Crossbill

As the forecast looked promising, I thought I'd do one of my dawn raids. It was a beautiful morning, and I went to another part of the moorland fringe, which we visited a couple of weeks ago, and I'd made a mental note to return to for a photo session. It was indeed a stunning morning and after a little wander between moorland, where I saw a brown hare and a fox, and plantation, I settled down where a willow warbler had established his song post and we spent a pleasant hour together, him singing his little heart out and me watching and taking photographs of him, a great spotted woodpecker, a couple of linnets and this wonderful bird. I got a few glimpses of him and his companions and I could hear them feeding noisily in the treetops, but it was only when the finally decided to move on that I realised there were all of 10 birds!