Hawfinches (19th July)

It was our penultimate day in Wales and we'd only made one brief visit to the sea.  First up, however, was a nearby walk around some typical moorland/mountainous grassland.  The usual species were encountered including Lesser Redpoll, Siskin, a female Redstart as well as Stonechats.

From the beach at Barmouth, I walked along the pebble beach northwards.  My first juvenile Herring Gulls of the year were nice to see and a regular flow of Manx Shearwaters were passing offshore.  My first migrants of the day were a couple Sand Martins that passed me on the beach.

An unlikely birding spot on the way back, EuroSpar car park!  However, whilst waiting for my parents to come back with the shopping I scanned the tree line in front of the car park.  I was rewarded with great views of no fewer than 5 Hawfinches!  First up were two that flew across in line with the trees, stopping regularly followed by a single that flew low overhead affording excellent views and finally two more following the same route as the first ones.  Fortunately, I managed to catch up with two of them perched high in the trees near the library.

usual excuses for poor quality record shot but they're still Hawfinches

one up top, one down low

a crappy flight shot