Hawfinch - Willersley Castle, Cromford

Better luck this morning, 6 Hawfinch dropped in to the Yew trees by the entrance to Willersley Castle early this morning, they left after a few minutes and flew in to a tree by the river where they were joined by several more. They left the tree in two groups, a party of nine followed by a further seven making sixteen in all.
The light was terrible early on, these photos are taken at ISO3200, which a few years back would have been impossible.
For the rest of the morning I saw them in smaller groups high up on the tree line near the Castle Hotel entrance.
It will be interesting to see what Roy Frost has to say about the changing status of the Hawfinch in the imminent publication of the 'Birds of Derbyshire'. They have certainly all but gone from Darley Dale where I used to see them regularly until about 3 years ago.

Hawfinch - male top and two female