You're Barred

I had tried a couple of times locally for Crossbills with no luck. Some had been reported, but I hadn't been able to locate them. So, seeing a family of Two Barred Crossbills being reported in South Yorkshire for a few days on the trot, I decided to go for it.
Two Barred Crossbills being scarce, in fact, nationally rare, were obviously going to attract some attention, I wasn't wrong. Even arriving at about 8.30, parking in the lanes and bays was at a premium. Luckily, I got chatting to a local as soon as I got out of the car. He kindly offered to show me where to go, an offer I couldn't refuse, and off we went.
The popular viewing area was a clearing in the woodland amongst the Larch trees. The clearing was not clear on our arrival, twitchers had already occupied the area.

Standing room only.

With a few minutes of me finding a space to stand, a flock of about 60-70 Common Crossbills noisily arrived and started feeding in the tree tops. An impressive sight to see. A few minutes later, one of the throng of birders shouted out "Two Bar" and all scopes pointed in the direction he indicated. We followed his directions in the tree tops, and located our targets. I saw the female Two Barred and a Juvenile, unfortunately the male eluded me. Nevertheless, I was very pleased. They soon left with the rest of the flock, and on their return, I again located the female and a single Juvenile, again no male. I wasn't worried, I was happy,with what I had seen. More and more birders were arriving and I decided to vacate the area and make room for others.
The birds were very mobile, so I didn't manage any record shots.

I didn't manage a photo

A great morning in South Yorkshire. On the way home, we called into several picturesque places in the Peak District.

Broomhead Reservoir South Yorkshire

Langsett Reservoir

Heard Crossbills at Langsett, couldn't see them in tree tops though.

Peak District

Derwent Dam

A very memorable day!

Derwent Dam

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