Normally at our woodland site we have nets up for the evening roost of thrushes, hoping for Redwings, which this year we have seen few in the nets even though there are lots coming into the area to roost. So yesterday we decided to start before dawn in the hope of getting them as they leave the roost.
A crisp frosty site greeted us Brrrrrr.
Once the nets were up the kettle went on and we waited for dawn to break, from our advantage point we soon began seeing birds leaving the bushes and feeding on the Yew berries. Time to check the nets.
With a little help from an mp3 player by 9am we'd had 20 birds. Brilliant. The tape went off.
We then put the feeder nets up and and enjoyed a steady stream of birds all day including 2 new Nuthatch to add to our total of 10 for the site this year.
A brief lull late afternoon and a cuppa in hand is always a chance to take note of birds coming and going, Buzzard, Raven, Jackdaws, Wood Pigeon, Crossbill. Six Crossbill alighted in a Silver Birch tree for about 2 minutes before flying off, they are occasionally seen and heard around the site, and I live in hope of catching one, well today was the day. Checking the net nearest to some water I couldn't believe my eyes, not 1 but 4 birds in the net, 2 green and 2 red, I found it hard to contain my excitement and Nigel was speechless when I showed him what we had. After doing all the necessities they flew back into the birch tree breifly, before going on their way. The evening roost produced 10 more Redwing plus others.
What a great day. We ended with 56 new birds.
Wren 1 (1), Blue Tit 5 (4), Blackbird 2 (1), Bullfinch 1, Goldcrest 2 (1), Great Tit 3 (2), Nuthatch 2 (1), Robin 1 (1), Treecreeper 1, Coal Tit (2), Chaffinch 4, Redwing 30, Crossbill 4.
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| phone pic of 1cy male |
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| shaky picture of adult male Crossbill |
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