On this date

The 11th January 1802 saw the first Two -barred Crossbill for Northern Ireland, in fact it was the first for Britain. It occurred at Grenville which was near Belfast. Like most old records the identification of this bird was sketchy, due to the possibility of it been just a Common Crossbill showing some wing bars but I suppose in those days this was surely unknown. There has been 4 records of Two-barred Crossbill the last in 1927 which there was a specimen of in the Ulster Museum, but the specimen has since disappeared so at least there was proof of at least one turning up here. They do turn up in Britain regularly mostly the Scottish Isles and the east coast of Britain.