I have been staking out Crossbills in Haldon Forest for the last 5 weeks unfortunately with no photographic success so far.  I scraped out a small drinking pool and lined it with plastic to make the perfect drinking spot for them and have visited regularly since.  Apart from my 5 days in West Yorkshire, I have been most days, sometimes just for a short while admittedly but only once have I seen them drinking from the pool. That was 15 days ago now and in the early evening.  I had gone without my camera on that occasion which is Murphy's law to say the least and I have vowed never to do that again! Crossbills were feeding above the pool very high in the pines and I could see them above me alongside siskin.  Suddenly they came down, mostly individually or in pairs and I counted 26 which was a healthy number.  They were mostly females and youngsters with just 1 or 2 adult males.  It was thrilling to see them and very rewarding that my preparation and planning had paid off. I really thought I had "cracked" it then but that hasn't been the case. It has been frustrating since then because I expected, once they had found the pool that they would come down regularly.  They probably will eventually especially now that we are into a period of dry weather and water might be getting harder to locate elsewhere in the forest.  As I have waited for the Crossbills I have continued to photograph the woodpeckers and I have had some good success with that but even though I have heard Crossbills on most visits, I haven't had any success yet. I will keep trying.