Well done on a great trip John and a good report !
At the risk of being accused of arrogant I would be genuinely interested to know how you ( or Steve) ID'd the crossbills
. Maybe you used sonograms ? Visual field ID is virtually unreliable IMO unless you are looking at them all the time (and know what you are looking at/ listening to in the first place !). I had previously said to Steve in private correspondence that Common Crossbills are now in the native pinewoods mixed in with the pine crossbills - these will easily look "Scottish" next to a true Parrot. However, sounds like you had one or the other and possibly both target species.
Might do a little crossbill photo ID test on BF just to see how many people get wrong ! :stuck: Then again, Crossbill ID....Bird Forum, wise up Lindsay.
Must visit Anagach Wood and other Granton on Spey woods myself soon to see if Parrots have bred there. Will check the historical data I have for Speyside from a fellow researcher to see.
Nice you
believe that Scotbill actually exists though !
Linz