Waxwings

Thousands of these gregarious little berry snatchers have invaded the UK during the past few weeks and most counties have now recorded them. Here in West Yorkshire the best flock so far discovered is this seventy-five strong bunch hanging around the King Cross district of Halifax.


The birds have laid claim to three well stocked Mountain Ash trees by a busy road junction, giving the resident Mistle Thrush a hard time as he does his best to repel the greedy gang.


Poor weather conditions this morning meant photography was from the car, which was far from ideal, but with the numbers now wintering there'll be plenty more opportunities for sure.

Yorkshire Coast

Another spot of twitching this weekend involved a visit to a holiday camp on the Yorkshire coast. Visitors to Reighton Sands had found a rare Pied Wheatear doing a tour of the static caravans during the week which in turn attracted several hundred birders to the site. The wheatear spent much of the time feeding on the ground keeping one eye over it's shoulder for the stalking hordes.

This Pied Wheatear picks a lousy weekend to visit an east coast holiday camp

After spending an hour getting uninspiring views through the lens I succumbed to the cold and headed up the coast to Filey where conveniently the tide was in.

Oystercatcher at Filey North Cliff Country Park

Good numbers of Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstones and Redshanks had been displaced as a result and were seeing out the high water in the car park at the cliff top country park. On occasion they can be joined by rarer godwits and Knot but no such luck today.


Redshank & Ruddy Turnstones search for an alternative to their usual diet at Filey NCCP

Norfolk Weekend

With the winds finally switching from west to east it was time for a little rarity hunting in East Anglia. Stationed for a couple of nights at Warham in Norfolk this weekend it was possible to connect with some of the off-course migrants that had been deposited up and down the coast after prolonged north-easterlies.

Red-flanked Bluetail, Muckleburgh Hill, Norfolk

Pick of the crop was this hyper-active Red-flanked Bluetail, an Asian species that has recently expanded it's range westwards and now appears in western Europe on an annual basis. I only ever got to view the bird through the camera and can't recall actually seeing any red flanks or blue tail as it was so gloomy in that wood. Thankfully that little orange patch showed up on the PC 'cos it could so easily have been a robin for all I could tell!

Black-bellied Dipper, Glandford, Norfolk

From a little nearer is this continental form of a familiar British bird of upland streams, the Dipper. The nominate race (cinclus cinclus cinclus) occasionally crosses the North Sea in autumn when conditions become too extreme and can turn up in the most unlikely settings like this garden centre in north Norfolk.

Little Egret, Cley, Norfolk

Another appearance on this blog for the ubiquitous Little Egret whose numbers continue to rise all over Britain but nowhere more so than on the north Norfolk marshes. A rarer bird that regularly turns up at Cley is the Water Pipit, another continental species that seems to prefer our milder winters.

Water Pipit, Cley, Norfolk

A few miles further west along the coast is the Norfolk Ornithologists Association observatory at Holme-next-the-Sea. This was the focal-point for rarity hunters during Thursday & Friday of last week with good numbers of commoner migrants like Crossbills, Redwings and Goldcrests hiding the real gems such as Pallas's & Yellow-browed Warblers.

Female Common Crossbill, Holme NOA, Norfolk

The observatory gardens are a great place to spend time during these specific weather conditions as they are alive with exhausted migrants desperately re-fueling before the next leg of their journey. So intent are they that a very close approach is often easy and species like the tiny Goldcrest will feed just inches from the observer without fear.

Goldcrest, Holme NOA, Norfolk

Redwing, Holme NOA, Norfolk

Another Asian species that never fails to delight is the diminutive Pallas's Warbler though their ceaseless search for tiny scraps of food makes them an extremely difficult bird to photograph. This head only shot fails to do the bird any justice but was the only one where I managed to freeze the action!

Pallas's Warbler, Holme NOA, Norfolk

Common Darter, Wells Woods, Norfolk

Despite the very cold conditions experienced through the week on the east coast, a number of dragonflies had survived to enjoy Friday's sunshine. Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers were making the most of almost certainly their last days.