Great Tew :: 05 February 2022

It was forecast to be windy, so Kevin Heath and I had hatched a plan to visit a reserve with a hide - the rain may also blow in later in the morning. When we met in town it was looking like there was a clear sky, there had been a frost overnight, and the wind was gentle. Our plan changed and we went on a hunt for the local Great Tew hawfinches that has displayed so well for others in the week - perhaps I'd be able to upgrade my photos from the previous weekend.

We arrived before 8.00am and made for the spots we'd encountered them last weekend. We had a couple at distance then another single in a nearer tree but against the sky - I took a record shot hoping it would drop into the yew tree between us - after a while it did but into the opposite side and out of view.

After a short while we gave up and went on the hunt again. Down by the school we waited and watched thrushes, tits, chaffinches, treecreeper, nuthatch and great-spotted woodpecker all in the yew and trees beside. We looked round the corner and saw a few making use of the village cafe, but didn't see anything but goldcrest and chaffinches in the yew trees beyond.

As we returned, we found a hawfinch on the edge of the yew but almost instantly it disappeared into the back of the yew and out of sight. A couple of other birders joined us and the hawfinch paused briefly on a branch before disappearing again, this time into the distance.

We made our way back up to the church and had a coffee looking around here. We met Steve Akers and Laurie Bryant and enjoyed good views of goldcrest under the yew trees. A sparrowhawk cut across the sky and spooked a handful of redwings into the sky.

We marched up and down New Street and eventually caught sight of an individual bird in yew far to the west - it dropped out of view very quickly. We worked our way back to the car and had four, and then five, hawfinch drop into high trees on the road side of the church yard - only record shots available again. They stopped for about a minute and then departed and towards the road to Ledwell. We picked up a couple of birders from the church yard and followed the direction the birds had flown. Kev picked two out in some holly but as I got my bins on them, they departed and behind another yew tree and out of sight. This proved to be our last sighting of the day. 3.5 miles up and down New Street, Great Tew - frustrating but still enjoyable.