Hanging Out With Crossbill

I've seen some great images of Crossbill at Harwood Forest recently - Richard Dunn, Tom Tams and Colin Bradshaw have all got some smashing images of male and females' on or near the Gibbet.

So thats where I headed this afternoon. It's a nice drive up there, with a couple of nice straight roads with sharp dips and rises to add to the excitement.

At the forest there must have been some sort of quad bike do as there were a load of folk thrashing about.

It did not take long for the crossbill to appear - a pair on top of the gibbet, so I made my way over to a suitable vantage point with the camera and waited. And waited. While hunched on the cold wet ground I had further great views, this time of a pair sitting proud in the conifers above my parked car!

Alas, luck was not with me today, so the image to the right is a reminder why I made the effort in the first place - arn't crossbill a cracking species?! This image was taken at Druridge Bay Country Park in February 2006 when a small party over wintered. Camera body was the trusty 10D...

Below is the vista north of the Gibbet view-point, arted-up in photoshop - cold and bleak!