Thursday February 9

A cold cloudy day. I donned my wellies and headed for Ipsley Alders hoping to relocate the Woodcock. Sadly, after tramping around the field in question I flushed nothing at all. I noticed that the bushes there now sport numerous bird feeders, presumably placed there by Worcestershire Trust volunteers. I settled for watching to see if anything good turned up, but could do no better than a couple of Reed Buntings.

I then decided to do a circuit of the reserve through its densely wooded margins. The trees are a mixture of oak, ash, and in particular alder. The latter contained several flocks of Siskins, with 30 in one tree and several others throughout the woodland.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The real action of the morning took place along Alders Drive at the junction with Tenacres Lane. Here a cotoneaster has sufficient red berries to be worth staking out for possible Waxwings. There are none present again, but I did get the camera out for an obliging Jay.

A fuzzy Jay

A lady wound her window down to ask if I had seen anything special. I told her not really, just a Jay. Had she turned up five minutes later I would have been positively bouncing with excitement in a very alarming way. This is because as I was turning for home a call caught my attention, a Crossbill. It appeared over the houses and flew down Alders Drive before disappearing from view. I did try to get a shot, but managed only sky.

The woodland surrounding Ipsley Alders contains several larch trees and other conifers, so although it has not been a notable year for Crossbills, I suppose such a sighting is not entirely unexpected.

Back home I have dropped a bit of a clanger, accidentally adding the Crossbill to my Morton Bagot list, before correctly adding it to East Redditch.

I have emailed their customer support to ask how to electronically tippex the error.

Still waiting to hear.