Monday 4 February 2013

Catch up time.....

Today I decided at last to travel over to Norton sub Hamdon near Yeovil. There have been sightings of Hawfinch reported there for a couple of weeks now & with reasonable weather,today seemed as good a day as any to visit.
Hawfinch is a fairly scarce bird in the county & I have only ever seen one before at Bruton a couple of years ago. On pulling up in Rectory lane, I saw a couple of other birders present so decided to ask where to go. I was then informed that if I look to my right, about 10m away, I would see one (thanks Brian). Over the next couple of hours staking out the Yew tree in the corner of the rectory garden, I saw & photographed these chunky finches with the 600mm on a car door mount. They were by no means easy, & spent long periods of time deep in the undergrowth. They did however venture out into the open a few times, on occasion hovering to pick a berry from above them (missed that shot a few times). I left after the entire avian contents of this tree were flushed by a male Sparrowhawk.
There was a few shots already on my hard drive that were not enough for a blog post on there own,so they have been festering there waiting for a few more to bulk out a post here they are.




The Great white Egret that has been hanging around on Catcott lows.



The juvenile Rosy Starling at Exminster in Devon






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