Wednesday 23 November

Managed to get a morning out today so I decided that I would try for Hawfinch just outside of the village of Upper Longdon on Cannock Chase.

I arrived at a little after 10am and was a little unsure as to where the birds had been showing. They hadn’t been seen for a couple of days, but with the way the weather had been, I wasn’t surprised. So with a steady drizzle falling I had a search along the rides to the north of the road, but without luck.

I tried the other side of the road and there were a couple of birders, so I assumed I was getting a little warmer. However, there was no sign of Hawfinch although good flocks of Siskin and Redpoll were pleasant, that together with a couple of Brambling in with the Chaffinch looked like the highlight.

I met up with three birders making their way back to the car park and they said they had heard Crossbill further down the track. So I decided not to head home and went in search of Crossbill another species I haven’t seen this year. At this point the weather took a turn for the worse with a steady drizzle falling. I made my way back to the car, I was nearly back at the car park when I picked up a bird in the tree ahead of me, it looked the right size and shape and there it was a Hawfinch. It wasn’t alone however, I counted seven birds I watched them for several minutes until my bins got too wet. Unfortunately I had to walk under them to get back to the car and the flew towards the village. As they seven flew they were followed by another two birds which I also thought were probably Hawfinch, so there were seven or nine!