Friday 24th December 2010

Now I've struggled to get decent pictures of decent birds this year, as Warren kindly reminds me on a regular basis.  So I thought it was about time to resurrect my reputation (!) by capturing one last superb image before the year was out.  Waxwings in the Winter sunshine would be ideal and I've waited and waited to get a picture of some in Pittswood, nr Hadlow but I think I'm flogging a dead horse there ;-)  So I had to turn to another local patch watcher/blogger, Alan Woodcock, who had seen Waxwings on his patch yesterday.   I left Barming at just after 9am this morning and arrived 15 minutes later in another world .....Snodland full of exotic Scandinavian birds.  I quickly located the flock of 30+ birds and set to work to capture that 'decisive moment' shot.  I was really pleased with my first effort (see above).  It portrays the atmosphere of the 'twitch' with a few other subtle seasonal references - deserted suburban street (Christmas Eve....everyone's off shopping), smattering of snow (representing winter), the sky reflected off the car window (looking to the heavens for the Star), a wheelie bin awaiting it's last collection of the year (emptiness one can sometimes feel over Christmas - mentally, not physically of course), the three telephone wires traversing the skyline mirrowed by the three bollards and three clipped hedges below (references to the Holy Trinity, Three Kings, etc).....all classic stuff.  But of course it needs avian interest to warrant inclusion on this blog...so there, deftly pointed out by one of my signature arrows is the flock of Waxwings.  This will be the picture for 'December' in next year's 'Distant Nature' calendar (also featuring distant Glossy Ibis, Raven and Teal, and may be with kind permission of W. Baker some distant Snipe).

Having got the perfect shot I decided to get a more run of the mill photo:

A BIG thank you to Alan for alerting me to these birds - see some of his excellent photos HERE. 

After the excitement of bagging the Waxwings I stopped off at Bradbourne House, East Malling (Private Site) to see if I couldn't find a White-fronted Goose.  There's been a mini invasion of this species across Kent in the last few days and I thought one was long overdue in East Malling.  Thirty minutes and 400+ Geese (310+ Greylag and 112 Canada) later I realised that once again East Malling had missed out. 

Still there were some nice Shoveler on the lake (12 in total), 3x Pochard, 9x Tufted Duck and 15x Lapwings.  I managed to get a shot of one of the Lapwings, a bit too close for my liking though ;-)

WISHING ALL READERS AND FELLOW BLOGGERS A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!