The last thing I expected to see this evening when I went for a walk across the fields to Rydings Lodge was a party of 7 Crossbills in a line of pine trees by Law Flat, just off Wardle Road. Grid ref SD911165. I walked past the trees without seeing or hearing anything and was forced to turn back because a fence had been put up on the edge of the field. I heard the birds calling in the conifer directly above my head and got cracking views of a female. Unfortunately before I could get a view of the others, the flock took flight north. Possibly a family party. The first time I have ever seen Crossbills in Wardle, although there were a number of sightings at Watergrove last autumn, only a mile to the north.