Arrived at Watergrove at 07:45 hrs this morning and was only 100 yards from the car park when I heard the chip-chip-chip call of Crossbills overhead. Scanning the sky frantically I picked up the bulky silhouettes of 6 birds, quite high up, flying South-east. This is only the 3rd record of this species here and the highest number to date. Amazingly the two previous records, in 2005 (heard but not seen) and 2006 (a single bird), were also in October.
There was quite a lot of movement with Lesser Redpoll (3), Siskin (1) and Redwing (12) flying over.
Also seen 4 Teal, a Snipe,a Chiffchaff and 5 Goldcrest.