The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Hi I'm spending Thursday-Saturday birding in Lincs and would appreciate any information on the best sites to see Hawfinches. I have made the bird one of my targets for this month and so far with little success. I tried Clumber Park but there was so much disturbance from people enjoying the grounds that it was difficult to see anything other than tree rats. I would like to see it before the leaves start interfering with viewing.

Stephen
Hawfinch is a very tricky species to catch-up with in Lincs. Other than Clumber, try Rufford Country Park in Notts. They are fairly reliable there at the moment. I had 3 there last Sunday, just north of the Abbey, plus 3 lesser spotted woodpeckers.

Cheers
Brian

Thanks for that Brian. I drove past Rufford to get to Clumber. I will get to there as soon as possible. What makes me laugh is that it takes so much time and trouble to find these birds and then you register them on your lists only to find them described as a common species! If only it was true.
Steve

See my recent blog post of 17 Feb which mentions experience with Hawfiches in Lincs http://btolincs.blogspot.com/ . Let us know how it goes at Rufford.

It would be interesting to know how many Lincs birders need Hawfinch for Lincs. The Lincs listers spreadsheet shows 5 out of 33 people with Lincs lists over 200 still need it (15%) which puts it on a par with White throated Sparrow and American Robin! I guess the percentage amongst wider LBC members is a lot higher.

Lincs Listers

The spreadsheet doesn't seem to have been updated since 2009, can we have an update please?

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http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.com/

Hi Russell, The version I've got is dated 16 Sept 2010 and it shows you got the the Semi P Sand so it must be pretty up to date. If the List Master doesn't post it quick enough for you pm me your email address and I'll forward you a copy.

Thanks Phil

I downloaded from http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/Articles/Lincs%20Listers.xls which gave me an old copy.

What/where is the new link please?

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http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.com/

Hi Phil,
I decided to visit the county of Derbyshire first before Notts and following advice from the Derbyshire Ornithological Society website I headed for Cromford near Matlock Bath in the Derwent Valley. Before arriving I played the Hawfinch song in the car although the word song does not quite convey the agonising metalic screech of the bird. On arriving at Cromford Wharf I was near the toilet block (it is a prime site for the bird before you ask) I just heard the faint sound of the bird from over the river. At the entrance to Arkwright's preposterous "castle" in a huge conifer half-way up were a pair of Hawfinch going through a mating display. This lasted for about two minutes and enabled me to claim a superb tick. Against the background they seemed very small. Looking at the photographs in books they seem much bigger. There was no mistaking the species however, very colourful and only this bird looks like a bird stuck onto an enormous beak. We then spent two hours looking for further evidence but not a sound or sight did we find. I do find it amazing that you can pull up in the car and literally find your target species in minutes and then never see it again.
Kind regards
Steve

Congratulations Stephen you got a good result and you make a good point that these birds are very hard to find. As a matter of interest out of 3,243 randomly selected BBS squares surveyed across the UK in 2009 Hawfinch was recorded in only 2 making it either one of our rarest breeding birds or one of the most difficult to find, or probably both!