Astbury's Hawfinch's

It looks like our largest British Finch has finally departed Astbury giving just over eight weeks of shear frustration and absolute pleasure. Around one hundred people came to see our star attraction during their stay wich contributed to many other good birds being found . With a large influx of these birds coming into the UK from Europe it was only a matter of time before we got our first sighting at Astbury . It wasn't until the 30th October before our first one appeared and then it was only a fly over , the second followed just a week later and this one was perched up. But the real excitement started on the 15th February when we actually found three feeding in a copse . They were then seen daily sometimes giving excellent views other times going missing for hours on end . But for those like myself who stuck it out we were rewarded with some of the best views of Hawfinch that you are ever likely to have. By the 13th March eight birds were seen feeding together and with more and more bird watchers turning up other good birds were being found at the mere. Our last sighting as we know of was a single bird by the visitor's centre on 17th April making it a enjoyable eight weeks birding.