Nice Way To Spend The Morning

 My brother David fancied popping over to the Fens this morning to look for both Long-eared and Tawny Owls, regular birding buddy Alan Shorrock and I decided to tag along with him. Eldernell was at its usual windy best and it was bitterly cold as we made our way along the edge of the frozen washes.

Tawny and Long-eared Owls

A chap with a thermal monocular helped us find a roosting Long-eared, there were two in the area but we could only find one of them. Happily this one showed rather well to the delight of both us and other birders that wandered along. Not too far along the bank was the now seemingly regular Tawny Owl snoozing away in its preferred hollow tree. Alan spotted a distant Crane nearby which showed OK at high mag through the scope, two more appeared as we watched it. Whooper Swans showed in reasonable numbers during our visit and we also saw three Stonechats on our travels. Fed up with the battering that we were receiving from the wind we elected to get in the car and head back towards Northants.

Distant Cranes and Stonechat

The first stop in the county was at Fineshade Wood where we hoped to catch up with some of the Crossbills that have been reported here recently. Having paid the eye watering parking fee we set off towards the wildlife hide from where many of the recent reports had come from. A quick check of the Caravan Club area for Hawfinch came to naught but we had more luck with our main targets, As we approached the hide Alan heard some Crossbills passing over and I picked them out soon after in the top of a spruce tree. We enjoyed some good views before they flew off  though we did get a few more sightings of them a little later on before we departed.

Crossbills

David was good enough to drop me off at Priors Hall where I hoped to connect with Alan's long staying Waxwings. Once again fortune favoured me as all four showed well to a small crowd of appreciative admirers. A hundred or more pictures later and I was ready to head into Weldon for my bus home but not before I had a celebratory pint in the George. 

Waxwings