Come in Bombycilla garrulus, your time is up...

I've whined on about how, since my initial November burst of Waxwings, the little sods have eluded me. It got to the stage where my wife and daughters asked me, every time I came into the house, whether or not I'd seen a Waxwing. And each time they looked upon my crestfallen face, with my head shaking in shame and defeat, they felt a little of the hurt themselves.

This morning a family outing beckoned - walking boots, anoraks, dog and lead, etc - and as we got in the car my wife asked me if there were any Waxwings nearby. With my bottom lip trembling, I told her that the Frenches Road flock (in Redhill) were still on offer. I had dipped on them in December. "Right!" she declared, "Let's go before our walk!" Result!!

This time, on arrival, 35 of the little gems were trilling away without the need for any searching. They trilled, they preened, they flew back and forth between the tall trees on one side of the road and a fully laden apple tree in a back garden on the other. Then a further flock of 10 flew through the gardens. The owner of a nearby house invited us in to take a closer look. Apart from the fact that I didn't have my DSLR with me, and could only use a digital compact camera (against the sun) it was perfect. Even the non-birders of the family were suitably impressed.

Please forgive the standard of photography. You will see better on practically every blog post on the web. But tough - these are my reminders of a wonderful fifteen minutes.

Comments

Factor said…
Glad you got them in the end, Steve. I knew the Frenches Road gang wouldn't let you down.
9 January 2011 at 18:26
Steve Gale said…
It was good to bump into you Neil. I never tire of Waxwings and will continue to search for more.
9 January 2011 at 18:37
Gavin Haig said…
Nice one Steve. You won't see better on any of my blog posts... :o(
9 January 2011 at 23:51
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