Shrewsbury - Common Clubtails emerge!

It's been nine years since I turned my attention to Common Clubtails and a chance visit to Shrewsbury Quarry proved to be my most successful mission yet with at least 10 seen!

Some were simple flyovers or disturbed and quickly gone but there were some pics to be had as they don't seem fussy regarding their perches! Any vegetation flowers of Dandelion in seed will do!

This very obliging female bears witness to that statement...

Whilst they the colours are similar at this stage, the more waisted abdomen indicates this one is a male...

And for once, not cropping too close with my favourite from the session! 

Dozens of passers by completely oblivious to these amazing moments...

On this day (Jan 18th)... 2011 - Waxwings!

On this day (January 18th 2011) I spent my lunch break photographing Waxwings!!

Talk about being in the right place at the right time! I was just leaving work for lunch when I got a text reporting 'Waxwings at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital' the previous day. Now for those of you who don't know where I work, my office is within 200m of where they were seen! 

Walking to the car, what should fly overhead.... a small flock of Waxwings, eventually at least a dozen and quite obliging they were too! They were feeding on rose hips, quite astonishing to watch these giant fruits being forced down 

Down it goes...... 

The digestion phase was carried out on the small trees nearby and quite a change to have one or two on the same 'level'.....

 

They were pretty close too! 

A final burst was reserved for one bird nicely perche with a distant grassy bank behind. Gone are the distracting tangle of twigs and branches normally encountered.... 

Wonder if I'll ever tire of them?

Waxwings in the gutter!

There are plenty of Waxwings about and Dave Chapman has put some major hours in locating suitable trees and at least two small flocks were pinned down to bring the new year in for him!  I joined him for an hour or so as they fed on Lancaster road, spending more time in nearby trees than on the berries! (This is a post which nearly got forgotten!! Excuse the copyright caption, I can't be bothered to amend from 2017!!)

A useful aid to get youngsters counting, maybe I could write a children's book?

Here's 16 of the 19 in this flock!

I didn't even attempt to photograph them on the berries, an awful 'twiggy' tree and awful light! But just like Crossbills, a bird's gotta drink to aid the digestion...

Lets start with three?

There's actually four in this one below!

Didn't believe me eh?

Yep, definitely four!

Wait a minute, make that seven!

Crikey 11 of them down at once...

And with shutter speeds well below 1/100 sec you can expect some 'unusual' camera back moments ... like this blurry flight shot! Make that three...

May I wish you all a happy waxwing new year....