Big Beak

Having made the effort to track the hawfinches down I was rather pleased - no strike that through, ecstatic to see them finally. A first for me - ever!

The bill that you see there has the awesome crushing power of between 60-95 lbs in order to crack open the stones of the fruit it likes to feed on in the autumn and winter.

Very shy, they usually are up in the tree tops but come down to forage for stones and nuts on the floor which was what he is doing here. Taken with a long lens as there were some muppet bird watchers around who insisted on getting far too close and scared them off. On the plus side there was a dear old gentleman - who rather reminded me of ‘young Mister Grace’ in Are You Being Served who, I didn't realise at the time, went home to get some seeds to throw on the floor for me so they would come in! They didn’t as it was late but how very sweet!