Help with Crossbill location

[jward]

Does anyone know a good place to find Common Crossbills in the North Wales region?

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by jward

Does anyone know a good place to find Common Crossbills in the North Wales region?

World's End at the moment (SJ232477). There's an area of larches at the north end of the wood around the car park, last weekend there were up to 40 crossbills in there, along with loads of siskins and redpolls. There is, of course, the added attraction of a blackcock lek on the hillside to the north west which is easily viewable from the road.

Anywhere in Clocaenog Forest should get you crossbills, but try Bod Petrual (SJ037511), you should get them around the car park. I found a small larch plantation near Nilig last Saturday that was full of finches - redpoll, siskin, chaffinch and a few brambling - that also held large numbers of crossbills.

Best advice I could give is look for larch trees, as they're seeding at the moment and many finch species are feeding on them; and learn the crossbill's flight call:

xeno-canto/Europe :: bird sounds from Europe :: crossbill

Cheers
Jonathan