Crossbill can be really hard to find! Famous last words, Some years none and others quite plentiful, North Yorkshire, especially Wykeham Forest can be a bit of a hot spot.
It's a Sunday morning in February. Some photographers have been posting images of Crossbill in both North Yorkshire and Middleton in Teesdale, a good sign you may think, but dead certs are rarely that in the birding world. We went to Wykeham Forest raptor watchpoint and although we could hear crossbill it was some hours before we got a view, plenty of Buzzard and Goshawk though, too distant to photograph,
After a couple of hours we decided to leave the car and walk through the forest towards another viewpoint deep in the forest. As we approach the well-known car park, we could hear crossbills chattering above us. After a few minutes we got our eye in and started to see well camouflaged birds above our heads, very high in the trees. Don't judge the photograph too harshly, I was having a bad day with the camera.
Crossbill are really well camouflaged among the pinecones and Pine needle branches. As I explained above, sometimes they are much easier to identify by sound.
I spent most of last year rebuilding my business, making sure we stayed afloat and ensuring everyone's future was safe. This impacted greatly on my birding activity. I make no apologies for this, I did what I had to do, I do hope you missed me!
