Parrot Crossbills at Hollesley Common

With JR posting some smart images of the Parrots visiting the puddle at Hollesley I convinced the Jims we should venture up the A12 and see if we could finally add these to the year list and maybe even grab a shot or two of our own.

We arrived at around 8.30am and joined the other three early birds under the pines by the puddle.
With the ice on "our puddle" broken we hoped the Parrots would soon visit but as the next couple of hours passed we were joined by another eight birders/photographers including JR with no site or sound from the target.

Dartford Warblers, Stonechat and Goldcrest kept us company until the Parrots flew in late morning to feed in the distant pines before finally dropping to the puddle to drink for less than a minute only to disappear back into the distance. We all fired off a few shots and congratulated each other for the success afforded by the drive and the wait in the freezing conditions.

Parrot Crossbill

Parrot Cross---Bill

Parrot Crossbill

Parrot in a puddle

Being only ten miles from Suffolk's Arctic Redpoll we decided to give that a quick go and luckily connected within minutes of arriving but the bird was mobile with the other Redpolls and after enjoying good scope views we called it a day and headed back south.

Year list now 274