20 January 2015: Common Crossbill in the Forest of Dean.

A grey day in the Forest of Dean, hoping to track down those elusive Hawfinch. It was unusually quiet and I saw very few birds at Parkend green or even at Nagshead RSPB reserve. The other place where Hawfinch had been reported was Parkend Church. As I was unpacking kit from the car I noticed some bird sdrinking and at first thought they were chaffinch until I realised the male was redder than usual. A quick glance through the bins showed me Common Crossbill and I tried to get off some quick shots. As I took my first shot, the male took off but the females even waited until I got the camera mounted on the tripod.

The male had flown into a tree and was very badly backlit.

Eventually they flew off. I looked for Hawfinch and found none but could see some Siskin high in the trees above but they were too badly backlit and too high up. I decided to move on to Crabtree Hill to look for theGreat Grey Shrike. Everyone I met coming down said he was not to be seen but as I wa sthere and there was no timeto go anywhere else I pressed on. I found a small group of Fallow Deer

and a Treecreeper but no Shrike to be found.

Then it started to snow so time to beat a hasty retreat.

19 January 2015: Short Eared Owls at Hawling.

Once again, a spare hour and some late evening sunshine meant only one place to visit - Hawling. First out tonight were the Stonechat, with the male posing beautifully

Out came the Short Eared Owls.

This one was down in the grass looking for voles

A bit of Owl feistiness

but joining forces against larger intruders

I saw this adult Peregrine flying overhead with wings folded, actually stooping at one of the Owls, but he pulled out and flew on.

18 January 2015: Another couple of hours at Hawling.

Another late afternoon visit to Hawling for the late afternoon sunshine. The Owls were out late but we were treated to a slow flyover by this magnificent Red Kite.

This was then followed by a Barn Owl who also took advantage of the late arrival of the Shorties and covered more of the meadow than he is usually allowed.

One of the regular Roe Deer watching one of the other photograohers and deciding on which way to run.

And out they come - a total of 4 Shorties for this evening's display

and this one takes his lunch somewhere more private.

The last rays of the setting sun lit up the wall the Shorties and Barn Owl as I left.