An unexpected Hawfinch

 Walking through Halldale Wood this morning I noticed a movement in the very top of an Ash tree, i though it would be a Great Spotted Woodpecker which I could hear calling and was very surprised when it finally showed enough of itself to see that it was a male Hawfinch.

In the late 1990's when I first moved to Darley Dale Hawfinch sightings were fairly regular and I even saw them from the garden several times flying across the woods below Hallmoor Road, Gradually the frequency of sightings decreased until by 2010 they appeared to be lost as a breeding bird in the area.

In the winter small numbers are still recorded at Cromford but numbers have also declined there with just one or two birds present the last couple of winters.

In December 2017 there was an influx of Hawfinch in to Britain from the Continent and a single bird was found in the Whitworth Park in December which increased to 7 by the end of the year. In the New Year birds were seen at St Helens Church which were present in to March with a peak count of 51 birds. Hopes were high that some of these birds would stay to breed but all departed during the early Spring of 2018.

This mornings record of a male is therefore very interesting and is hopefully an indication that there is still at least one breeding pair in the area. Fingers crossed anyway.

Hawfinch flying in the tree canopy - not a great photo but good enough as a record

Whilst in Halldale I photographed a female Pied Flycatcher bearing a metal BTO type ring. It looks like it's a British ring as the middle line of the ring looks to contain 'SW7' and the upper line presumably is 'British Museum'. I've never seen any ringing in Halldale so I'm fairly confident it wasn't rung there so it would be interesting to know where it has come from.

Pied Flycatcher female, I've inverted the ring in the inset image