Hawfinch - Whitworth Park, Darley Dale

My last record of Hawfinch in the Darley Dale area was in 2010, prior to then I had occasional sightings each year when they used to breed locally. 
This autumn there has been a huge influx of birds to the UK from the Continent, which must involve several thousand individuals. Locally there have been around 100 birds seen at Carsington and several dozen in the Ogston area but despite searching there had been none in the Darley Dale area until Simon Roddis found a female in the cemetery adjoining Whitworth Park on Saturday. 
I looked for it on Saturday and Sunday, during the persistent snowfall, without success but it was found again this morning by Alan Stewardson in the Whitworth Park. 
Fortunately I was nearby and saw it several times during the morning feeding with Redwing and Chaffinch below Yew and other conifers which were free of snow.
It will be interesting to see if these Continental immigrants stay to supplement the declining UK breeding population.

Hawfinch -female