Even More Crossbills on an even colder morning!!
08th February 2025
Another morning birding around the locality yesterday, leaden skies, squally showers and a penetrating bitterly cold wind made for very unpleasant conditions indeed. However, it’s no good huddling around the fire, you have to get out if you want to see wildlife. We decided to have a look at a site where we have been seeing and very fortunately photographing a number of Common Crossbills.
We took a flask of coffee and a few biscuits with us, you can’t beat a hot drink and a nibble of something when you are out waiting around for wildlife.
A number of people walked past us on their way up on to the hills, every one of them inevitably heading for Pen y Fan!
A young couple walked by coming from the car park lower down the road and took an obviously wrong turning back in the direction they had come from only on another track. I said nothing, it was none of my business. Here they come again walking past us and saying nothing, obviously having no idea where to go. After a few minutes staring at their phones the young girl in frustration asked me for directions to the ‘Horseshoe’ walk. This is a walk frequently seen on social media and as a result people want to do it. I showed them the way and off they went, hopelessly underclad, inappropriately shod and nothing to drink or eat either – Hey Ho!
After a cup of coffee in the warmth of the vehicle, because it was seriously cold now, the Crossbills arrived, and we could see them in a small bush about fifty yards away and we counted twelve in this one small bush - it looked like a sweet shop with all their colours on display – Beautiful! This is quite unusual behaviour for these birds they are normally up high in conifers, they always come down to drink, they have to, but this is different – we weren’t complaining.
A man walked passed coming from the direction of the Beacons and he stopped to ask what we were looking at, we explained it was Crossbills and he was very excited because he explained they were high on his list of birds to see. I said ‘this is your lucky day then’ Susan leant him her binoculars and he was over the moon with the sighting. We asked him if he had been up on the top of the mountain and he said no because it was too cold and very windy so he had come back, and he had a jacket on and was wrapped up – sensible choice, never extend yourself if you don’t feel comfortable. He left happy and as he was walking down the road I could see him waving his arms and saying ‘Yes, Crossbills’.
I thought about the previous couple and how they were dressed and I thought they would have had difficulty completing ‘The Horseshoe’ walk. I hoped that they too were sensible.
Shortly after another man appeared and said the rescue helicopter was airlifting someone off the ridge. We had seen the helicopter earlier on and this was obviously the reason. It wasn’t the couple we had spoken to because they would not have had time to get up on to the ridge by then thankfully.
Grey skies and flat light was not a good situation for a photograph but when the birds got a little nearer I shot a few frames, nothing to shout about, but a record nevertheless.
Oh for some decent light and calmer winds, perhaps next week?
We took a flask of coffee and a few biscuits with us, you can’t beat a hot drink and a nibble of something when you are out waiting around for wildlife.
A number of people walked past us on their way up on to the hills, every one of them inevitably heading for Pen y Fan!
A young couple walked by coming from the car park lower down the road and took an obviously wrong turning back in the direction they had come from only on another track. I said nothing, it was none of my business. Here they come again walking past us and saying nothing, obviously having no idea where to go. After a few minutes staring at their phones the young girl in frustration asked me for directions to the ‘Horseshoe’ walk. This is a walk frequently seen on social media and as a result people want to do it. I showed them the way and off they went, hopelessly underclad, inappropriately shod and nothing to drink or eat either – Hey Ho!
After a cup of coffee in the warmth of the vehicle, because it was seriously cold now, the Crossbills arrived, and we could see them in a small bush about fifty yards away and we counted twelve in this one small bush - it looked like a sweet shop with all their colours on display – Beautiful! This is quite unusual behaviour for these birds they are normally up high in conifers, they always come down to drink, they have to, but this is different – we weren’t complaining.
A man walked passed coming from the direction of the Beacons and he stopped to ask what we were looking at, we explained it was Crossbills and he was very excited because he explained they were high on his list of birds to see. I said ‘this is your lucky day then’ Susan leant him her binoculars and he was over the moon with the sighting. We asked him if he had been up on the top of the mountain and he said no because it was too cold and very windy so he had come back, and he had a jacket on and was wrapped up – sensible choice, never extend yourself if you don’t feel comfortable. He left happy and as he was walking down the road I could see him waving his arms and saying ‘Yes, Crossbills’.
I thought about the previous couple and how they were dressed and I thought they would have had difficulty completing ‘The Horseshoe’ walk. I hoped that they too were sensible.
Shortly after another man appeared and said the rescue helicopter was airlifting someone off the ridge. We had seen the helicopter earlier on and this was obviously the reason. It wasn’t the couple we had spoken to because they would not have had time to get up on to the ridge by then thankfully.
Grey skies and flat light was not a good situation for a photograph but when the birds got a little nearer I shot a few frames, nothing to shout about, but a record nevertheless.
Oh for some decent light and calmer winds, perhaps next week?