Waxwing invasion gathers strength in York

Waxwings are spreading like a rash right across the country and at the moment there is no better place to see them than in the middle of York. I was on my way to a job interview this morning and spotted one perched in the top of a tree, then a few more on my way back. I always have the camera in the car (it's chipped, so don't even think about it!) so, looking slightly incongruous in pin striped suit, binocs and long lens I climbed the bar walls nr Bishopthorpe road and managed some half decent photographs. The light wasn't brilliant but the birds were closer than a few days ago, more of them (a fellow birder reckoned on about 300) and from the bar walls the shooting angle was much better.

No need for much more narrative (see my last post for more detail on these marvellous berry eating marauders from the North - Waxwing hunting in York ), so here's a selection from the shoot.

I played around with the light settings in this last shot to bring out the colours a bit more, the original showed little more than silhouettes in the sky, but as with several other of these pics you can see just how rampaging these birds are. They're a bit like locusts in a way, devouring and stripping the berries of trees before moving on en mass to find more! You can see why they're regarded as somewhat of a pest up in Scandinavia, pretty though they are. At this rate they'll soon eat all the berries in York and have to move on but this is what they do and my bet is that the UK influx will move further south into France and maybe Spain before the Winter is out.

Waxwing hunting in York

I went on a rather curious hunting expedition today in York city centre. Early Christmas shopping perhaps? Mmh .... if you knew me well you would know that this would never happen in a month of Micklemas sundays! No, I was of course scouting for birds ... yes out and about with binocs and camera amongst the shoppers and the tourists looking for some very particular birds that sometimes turn up in our cities and gardens in the winter - Waxwings.

They breed in more Northerly climes like Scandinavia and the Baltic states and a few winter here every year but every so often they arrive here in large numbers; this happens because every so often their food supply in the North is not able to sustain their numbers. Waxwings are big finch like birds, about the same size as a Starling, and they feed on flies and berries, they love berries, and this year by all accounts there's been a poor berry crop up in Scandinavia and so there we have it - lots of Waxwings have come to our shores this year. This kind of periodic influx is called an 'irruption' and occurs every 10 years or so as far as Waxwings are concerned and with several other bird species such as Crossbills and Redpolls.

Back to my Waxwing hunt then ...... I'd heard on the grapevine that there were a few flocks in York, some in Rawcliffe and some nr St Georges Field next to the river Ouse. No luck in Rawcliffe, but these birds are quite mobile so its a case of tracking them down. So on to St George's field and result ..... not many and all in big tree tops but at least 15 of these beauties were flying around catching flies in the late afternoon sun. They looked great through the binoculars but too high up in the trees to get any close up shots so I'm going to have another go tomorrow .... here's my best shots from today