With not much action about at the moment, I set off early to a place I haven't been for quite a while in the hope of seeing a very cool species that has eluded me so far in my birding years.
After arriving, I wasn't feeling that great, as I hadn't had anythign to eat yet, and it had been an exhausting bike ride(only 2 miles from Haslemere Station, but solely up very steep hills). So I set off in hopes of finding somewhere to sit down and eat breakfast.
There were quite a few birds about, with more being heard overhead than seen.
After sitting down to eat, I scanned the area, but couldn't see anything. Just as I was about to take another mouthful, a bird flew on top of the tree nearest me, interrupting my meal(rude...). The shape and size of the bird were interesting, so I put my flask of porridge down and raised my camera to grab a photo. Of course, the bird dropped from view into the middle of the tree, but before long was back up top. My suspicions were confirmed- this was my target species- a Red Crossbill!
Soon, another few flew in, then another and another, giving good views.
Crossbill (or Red Crossbill, if you're being picky) are a species I had never seen before, even though they are a relatively common British bird. I was still thrilled to get it on my British life and year list.
After a while, the group flew off, so I walked around for a bit, with some more distant Crossbill seen, along with a Dunnock and a few calling Dartford Warblers. There was also a large group of Lesser Redpoll flying about.
I noticed a tree a bit of a way away, which seemed to have quite a few Crossbill in it, so I headed over in its direction. There were about 10 flying around in the area, and I managed to get some closer views of the birds on the tree.
There were 2 Marsh Tits about as well, and I was enjoying the Crossbill spectacle, but a dog walker spooked all the birds further away, out of sight.
I continued along the path and came to an absolutely stunning viewpoint.
Butser Hill was visible well off in the distance as well; you can just about make the shape out here, and the big mast is visible as well.
I sat down on the bench to wait and see if anything interesting would be visible from here. A Cormorant was circling(!?) in the distance, and a few Buzzards were about as well.
Nothing else seemed to be about, so I went off in the direction I had come.
A Sparrowhawk whizzed by, and a Goshawk was also about, giving fleeting views.
Another Crossbill was at the top of a tree in the distance.
A Heron flew over, as did a few more Crossbill. I went off in their direction, and soon found some scattered in some trees.
As I continued on, I stopped to watch (you guessed it) another Crossbill that was pretty close, and as I did so, about 25 others flew in! I spent the next few minutes enjoying them before they flew off.
They all flew off directly over my head, giving great flight views and calling as well.
I looked around for a while longer, but couldn't see anything else, so I set off back to the station.
The bike ride to Black Down had taken me half an hour because of the steep hills. The bike ride back, you ask?
7 minutes.
It had been a great time. As I'm sure you can tell by the number of photos I took of the Crossbill, I absolutely love these chunky birds, and it was an absolute pleasure to see them so well.
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