I had a phone call from one of my "Dave" mates yesterday telling me to have a look at the Crosbill photographs on his blog  that he had taken recently.  He had stumbled upon a a small flock coming down to drink from a puddle deep in the woods at Haldon.  I asked him if he would show me where and as we haven't had any real rain for several weeks it seemed pretty reasonable to assume that they would be coming and going to this little water source regularly. I was right and I really have to thank Dave Stone for taking me this morning.  All in all I spent around 6 hours – with a break for lunch –  trying to get a good photo as they came down from the high trees to first perch in a birch tree before flying down to the puddle which was hidden, unfortunately and surrounded by really high grasses.  The light was extremely difficult to deal with and it took as much patience as I have, always trying to make sure that the light, if possible, was coming from over my shoulder and on to the tree.  Suddenly, I was in the right spot, the light was right and all I needed now was a bird, then right on cue, there was a female followed quite quickly by a male.  I was covered with cam netting and the birds were acting naturally and unaware of my presence.  Crossbills are not that easy to find nor see let alone photograph so it was a red letter day really.  Again thanks to Dave for his help.