It's worth noting that all of the images on this site are slightly degraded, to see images that are as I took them then please link to my Smugmug galleries here hawfinch gallery and other birds.
In the churchyard at East Budleigh - East Devon which happens to be the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh. The church dates back to Saxon times - the existing building was constructed in the 13 century - and the church bells are the same ones that Sir Walter Raleigh would have heard 500 years ago! Raleighs parents are interred in the churchyard here.
There had been reports of Hawfinch feeding on yew tree berries, (probably). The Hawfinch, under normal circumstances, is a very, very difficult bird to find let alone photograph but this winter there are more Hawfinches in the UK than in living memory. Never the less they are still hard to locate. We were pleased to actually get some photographs this morning, albeit not my best ever bird photographs but worth posting because of their "celebrity" status. It will probably be years before I get the chance to photograph them again. As you can see they have massive beaks which can even crack open cherry stones by the way.
