Common Crossbill on Sanday

Mountain biking this morning at Glentress, in the Borders, and the spruce trees seemed to be full of Common Crossbills. We watched two birds at close range perching on one of the poetry-inscribed stones at the edge of the red trail. One looked a typical female type but the other was a lovely (young male?) with pale body feathers and a bright yellow rump. I was wishing that I had binoculars or camera with me - although they might not have been very helpful at other moments...

I grew up with Common Crossbills being regular birds in the trees around the house and, as a result, they are one of my favourite birds. While flocks were seen on a seemingly daily basis, and prolonged views of feeding birds could be had regularly, it was a rare event that really good close views could be obtained.

Strangely, after a childhood surrounded by conifers, my best ever view of a feeding Common Crossbill was on the virtually tree-less Isle of Sanday, Orkney, in the summer of 2009.

We had just arrived at a cottage that we had rented for the week at the Peedie Sea and to welcome us a Common Crossbill flew in to watch me unpack the car boot. It appeared to be a second year male, as it was pretty red but also showed quite a number of immature feathers, and it also showed a thin but distinct wing bar caused by narrow pale fringes on the greater coverts. After sitting on the fence for a while it was soon tucking into grass seed and it fed in the area on and off for the next few days. Hopefully it made landfall elsewhere later in a more suitable habitat...