A rare influx of Waxwings from Scandinavia has caused a lot of excitement amongst birders - these attractive birds appear to be working their way southwards in the UK as the feed on the plentiful berries that are around this year.
Last Saturday I dipped some waxwings near Stroud, but heard of some more at a park near a primary school in Cheltenham. This morning a kind observer posted that they had been seen there at 8 a.m. so with a free day to do some New Year's birding I headed over there for 9 .30 a.m. Parking was limited but I found a space fairly easily in a residential side street clos by which didn't block anyone's drive. Walking down to the park entrance, I encountered a couple of birders who assured me that the waxwings were still present, currently at the top of a tall tree but periodically coming down to feed on some orange rowan berries on one of the smaller trees. There were about 30 or so people present, and I soon got chatting to some of them who pointed out 8 waxwings perched near the top of the tree. I suspect that many of the watchers had come for a second visit, in order to have waxwings on both their 2023 and 2024 lists! After a short while three or four of the waxwings flew down to the berry tree, fed for just enough time for me to grab a photo and then flew back up to their original tree. They did this about three or four times, sadly not in positions for the best of shots as they were often behind twigs or in the shade of branches but certainly close enough to enjoy their striking plumage and acrobatics for a few moments. As an added bonus a pair of blackcaps were feeding on the adjacent trees.
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