Red grouse, Brambling and Twite

 Boxing Day weather forecast was for a decent day so I decided to try to get 2 ticks to take my year total to 200.

I found a quiet road near Goathland. Road signs informing me of weak road and don't use in wintry conditions. I parked off the road and sat and listened for the sound of red grouse. I did not have to wait long, however much to my surprise lots of cars kept going along the "quiet" road.

In between the cars I was able to see grouse as they walked about on the moor.

I then drove to Lockwood Beck as there had been reports of brambling.

The area where most of the bird feeders are was in the shade, so I watched the feeder near the reservoir outfall. 

Chris (chrisdownesbirds) sent me a message about twite at Seaton Snook. I set off and soon arrived. As I feared there were lots of cars parked along the road and lots of dogs with people. I tried to avoid them and walked to the far end of the are.

A large area for small birds so I expected to have to work hard to find them. I had taken my scope, so started to scan the area. I saw a flock of about 40 small birds fly up in the distance so I walked towards where I thought that they may have landed. I stopped to scan the area every few minutes and saw the flock fly a bit closer to me. Once the birds land they are hidden by the vegetation and I was trying to get between them and the sun.

The flock kept flying from place to place, so I was able to get a good enough view to confirm that they were twite.  They landed near a pool of freshwater so I got a much better view and was just about to take a picture when dog walkers climbed over a fence and disturbed them.

2 ticks (grouse and twite) to get me to 200 for the year. Thanks to Chris for his help and encouragement.