Bring on the Waxwings!

Saturday 1st December 2012
Waxwings look so good in the sun - I just can't get enough of them
Out with Mark this morning I finally saw my first Waxwings of the winter. We found the first Waxwing along Hempsted Lane, Hempsted (approx.GR SO817171), initially perched in a tree and then feeding in a roadside line of small trees and shrubs on Rowan. Deciding to head for the forest, we looked for the Cinderford birds seen yesterday at the Forest Vale Industrial Estate. We arrived to find 15 here, feeding on an ornamental Rowan, but also on Alder seeds and apparently on the small buds of some larger trees. We watched these for some considerable time in the sunshine, before heading for Mallard's Pike for a cuppa, and then stopping at Wenchford where we noted a pair of Dippers on the Blackpool Brook just downstream of the lower bridge. We found a Caddis Fly, Halesus digitatus I think, crawling across the road at Blakeney - we rescued it of course!
These photos are all of the Cinderford birds
Extending its wing, this Waxwing shows off the wax-like secondary appendages
Caddis Fly, Halesus digitatus
Garden birds today included a Song Thrush, a female Blackcap and a Lesser Redpoll, the latter feeding on Nyger seed.

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