Preseli Crossbills

This autumn has been a good one for crossbills in the Preseli area, with small flocks heard almost daily as they fly overhead, commuting between the main conifer plantations. Today a flock of 7 flew north from a larch plantation at Llandilo, and these were followed by a flock of three c.half an hour later, which had a noticably deeper and more carrying call. I'm not sure how many of the 3 birds were calling, though the impression was that they all were, but a single crossbill can often sound like a flock in my experience. Unfortunately, I have no experience of the calls of other crossbill species, and binocs weren't at hand to add anything useful, but the calls were very distinctive, and noticeably different to the usual, more high-pitched, chipping flight calls of typical crossbills.