Earlier this week on a twitter feed I saw that Waxwings had been reported on the coast … a good omen to come?? Then on Monday of this week they had been reported in Pickering. However, due to family commitments I could not follow up these sightings… but yesterday I managed to get out for a morning visit and you guessed right no Waxwings!!! However persistence pays off and on the third visit to some hawthorns behind Pickering swimming pool I heard their distinct trilling call and there they were !!! Unfortunately the light was not good and despite ‘pushing’ the white balance on the camera a lot of the images were still quite grainy.So another visit was planned for the next day… fast forward to this morning and I spent about 3 hours following the birds as they flew into the hawthorns where they fed very briefly and then flew into some large Sycamores on the adjoining housing estate. It was very interesting watching them fly catching with remarkable ease … Let’s hope that this will be a ‘Waxwing Winter’ and these special birds from Scandinavia stay with us over the winter months so that many other people can get the opportunity to watch them.
