Sunday 23 January 2011

Sunday 23rd January 2011


 An unexpected bonus in the form of 15+ Waxwings slightly off patch in Paddock Wood.  We were just to embark on a family outing to London, weekend engineering work had forced us from East Malling to Paddock Wood.  As I walked through the car park I commented that I thought I'd heard a Waxwing, to which my wife said, "What like those" and pointed to a collection of birds in the a tree adjacent to booking office!  It's the first time she'd seen them so all credit, but I guess they're pretty unmistakable!  With 10 minutes to spare until our train arrived I watched them drop down to feed on the Pyracantha bushes next to the '20 minute' bays and chatted with a couple of interested bystanders.  The only one who didn't seem to be enjoying it was a male Blackbird who was very defensive of the larder he was slowly seen being stripped before his eyes!


Some photos below, but the old excuses I'm afraid....light was terrible and I was using a tiny compact x3 zoom.

On reaching London, and walking up the path past the 'big guns' to the Imperial War Museum I heard more Waxwings trilling, to the east by the London Plane trees, but having already subjected my family to one group of Waxwings I found I was being hurried on and didn't catch sight of them.  They're everywhere.

1 comment:

Paul said...

Hi Adam, it seems there is no escaping those waxwings on your travels then mate, excellent times.