With the current unpredictable wind conditions we were unsure whether we would get out today or not as we were going to a fairly exposed area, but despite a night of poor sleep, we still struggled out of bed to check that there was little wind, and managed to motivate ourselves out for some welcome fresh air and exercise post Christmas food. We set up at our usual spot on the heath area and had a number of Redpoll and Siskin flying over, plus about 20 odd Crossbill flying around. Initially we did not set up next to a small pond nearby as on our last visit it had not drawn any birds down to drink, but seeing a mixed Redpoll/Siskin flocking come down, we put a 30 across an area of open water and added some cut branches to act as an area for them to use. The pool is often used by finches to bath and drink, though there are a number of wet ditches that ruin of it that also get used, so it can be a bit hit and miss. Some years ago, I had seen Crossbills using the pool, but they are not regular every year in the park, though I have found breeding birds some years ago, and some winters they can be completely absent. We had caught a few Lesser Redpolls, when we had about 10 Crossbills in the top of a high Silver Birch over the pool. After about five minutes they started to work their way down into a mixed Redpoll/Siskin flock that had come down to bath, and eventually through bins I was able to see we had a female caught, then a male and another. We decided we ought to chance our luck and leave it, so we went to extract, as we did we saw a male and female make their way out of the net and off, but we were fortunate enough to have one male and three females still retained in the net. We also caught our first two Siskin at the site. Later we managed another two Siskin, and despite having only caught four at the site, we managed one control, X281176. The day finished with 32 birds in total.
Robin - 2 (1)
Lesser Redpoll - 3 female
Lesser Redpoll - 3 male
Male Siskin
Siskin 4 female (control X281176)
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 male
Crossbill - 3 male
Crossbill - 3 male
Crossbill - 3 female
Crossbill - 3 female
Totals:
Robin - 2 (1)
Goldcrest -2
Blue Tit - 10
Siskin - 4 (1 - control)
Lesser Redpoll - 8
Crossbill - 4