Crossbills Galore!

Today we took a visit to Broomhead Reservoir for the first time. We were mainly looking for Crossbills, Common and Two Barred. As we set of the weather was great and when we arrived at Broomhead it still was.

First we went to the part of Broomhead where the Two Barred Crossbills had been sighted. When we arrived we saw a bunch of birders looking up into the trees so we asked a man if they had been sighted and he replied "not for at least 20mins." We got out the car and
 stood and watched for about 5mins before we got our first view of a female and a male Two Barred Crossbill! They were showing fairly well at the top of the trees for around 2mins before some more Two Barred Crossbills joined them. At this point there was up to 7 Two Barred Crossbills or even more! After a little while one male flew over us and landed at the top of the trees right behind us! We got even better views than before, it was brilliant!

Two Barred Crossbill

 

We had watched the Two Barred Crossbills for about an hour and a half so we decided then to have a walk around the reservoir for a bit. While we were walking round all we saw was a Cormorant and a few Mallards until my Dad spotted some birds fly into the wood near the road. We went in to the wood and the birds what my Dad saw turned out to be some stunning Redwing. Also in the wood there was Goldcrest, Tree creeper, Common Crossbill and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. We stayed in the wood for about half an hour before walking back to the car near the Two Barred Crossbill area. On the way a flock of Pink Footed Geese flew over.

Pink Footed Geese

 

When we reached the car we decided to have another look to see if the Two Barred Crossbills were about. As we looked we could not see any so we decided to have a walk down to the feeders. As we arrived, on the feeders there was lots of Blue, Coal, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Robins and there was about 10 Common Crossbills in the trees above our heads. Also after about every 5mins a stunning Nuthatch came down to feed.

 

After that it was time to go home so we walked back to the car until we saw lots of birders looking through their scopes and binoculars all up into the trees. When we walked over we saw about 8 Two Barred Crossbills feeding at the top of them giving slightly better views than before especially one single male Two Barred Crossbill who was sitting right up at the top! What a way to end the day!

 

Two Barred Crossbills