Sunday 26th December 2010

With some many Waxwings being reported locally I'd thought I'd check out a couple of locations on my travels with my two lads.

I stopped off briefly to check the orchards at East Malling Research - lots of Redwings but little else.

Onto New Hythe where I only managed to get to the East Scrub from Brook House as the kids wanted to throw stones on the ice and break iced-up puddles!  12x Siskins flew overhead and I noticed the familiar figure of Mike Easterbrook  emerging from the scub.  We chatted briefly as the dinner at his daughter's was going cold!  He had also had some Siskins earlier but also a Bittern in flight near Millstream.  He asked if I'd seen the Waxwings that Phil Sharp had seen yesterday, I was just about to reply no when seven Waxwings lifted from the East Scrub and landed in an Alder tree on the periphery of New Hythe Industrial Estate.  Two other birders, Den and Doreen appeared and as we moved towards the flock, Terry Laws emerged from the other side of the Scrub...quite a crowd!  The Waxwings flew off south into the industrial estate, briefly drinking from the guttering on one of the warehouse rooves.  I made my way back to Brook House and saw three Waxwings feeding in the Hawthorns along the track.

As I drove home I amazingly spotted another Waxwing a top of a Field Maple in the garden of one of the Preston Hall bungalows at the north end of Hermitage Lane, Aylesford.  Quite how I spotted it when you look at the photo above I don't know (may be the huge arrow had something to do with it?!), but conveniently there was a lay-by opposite so I could stop to get a couple of record shots in the dying light.