling of the year, when a bird sitting partly obscured in a small hawthorn caught my eye. All I could see was a dull pinkish breast as it faced towards me, but it looked a bit bulky and alarm bells started ringing! I grabbed the bins and, sure enough, I was looking at a fine male HAWFINCH! Although close to the feeders, it seemed uninterested in them and flew off to the top of a big ash tree and then left.
I was lucky enough to have three sightings of Hawfinch in the garden over the winter of 2005/2006 when there were good numbers in the country generally, but it was not a bird I ever expected to see here again.
It takes my garden year list to 61 species (Phil Tizzard)
