The Welsh Twister
No visit to Wales is complete without a search of its vast pine plantations for the bird with that incredible twisted bill, the Crossbill.Amongst British birds it is unique with a bill specially designed for extracting seeds from pine-cones. In Wales Crossbills lay their eggs in mid February so that in January there is plenty of activity as they pair off and commence nest-building. Unfortunately the immense size of the Welsh forests makes finding Crossbills very difficult. After a great deal of time we located a small number of birds drinking at a pool in some dense willows and I was able to obtain a couple of photos of them before they returned to the high pines.
While Crossbills are the star bird of the pine forest there are always good numbers of Siskins present and these are nowhere near as wary as the Crossbills so I have included some male Siskins in the gallery.Click here
Published by
Gordon Yates
Updated on
February 4, 2017
Related Articles
There are not many times when you get the chance to photograph a Sparrowhawk on a hot-tub! This male failed to catch so he perched, momentarily, on next doors hot-tub
At long last with freezing temperatures and winter sunshine conditions were perfect for filming the winter thrushes on whatever berries were left. In a neighbours garden the crab-apples were being
It is always difficult to choose the best photos from a year, especially a year that was dominated by perfect photographic weather! During this last year I also photographed two
Gordon Yates - Wildlife Photographer
730 Followers
Achievements
Award-Winning Photography
Alongside filmmaking, Gordon has earned recognition in still photography competitions with the BBC, RSPB, Scottish Wildlife, and the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club — using his trusted Pentax equipment. One of his proudest achievements was seeing ten minutes of his work broadcast by Granada Television — a milestone in a lifetime dedicated to wildlife storytelling. Today, he continues capturing the natural world with his Canon EOS 7D and Canon XM2 digital camcorder.