Happy Christmas
to all who happen to read my blog
Lets hope we have a great birding
New Year!
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Monday, 9 December 2013
Crossbills at Last! Eymore Woods
Well at last Eymore delivered the goods, we were on our way for a walk and look around near Button Oak, but Tina suggested just stopping at Eymore for a while and have a coffee up at the top car park.
All was quiet when we arrived apart from two blokes playing with their toy cars in the car park, I kid you not! Eac to their own, although the high pitched whining from them (the cars not the blokes!) was annoying, so much so it was difficult to pick up any bird song.
The trees right by the end of the top car park proved to be full of Goldfinch and a couple of Siskins (that we pretended were juvenile Crossbills!!) Thankfully after about 10 minutes the blokes with the cars had moved along the tracks further up the car park, so we could no longer hear them, then we heard chip-chip and result, Crossbills! Our first sighting in England!
At anyone time we saw about 4 or 5 really going for it on the cones, of course quite high up, but the sun was shining so through the bins we were able to admire the colours on the males, they looked magnificent. I managed a couple of shots for the record, just wish they had been closer, but you can't have everything!
We stayed a while until a man with a dog slammed his van door and they all took off, a mixed flock of about 20-30 birds took to the air, (Crossbills, Goldfinch, Siskin and various Tits) damned annoying. But still a great start to the afternoon.
We then drove on to Button Oak and parked up in one of the Copse car parks and went for a walk.
Nothing much to report (Wren, Coal Tit, Woodpigeon), we did hear some pigs in the forest which surprised us, but we didn't see them. After a very pleasant walk we were heading back along the track to the car and with the light fading, I glimpsed something weaving through the trees at speed, it then burst out across the track and back into the trees the other side and disappeared into the gloom, a Goshawk... what a day!
That was only our second ever sighting of a Goshawk and brings our UK year tally up to 158, not going to beat last year as with Christmas fast approaching that will be our last free weekend until the festivities are done.
All was quiet when we arrived apart from two blokes playing with their toy cars in the car park, I kid you not! Eac to their own, although the high pitched whining from them (the cars not the blokes!) was annoying, so much so it was difficult to pick up any bird song.
The trees right by the end of the top car park proved to be full of Goldfinch and a couple of Siskins (that we pretended were juvenile Crossbills!!) Thankfully after about 10 minutes the blokes with the cars had moved along the tracks further up the car park, so we could no longer hear them, then we heard chip-chip and result, Crossbills! Our first sighting in England!
At anyone time we saw about 4 or 5 really going for it on the cones, of course quite high up, but the sun was shining so through the bins we were able to admire the colours on the males, they looked magnificent. I managed a couple of shots for the record, just wish they had been closer, but you can't have everything!
We then drove on to Button Oak and parked up in one of the Copse car parks and went for a walk.
Nothing much to report (Wren, Coal Tit, Woodpigeon), we did hear some pigs in the forest which surprised us, but we didn't see them. After a very pleasant walk we were heading back along the track to the car and with the light fading, I glimpsed something weaving through the trees at speed, it then burst out across the track and back into the trees the other side and disappeared into the gloom, a Goshawk... what a day!
That was only our second ever sighting of a Goshawk and brings our UK year tally up to 158, not going to beat last year as with Christmas fast approaching that will be our last free weekend until the festivities are done.
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