A wander round slushy Syresham

Went for my walk around the fields north of Syresham for a couple of hours this afternoon (13:45pm - 16:00pm). Was hoping there might be something lurking along the hedgerow, maybe a year tick Little Owl or Woodcock for instance. As it was there was very little about other than the usual common hedgerow fare, as well as a couple of Treecreepers and Jays knocking around.



Towards the end of the walk are a couple of small conifer belts (at SP 630 427). I'd never been to investigate them before but thought I'd have a peek. As I approached a small of group of chunky finches flew out of the conifers to the top of a nearby tree calling 'chip' 'chip'. Crossbills! They showed well for a while with at least one male, one juvenile and several females. They soon flew up to reveal there were in fact 7 in total and landed in another nearby conifer strip. I managed to creep right under the tree they were feeding in and rattled off a few shots with my digital camera at full zoom. Was great to have a proper look at them through the bins, I must have spent at least half an hour watching them. They would at times pull off the whole cone and carry it to another branch and I also watched the male actually feed one of the females briefly.





Crossbills. Syresham 12.02.12

I'd spent too much time with my gloves off taking photos and my hands were now bloody frozen so off I trudged through the snow and ice home.