14th November. Beardy Bloke

A fruitless couple of hours at Orgreave where the only birds that made it in to the notebook were 45 Fieldfares heading west. Noticeably less Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and for the first time since in a week no Lap Bunts, so I'll just have to make do with the photos from yesterday. The mornings birding had to be cut short as I had to return home to make a pie for the future in-laws.

Just as I was putting the finishing touches to a nice meat and potato pie I had a call from Kev again. He'd had a report of four Bearded Tits at Pit-house West. Seeing as I didn't manage photos of the 2004 birds I seized the opportunity to nip out before Jo's parents arrived.
The finder was still present, but hadn't seen the birds for two hours. Having only an hour spare I decided on encouraging them out with the iPod (I believe the term is to Harrop) this worked a treat. Within a few seconds the birds appeared feeding unconcerned just a few yards away, a rattled off a few record shots and made it back in time for our guests!

In my opinion one of the best looking birds on the British list

A very tasty specimen