Some pics of a chunky Crossbill, not qualty pics I'm afraid
Some normal Crossbills, female and 2 different males
Redpath cottage...very cold here today
A bleak view of the Cheviot hills form the gibbet.
Several inches of snow made this part of Nortumberland look more like Lapland. Lovely day, very bright but sub-zero temperatures compared to Morpeth some 13 or so miles to the East of here which was +5. A deep chup chup caught my attention at the Redpath junction a mile in form the village. Lots of Crossbills here but one which kept coming into view from time to time looked quite chunky, rather like a Hawfich compared to the Chaffinch-like Crossbills. It's deep call could have been some sort of alarm and it may have had its feathers puffed up but the other Crossbills didn't. In my experience there can be a varity of plumage ,bill size and call variation but if anyone knows a bit about Crossbills please feel free to comment.
Lots of wildlife around...up 80+ Crossbills in this part of the foresr alone but there is a good cone crop. Similar number of Siskins and Chaffinches. A Goshawk was soaring over the forest and near the gibbet there were 7 Buzzards, 300 Fieldfares, 1000+ Starlings, 5 Roe deer and a fox.
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