The last few days...

Sunday began with an hour or two of unsuccessful Crane hunting in the Crudgington area, looks like it might be just as elusive as last year! Two different Merlins were seen perched but not a lot else. In the afternoon, it was back to Shirlett where many Crossbills were present. Difficult to estimate numbers as they are in lots of small groups or pairs and in several areas, but there certainly seems to be plenty around this winter.

On Monday I was in town when two Peregrines arrived to do some food shopping of their own. They appeared low over the roof tops, putting up all the Feral Pigeons. A ten minute spectacle followed with the one bird mainly staying up high, circling and watching its mate repeatedly climb and dive into the Pigeon flock.

We were watching all this from a Town Centre car park, everyone else completely unaware what was going on just above! Eventually they gave up and we found one resting on a nearby building.

I got a few record shots, too distant for anything good. I like the gargoyle in this one though!








Today I walked on the Brown Clee, just part way up as I didn't have much time, (well that's my excuse anyway). There was a good 4-5 inches of snow on the paths, even on the lower parts. Most of it untrodden too! It was beautiful up there and I had it all to myself!

A few cronking Raven broke the silence every now and then and a group of Crossbill and Siskin were in the very tall conifers. Not much else seen but I did get distracted for quite a while by the numerous Goldcrest. Couldn't resist trying to capture these gorgeous little birds. They were quite happy to come within a few feet of me too! Just a shame they never kept still making a sharp image virtually impossible!

This one was alittle shy, playing peek-a-boo with me...






Hard to see how they find anything to eat in these conditions.



There's a tree under here somewhere...