KERRY RIDGWAY

With the sun shining, clear blue sky and the warmth of a spring day,  Brian P. and myself set forth for the afternoon hoping to see sightings of Crossbills which neither of us has seen this year.Driving  from Glanmule up to the car park on the ridgeway on the Anchor road, we stopped to watch a number of Buzzards soaring over the valley and within minutes saw 2 Goshawks and 8 Crossbills, which were flitting through the tops of pine trees a couple of hundred feet below. then on to the car park, where within seconds of getting out of the car Crossbills were sighted, we spent some time there before travelling on over the Anchor to the half way point of the Ridgeway, And again here within minutes Crossbills were sighted and i'm quite sure that from the amount  of song that we heard there were many more Crossbills about than was seen. The birds that we saw through the afternoon were:-  16 Buzzards, 2 Goshawks, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Chiffchaffs (heard), 54 Crossbills, 100+ Meadow Pipits, 2 Siskin, 2 Red Kites, 2 Skylarks, 8 Pied Wagtails, 3 Great Tits, 9 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammers, 1 Curlew, 1 Redwing, 15 Brambling, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Sparrow Hawk. Birds seen but not counted were Chaffinch, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, jackdaw. Rooks, Blue Tits and blackbirds.
In all we had a very good afternoon Birding , And it sure is nice to feel the warmth of the sun again and Have good company to go with it.  Cheer's Brian.