Failed Waxwing Hunt

So this afternoon, with reports of Waxwings all over the country, I decided to have a run out on a beautiful afternoon with the intention of finding some.

I ran round both lakes, along the cycle track, through Friary Gardens home of the Aconites, and all round Waitrose car park; indeed anywhere there were berries on trees. Of waxwing there was NO BLOODY SIGN!

No doubt they were all hiding somewhere, stifling their giggles with wings over their beaks.

Luckily on such a bright afternoon there were plenty of lovely sights, and I was rewarded on returning home to find that a pretty flock of about 20 redwing were visiting the small park near my flat; they really are very dainty little thrushes,

In addition, a few bulkier forms were among them; fieldfare.

First time either winter thrush has visited town this winter.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.01.17

Waxwings Bloody Waxwings!

So, I've been on a couple of pretty long runs, 10-12 kilometres, the last couple of days and every berry laden bush or tree my neck roates like an owl as I strive to see any interesting feathered contents as I walked past. For it is winter, and I've been telling readers I don't have yet where best to see Redwing, Fieldfare and Waxwings.

Only, I haven't seen many myself yet. I caught a few Redwing in Beacon Hill reserve in the trees between the nursery and the open grassland yesterday, but the Waxwings are eluding me, despite a flock of them being reported a couple of hundred yards from my home, and all over Nottingham. In fact there is a lot of them being reported all over the country, sweeping south.

But not in my line of vision!

Of course, my running isn't just about the top birds, I like to see the flocks of Long Tailed Tits. Pied Wagtails and Chaffinches you see this time of year, and out in the sticks round Barnby Lane and the Coddington Road there are Goldfinch a Yellowhammer about.

But I do feel like I'm missing something. And meanwhile The Waxwings laugh at me, concealed in the hedges I run past, the trees I cycle past, their crests jiggling with every chuckle...

Crisp evenings, frozen mornings

As I said before, the sight of Arcturus rising in the sky is giving me hope that eventually, as ever, winter will be over, and I will no longer have to worry about cycling through ice and snow on dangerous roads filled with dangerous drivers.

All the while, my hands are hands turning purple and making me scream with agony despite the fact I'm wearing two pairs of gloves.

I've now more or less confirmed Kemble's Cascade, the colours of the stars are elusive with my 10x50s. At midnight, it's directly overhead and a real neck strainer to see! In the mornings, Venus is still dazzling but is sinking horizon-wards rapidly now, and Leo is poised across the South, in the gap between the Sycamores and The Oak.

As I sat in the work canteen today, head full of a story I was writing, I watched a couple of dazzlingly white shapes tumble across the backdrop of the Showground runway; white indeed above but seemingly dark underneath. I swigged my dishwater tea and wished I had my 10x50s or even my little field glasses with me. Curses!

My runs (athletic, not diarrhoea) have yielded little life lately, mainly as I seem to have been heading out in twilight slash dusk as the nights draw in - MUST CHANGE! But as I ran over the A1 on Barnby Lane a few days ago, Long Tail tits purred and zupped in the hedgerow, a kestrel sliced the sky, and a Lapwing slowly beat the air overhead with its ragged, broad wings.

I'm planning a winter trip to Langford Lowfields in the next few days. THEY HAVE WAXWINGS! NEWARK HAS WAXWINGS! I MUST SEE ONE!!!

Chris Packham is lying!!!

I went running through my local Waitrose car park today, as part of my 7 mile plus little trot, just running round a not terribly big car park looking for birds when there's lots of countryside around would be stupid!

And in this not terribly big car park, there weren't that many trees with berries on them, rather more a few low bushes; and in these not very many very berried trees, no Waxwings, Fieldfares or Redwings or indeed anything could be spotted.

I think the nature researcher pixies must glue pretty birds by their feet to trees when they hear that Chris is going out for a walk so he has lots of things to see and report.

Luckily, I love running outside, and so the absence of Waxwings didn't lead to suicide. There were flocks of Chaffinch again, seemingly very plentiful this autumn, and I saw a very pretty yellowhammer on the hedge by the wheat field at the end of Clay Lane, and the varying colours of the leaves everywhere as the fall continues, like a warmly coloured packet of fruit pastles, lots of pale yellows and fresh fruity greens darkening to blackcurrenty but probably overlychewy reds and browns and even purples.

Lovely out there today. Spend every moment outside you can! No doubt these "minus 20" temperatures the tabloids have mentioned will be upon us with clouds of white death snow anytime soon.