Nesscliffe - Waxwings

Anthony Griffiths had reported 20 Waxwings feeding on the A5 traffic Island near Nesscliffe the previous day. I must admit I was put off the location whilst I was trying to get some useful images of the Green-winged Teal? It all turned out nicely when the two Daves got the news out 'still there' today...

Here's the location, pretty dangerous and no-one was tempted to leave the footpath thank goodness!

Here's all 20 perched on the left hand tree...

And these nine looked OK considering the white sky!

I decided to wait for the Waxies to be feeding, at least the darker background helped!

Here's an assortment flying and feeding away nicely!

I'll settle for them given the weather!!

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?

On this day (Nov 18th) - 2012 Wrexham Waxwings

Flashback on this day in 2012 for some excellent Waxwing opportunities from a visit to Wrexham 

Another Waxwing spectacular and with the Ruthin birds failing to reappear during the morning, a most effective plan B was formulated....

Jim ended up in hospital (grounds that is) with in excess of 100 Waxwings strutting, tossing and berrying their stuff.....

Quite mobile, it took 30 minutes plus to work out where that were actually feeding?

Yep - there! I won't even try to explain and if it was a weekday, security would have probably asked me to leave :-)

Off they go again......

Let's start with something a little different? Artistic or what?

A straightforward pose.....

Add a berry......

And a little bit of tongue? Welcome to the Waxwing circus :-)

The performing seal routine?

With tongue into the action!

 Front somersault with pike?
 

The sword swallower - how do they get these cannonballs down?

The tighrope walk?

Is this the clown with a hair-raising sized berry!

 I don't think I could tire of  their antics :-) Especially when juggling / tossing those berries!

Could do with some local birds showing well now!

On this day (April 5th) in 2016 and 2008!

Some photogenic birds have come my way on April 5th, lets start with a Spoonbill on Whixall Floods in 2016

A 1st summer Spoonbill was a fantastic find on the Whixall floods the previous evening - well done Anthony Griffiths!! Needless to say - only my second Spoonbill in the County and there haven't been any twitchable ones other than these in recent years - I was on my way over there.....

Luckily my timing was impeccable as it had just flown into one of the floods adjacent to the roadside - some 100m away but that's one sizeable bird!

Spooked by something, it remained jumpy....

and just after 9.00am it flew out to the east! A few folk were gathering and whilst the prospects didn't look good, it didn't depart too high and I reckoned it would be back!

30 minutes later my prediction proved correct!

Taking me by surprise but circling around....

And then a nice sequence as flew towards me!

Not easy to keep up with it as it loomed overhead!

Back in the frame and bit of a ruffle to finish......

I need a session with it much closer?!

Followed by an out of County encounter with a Great Northern Diver munching its way through the Crayfish population at Chasewater in 2008...

Regular visitors to this blog will know I don't need an excuse to break off a car journey for a bird or two! So, en-route to Chesterfield and with just 15 minutes to spare, I called in at Chasewater. The Black-necked Grebes seem to have departed but the juvenile Great Northern Diver was showing extremely well.......








What do Great Northern Divers eat for breakfast? How about a nice fresh crunchy Crayfish? Simply break off the claws, then down in one gulp.....










Gosh is that the time - better hit the road for Chesterfield......

And on my back later... Ever wondered what Waxwings feed on when the berries have all gone?

Cutthorpe near Chesterfield has been home for four Waxwings since the 15th March. They hadn't been reported for two days however - nevertheless, I decided to try my luck as the site was just a mile or two from where I was returning from an AGS plant show.

I really am on a roll right now, not only were the birds present, I managed to take a few pleasing pictures between snow flurries - the sun even made an appearance! Fantastic birds, as I haven't seen these for a few years, I make no excuse for posting a picture or two.......












What do Waxwings do when the berries run out? Well, they don't look quite as nutritious but how about catkins for starters!