Waxwing Winter

The recent invasion of Waxwings to our shores gives me the perfect and shameless excuse to recall the last time I encountered these exotic and colourful winter migrants.
It was in January 2011 and I had made the short journey along the A30 to Exeter and the Marsh Barton Trading Estate. It never ceases to amaze me that these birds will take up residence on housing and trading estates where a proliferation of Rowen trees attracts them to feed until the branches are stripped bare.
I had driven around the busy estate on a fruitless search for around 30 minutes when I suddenly picked out a group of around a dozen birds in a tree as I drove passed.
I managed to park the car and then walked back to where I had seen them right on the junction of a busy crossroads. I sat on the low wall of a car dealership and was treated to crippling close up views as these confiding birds systematically stripped the bush in front of me of berries.
Hopefully in the next few weeks a few of these wonderful birds will again make their way to the western side of the country.

Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus)