A very, very hard winter...
Although they have been recorded as far south in France as Nice and Biarritz [1988/89]...
but my brother took these wonderful pictures at the w/e ...
he'd been following the waxwingsuk twitter feed...
now... that IS what twittering is for...
and I thought I'd share three of them with you.
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| Copyright - Nick Ford Photography |
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| Copyright - Nick Ford Photography |
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| Copyright - Nick Ford Photography |
The last one is superb... Pauline and I have seen Waxwings in Leeds before... but never this clearly....
There are loads in the UK at the moment... the berries they normally eat grew very poorly this year and they've been driven across in their search for food.
The ones we saw in Leeds noisily stripped out about a dozen, heavily laden Rowan trees... and left!!
And it is unlikely that they'll still be where my bro' saw them either.
Post Note... Nick got the last picture picked up by the BBC today [on Saturday Jan 26... Big Garden Birdwatch.... LIVE TEXT 1352 : Winter visitor ] on their "things happening live" line... well done brother!!
6 comments:
That last one, with its tongue 'manipulating' the berry certainly is superb. I've never seen these, but I remember the year the trees outside the NT Nature Conservation office in Cirencester were full of them -- not a lot of work got done for a few hours I suspect.
Fantastic pics.
Someone Tim met at camera club saw a small flock on Cannock Chase.
From what you write there's little point in us going back in the hope of seeing some.
Fantastic pictures. We have never ever seen these.
Susan... probably less than an hours delay in work... they really strip trees at speed... then move on.
When Pauline and I watched them they took less than fifteen minutes!!
Gaynor... just keep your eyes and EARS open... they are very noisy... similar to Starlings in sound and volume! They cood be anywhere...
C&E... erruptions are not all that common... a few get to the UK every year, but flocks of 200 or so are a rarity... just in the "bad berry years" on the Continent... then they have to expand their range to find food.
If you look at Nick's comments on his flickr site, you will realise rapidly that this was a "first" for him, too!!
These are gorgeous pics :-) especially the last one.
Aren't they... that was the one Nick put up on flickr first... it's currently had... 88 views / 8 favorites / 30 comments ... so you are not alone in your assessment!!
I'm one of the eight who've marked it as a favourite...
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