Parrot Crossbills at Santon Downham

Despite having a dreadful cold, the lure of a flock of Parrot Crossbills just forty minutes from home was too strong to ignore! Brian met Linda and me at 7.20 and I drove through the somewhat heavy A11 traffic down to the Brecks. As soon as we arrived at Santon we picked out a very distant (but unmistakeable) Parrot Crossbill at the top of a tree and could hear others down towards the car park at St. Helen's Well, so we carried on along the narrow road.

As we climbed out of the car some old friends from the Goshawk encounters earlier on in the year pointed out a group of Parrots in a nearby conifer and soon Brian, Linda and I were enjoying good views of 30+ birds (although the morning was still a little gloomy for perfect photography.)

After 'filling up', and wanting to avoid the inevitable road congestion that would result from the heavy crowds that were beginning to assemble, we moved northwards to Lynford. A walk round produced a few distant Hawfinches in the paddock, as well as a Kingfisher and the usual woodland birds coming to seed on the stone bridge. Following coffee at Brown's, we headed home, arriving back at the Heath before noon!