Well, the question on all birdwatchers lips this year has been, “Is this going to be a a Waxwing Winter?” And the answer is YES, it is.
Early November saw thousands of Waxwings appearing mostly in Scotland. The town of Elgin saw flocks of between 100 to 500 birds. They descend on usually Rowan Trees and within days the berries are stripped from the trees and the birds move on to another berry location.
By the middle to the end of November some birds had started moving south, as well as more arriving from Scandinavia. We will not apologise for the amount of Waxwing pictures appearing in our diary this month.
First reports of Norfolk Waxwings were between 20 - 30 at Wiveton, and thanks to our friend who once again let us use her holiday caravan for a couple of nights at the last minute, we were able to see and photograph them. They usually like Rowan berries, but not been able to find out what they are feasting on here. Maybe a form of Pyracantha.
What’s happening here then?
The lookout.
They all want the same berries.
Showing the ends of the wing feathers that give Waxwings their name.
The Waxwings spend about five minutes all feeding together and then fly off to perch in other trees to digest the berries. A Mistle Thrush took advantage of the break to find some tasty morsels for itself.
A Blackbird on the roof trying to work out how to reach berries on the lower branches, whilst keeping out the way of the Waxwings.
We couldn’t visit Norfolk without taking Little Eva dog for a walk along the beach, East Runton to Cromer.
Weybourne Station preparing for the Norfolk Lights Express Christmas Spectacular. Still a bit more to be added but starting to look good. The Norfolk Lights Express departs from Sheringham and steams its way up the line of the North Norfolk Railway to Holt. Along the way, you’ll see beautiful lineside displays that tell a unique tale, and the on-train lighting will shine on to the North Norfolk countryside.
It turned very cold and windy at Sheringham, but we did manage to find this lone Purple Sandpiper hopping about the rocks.
On an early morning trip to Wicken Fen we spotted the Fieldfares, another winter visitor. We haven’t seen many after spotting this nice group at the beginning of the month.
Lovely colours showing in the morning sun on this Fieldfare.
They say that wildlife watching is 95% waiting and 5% spotting. This has certainly been the case with us waiting patiently for the lovely Short Eared Owls to make a show. We have spent hours this month, in sun, rain, frost and freezing winds. Sometimes not a sign and other times, a ten minute glimpse and even a spectacular flying display of five Owls, hunting, chasing each other. Occasionally they decide to sit, slightly out of camera range, and look back at us.
Short Eared Owls are often seen hunting during the day searching for Voles and other small mammals. In winter, there's an influx of continental birds (from Scandinavia, Russia, Iceland) to northern, eastern, and parts of central southern England. As with the Waxwings there seems to be a lot of them around this winter.
It had been a long cold wait in the freezing wind and we were just about to head for home, when from under the setting sun, the Owl flew out and landed on the gatepost we had just walked past. You need a lot of rights and luck in wildlife photography. Right place, right time, right light, right lens, right camera settings and lucky you were looking the right way.
Nothing stops the wind in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Short Eared Owl heading off into the sunset.
Konic Ponies grazing the fens. Just missed a funny picture. Two ponies having a bit of a pushing match when the pony on the left moved and the one on the right fell over, rolled over and got up, looked around as much to say, no one saw that did they?
A Hovering Kestrel sharing its winter hunting grounds with the Owls.
It just so happened that the day we had planned a trip to the camera shop in Norwich, a flock of about eighty Waxwings had been reported in the park around the corner. Well, we couldn’t not go.
A Five minute feeding frenzy. They all fly down at the same time in one large group, feed for, at the most five minutes, consuming as many berries as they can and then off to a resting tree for about half an hour to digest and poop.
They’re off. Amazing how they all know when to arrive and when to leave. Does one bird give the signal perhaps? They are chattering all the time.
Determined to get the berries on the end, this bird hovered and twisted its head completely round the other way. Clever.
Another cold but bright day, and another afternoon waiting in the fens for the Owls. We can’t help it, think they have put a spell on us. We can’t stop going to see them. This time we did not have long to wait as they appeared straight away and were flying all afternoon. ‘Shorties’ roost on the ground in long grass and are very difficult to spot. This one flew in and then sat watching us.
Flying in to roost in the long grass.
A fly past looking at us, “look, here I am”
Another fly past.
Those eyes do not miss a thing.
The end of November and the days a very short now. The light for photography is almost gone by 3.15pm, if your lucky and its been a bright afternoon you can maybe keep going until 3.30pm. Its been a busy month but cant wait to start getting some pictures in the frost and snow.