I was off work today, replacing last Fridays (birthday) planned day off when I had to work instead.
I went to Black Down at 8am just as it was getting light and it was freezing !! at -3c. The views from Black Down towards the South Downs on a clear day are stunning.
The Parrot Crossbill first reported last Sunday had been seen each day since but often only in the early morning. Parrot Crossbills are no longer offically recognised as rare birds since a small breeding population was found in Scotland, but Southern England has not recorded one for around 20 years, so its a good bird to have just 5 minutes from the house. It's favoured spot was a group of scattered pines around a small pool and it was cohabiting with a large number of Common Crossbills. The drinking pool was covered with 2inch thick ice and a few of the gathered birders decided to break the ice to give the birds some water to access. Quite quickly I was viewing a large group of Crosbills feeding in the pines and one foray down to the drinking pool , initially with no sign of the 'Parrot' but after around half an hour of scanning through the flock in pines I caught glimpse of a more interesting bird but tucked out of full view. Gradually it emerged from thicker cover as it demolished the pine cones giving better views and it was obviously the bird in question, although at some angles the bill appeared less strong than I had imagined, but the bird was noticably of heavier build than all the
Common Crossbills and did have a strongly decurved upper mandible, it also removed cones from the branches and took them away to unpick the seeds - not that this is specifically something that
Parrot Crossbills do but it was farily impressive. The group of birds flew to a birch before going down to drink on the ice a few times. I had good views for around half an hour but managed no more than record pictures of the bird before the flock dispersed . I waited in the area for another hour or so with more birders arriving, but the Parrot didn't reappear and my toes were frozen so I went for a wander. Plenty of
Siskin were in the area with a pair of
Stonechat, Raven, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Great-spotted Woodpecker and 2
Brambling.
I headed home just after midday, I'd not seen the feeders since last weekend and notciced the number of
Chaffinches had increased to over 30 and then to my delight 2
Bramblings, which until the last couple of weeks have seemed in short supply this Winter, but another new bird for the house which brings the house list up to 60 - not bad since July last year.
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| A view from Black Down at sunrise. |
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| Conditions and distance weren't great for good pictures. |
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Parrot Crossbill - a poor picture - it was a bulky bird and stood out from the female Common Crossbills
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| Breaking the Ice - Birders trying not to fall in. |
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| Stonechat |
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| Common Crossbil - still not a great pic |
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| Brambling - impression of a Lark |
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| Male Brambling on the bird table |
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| Pair of Brambling at home |
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