Return to Woodstock 8th March 2025

It seemed only sensible, well if you are an obsessive birder, to make another early morning visit to my current favourite cemetery in Woodstock to try and catch up with the Hawfinches that are currently frequenting the yew trees there. This current state of affairs is unlikely to persist for much longer as the birds will soon be dispersing to breed, possibly in the extensive grounds of nearby Blenheim Palace or maybe not in this country at all but, if they are winter migrants, somewhere on mainland Europe.

Like  my last visit it was a cold and sunny early morning start to secure a place to park in Woodstock's public car park and this having been achieved I was soon standing amongst the dark yews and ancient gravestones at just after 7am

Regrettably there was little sign of any Hawfinches either in the yews or in their two favourite tall trees that stand either side of the cemetery.There were plenty of Goldfinches and Greenfinches twittering and flitting busily in and out of the yews but that was not what I was here for.

After thirty minutes I became weary of standing and wandered down to the far end of the cemetery where a wall seals it off from the back gardens of a street of houses beyond. In the distance, well beyond the houses was another very large tree.with a complement of what looked like Starlings on its topmost twigs. At least I assumed they were Starlings, as at such range they were mere black dots and it needed my bins to confirm the fact. Just to their left was a smaller bird also perched high on the outside of the tree.In my bins it looked chunky but was way too distant to be sure what  it was and there was no chance I was going to claim it as a Hawfinch although I was desperately hoping it was.

What could be done? It was impossible to get closer to the distant tree, it would take forever to try and walk back into the town and locate the street where the tree was.The Hawfinch would have flown off long before.

Then it came to me

I remembered a handy trick I had learnt in such situations and by raising the camera with the lens at its maximum magnification took a few images of the mystery bird.Then by zooming the image to a greater size on the back of my camera, far greater than the magnification of my binoculars - bingo, there it was clearly identifiable as a Hawfinch by its bulky body, black bib and huge bill.

The very distant image I took of the Hawfinch, zoomed up on the computer. 

An excellent and relatively quick result, which certainly raised my spirits but would it fly to the cemetery? It was in no hurry and for a long time it remained in the tree looking about and then flew down behind the distant houses and that was that. Gone but certainly not forgotten.

With expectations high, as often happens a denouement ensued and for the next forty five minutes there was not a sign of any Hawfinches in the cemetery.I was joined by G and together we stood and chatted for want of anything better to do.

Our conversation ceased as a Hawfinch flew across the churchyard but disappeared into the yews.It is pointless pursuing them as they always see you before you see them and are gone in a flash.We stood and waited  and another landed ever so briefly on the very top of a yew right in front of us. It was gone even before we could raise our cameras.

Yet another flew above us and out of the cemetery and disappeared over the surrounding houses.

We speculated how many were here which is far from easy due to their sporadic appearances and the fact we never saw more than two together..I settled for between four to six but it could have been less or even more.

Then another landed at the top of a more distant yew but allowed enough time to get a couple of images as it looked around checking, as Hawfinches always seem to do, that all was well. 

It was obviously not sure as it flew to a larger bare tree, remaining perched there for a while and allowing what one calls a couple of 'record shots' (i.e not very good) but at least we were now getting some Hawfinch action and felt all the better for that.

The bird in the tree flew down into the cemetery and by some miracle of chance settled in a tangle of stems and remained fully visible.

We moved closer, using the yews  as some sort of cover.The Hawfinch flew back into a yew but then flew back and down to the ground and commenced feeding in the leaf litter below some bushes.Its comparatively dull colouring indicating it was a female as were all of the individuals we saw. 

We edged closer, expecting it to fly away at any moment but remarkably it seemed either unaware or unconcerned about our presence and continued searching for seeds in the dead leaves. This was a golden opportunity and the first time I have ever seen one here on the ground, always asuming they were in the yews feeding on yew berries

The topography of the cemetery and where the finch was feeding was hardly conducive to any photographic masterpiece but it was a thrill to be able to watch one for minutes on end and be able to try and get a photo or two that were in focus.

You always want more and better but in situations such as this a philosophical attitude is best and I consoled myself that this was a pretty good experience and far better than I had ever expected when setting off this morning..

And after all there is always another day.!