Local Hawfinches 1st March 2025

As those of you who read my blog will know my usual go to place for Hawfinches is Parkend in The Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.This requires a ninety minute drive and now, due to the ever increasing recreational disturbance at Parkend,  results in immense frustration as the Hawfinches are constantly disturbed and fly off. It was therefore welcome to learn of the discovery of some Hawfinches in a quiet and old churchyard at the back of Woodstock, a genteel town not far from my home in Oxfordshire

Woodstock is well known due to being adjacent to Blenheim Palace, in the grounds of which was also a good place to see Hawfinches but sightings died off there many years ago. More recently others were found amongst the ancient yews of another old churchyard in Great Tew also in Oxfordshire but their appearances were typically erratic. 

Some years seem better than others for sighting this most secretive of finches and this recent winter period appears to have been a good one. This has resulted in a large number of reports of Hawfinches being seen throughout England including a truly exceptional four hundred plus seen leaving their roost, in, you guessed it, yews at Kingley Vale Local Nature Reserve in West Sussex 

Despite their bulk and fierce gaze they are shy, self effacing birds that like nothing better than to hide in the dark interior of mature yew trees using their massive bills to split the stones in the yew berries.They are the only bird capable of digesting the highly poisonous kernels which are an important food source for them in the winter months.

A report of two or three Hawfinches being seen on Friday in the mature yews growing in the small Hensington Road Cemetery, a welcome oasis of greenery tucked away amongst housing at the back of Woodstock, prompted me to make an early morning visit on Saturday.Woodstock being a popular tourist town due to its proximity to Blenheim is a difficult place to park a car.There is one free public car park but it is normally full of cars well before 9am, so on a very cold, frostbound but sunny morning I made sure I arrived early at 7am.

I had no problem parking and donning gloves and woolly hat to repel the cold  made the short walk to the cemetery further down the road, turning through an open gate and taking the paved path through the brooding yews. I could see no one else, not even another birder and stood quietly in the shadow of a yew listening for the calls of Hawfinches or perhaps even a sighting. I thought I heard one call its distinctive tzik tzik but could not be sure.Sightings here are, according to previous reports always brief as they fly from yew to yew or arrive in two tall, bare trees that border the cemetery on either side and which allow them to survey the yews below before descending to feed.

I decided to stand and await developments, regularly checking the two tall trees.The tree to my right looked the best bet but the topmost twigs only harboured a few Starlings and a Chaffinch..I was joined by another Oxonbirder who told me he had ssen a Hawfinch a minute ago at the other end of the cemetery which had flown in my direction. We stood, not quite sure what to do as the sun slowly permeated the shadows of the yews and illuminated the ancient gravestones. 

We discussed how many Hawfinches we thought were present, there were three yesterday but so far only one had been seen today and not by me! Our number grew to three as another local birder joined us.Instinctively and more in hope than expectation I checked the tall tree on my right and found, along with the regular Starlings a distinctive big headed, short tailed finch perched on one of the outermost and highest twigs of the tree, silhouetted by the sun 

There's one! I exclaimed and indeed it was. 

A quick result and one that brought immense pleasure.To see a Hawfinch however briefly or distantly is always a thrill. Any birder will tell you this.

We watched it for a couple of minutes before it flew down into an adjacent back garden and of course became invisible. 

We remained, waiting for movement amongst the yews that might betray the presence of other Hawfinches but the situation was complicated by the presence of a number of Goldfinches and Greenfinches that also seemed to find the yews attractive to feed in and many a false alarm was occasioned by their visible presence in and amongst the yews.

Mind you it was a pleasure to see the Greenfinches which have become rather scarce as a result of a deadly disease called Trichomonosis, caused by a parasite that infects the mouth, throat and oesophagus and results in the infected bird, unable to feed or drink, starving and ultimately dying. Since the first discovery of the disease in 2000 the Greenfinch population in Britain has halved. Thankfully the Greenfinches I saw this morning were in robust health. The males looking particularly attractive in the bright sunshine.

Male Greenfinch

Various random sightings of Hawfinches came and went, all were brief, sudden and unexpected as they flew from yew to yew. I soon realised that our only chance of viewing them for more than seconds was to wait for one to fly up into either of the two tall, bare trees..Hawfinches being the ultra cautious bird they are almost always seek the tops of the highest trees first to re-assure themselves all is well before descending.

Female Hawfinch

On a number of occasions a Hawfinch perched in one of the two tall trees for a prolonged period and this gave an opportunity  for a few photos, albeit distantly.I estimated there were three present, a male and two females.

We hung around for another hour but the sightings became less and less and eventually it looked like they had departed. 

As usually happens in such cases each of us decided in our own time to call it a day. I being the last to depart at just before 9am..

The Hawfinches were seen again briefly by another observer in the mid afternoon