Crossbills up the Lickeys

Crossbill delight

Lunch up

Stunning light through the forest

Can you see both birds?

 Stunning autumnal colours

Being born & bred in Kings Norton, Birmingham I've aways loved the Lickey Hills. It does seem a lot more popular these days than when I used to go with my grandparents and parents throughout the 1970's & 80's.

I've been there twice in recent weeks, the first time was to do a circuit with Mrs D and I followed that up with a lunchtime visit with the camera. 

This Autumn there are a flock of around 12-15 Crossbills flying around. They are fairly easy to pick up in flight but a bit more difficult to photograph. Thankfully on my second visit I managed to find three feeding that I could watch closely on the ridge the other side of the car park. 

Round and about

 View of Birmingham from top of Lickey Hills

 Lickey Hills

  Lickey Hills

 Treecreeper

 Long Tailed Tit

Lesser Redpoll

Salford Priors Patch Walk

All three days over last weekend were all spend within a few miles of home. An interview on Friday enabled me to have morning winter walk around the Lickey Hills. Despite a good hunt around I didn't manage to find any Brambling. It seems there has been a much reduced influx this winter. Sightings were restricted to mainly Coal Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Great & Blue Tits, Treecreeper, Redwing and a few Fieldfare.

On Saturday I met up with my Dad and we had a good walk around Foxlydiate Woods in Redditch. There were definitely signs of spring in the air as I witnessed a few birds carrying nest material. Stars of walk were four Goldcrest that were calling very loudly and were only an arm length away from the path. Always great birds to watch at close quarters.  I having a bit of garden challenge with my Dad and he informed me he had two Linnets on his feeders. Heading down for further investigation and a spot of lunch I found the birds were actually Lesser Redpoll. A great garden tick. As we ate we watched an endless line of garden birds including Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird all visit the garden. 

I headed up to Morton Stanley Park at dusk to try and catch up with the local Tawny Owls. I was unable to locate them whilst there was sufficient light for a photo but I did locate two different birds of which one flew past me through the trees. 

Sunday brought a day for further cold and windy weather. I had intended to go and try to catch up with a pair of Long-eared Owls in Lincolnshire but given the strong winds I'd save it for another day. With the wind blowing I decided to do a bit of walking around the perimeter of the patch. The weather proved to dictate the limited sightings but I found a couple of new areas including another large pool and a potential area that look goods for Chats. Best finds were a long flock of Fieldfare in the orchards, 2 Jack Snipe, 12 Snipe, 95 Teal in the hidden pools and 2 Wigeon. However when the edge of the plantation I picked up a very fast and low flying raptor which I identified as a female Merlin. It was my first Merlin at the site although many have been recorded. I finished January with 65 species giving me 67 points. Long Tailed Tit is a major omission ! Overall I recorded 113 species. 

Local birder Lee Taylor reported the Barn Owl on Sunday evening so I headed down on Monday for a hunt around in the dark. I heard the Owl calling but couldn't locate him until he flew over my head by the Pophills pit. A good point in the bag for February.

Stroke of luck with Cuckoo Divert

Friday update from RBA

Autumn walk at Lickey Hills

Last Thursday brought the news a Yellow-billed Cuckoo had been located in Cornwall no doubt swept up the back end of Hurricane Gonzalo. The normal crew were all set for a Saturday early hour twitch only for me to suffer some chronic stomach ache causing a last minute cancellation. The feeling of not being able to go and letting the boys down was not good but it did feel much better when the Cuckoo was not located at all during Saturday or at all again ! Very lucky !

Late afternoon we headed up to the Lickey Hills on the edge of Birmingham for nice woodland walk with the wife. I was hoping to find my first Bramblings of the winter however I had to settle for some very close view of Goldcrests and Treecreeper. 

With the constant south westerly winds the influx of wintering thrushes has yet to really get going. From my 4th floor office I have picked up a few Fieldfare, Redwings and Starlings going over but nothing dramatic. Let's see what next week brings.