On friday, i had a couple of choices. I could either go to clifton and try to see a bittern, as well as get an easy year tick in the form of the Bewick's Swans which are still there, or i could go to carrington in the city to see if i could catch up with a group of waxwings that had been there for a while.
I thought i'd try both initially, but as i was without a bike and had to rely on public transport, it didn't work out in the end. I messed around for a bit, and then the bus didn't turn up for ages, so i decided to abandon the clifton plan altogether and just have a more relaxed affair with the Waxwings.
I'm glad i did. I got off the bus and the first thing i saw was a flock of the birds overhead. I walked up hucknall road, and couldnt find them, just loads of Mistle Thrush! However, as i walked back down the road i saw some birds going down one of the side-streets, and then i heard them. There in a large plane tree were around 150 Waxwings, making the biggest racket. In groups of only a few birds, they flew back and forth to collect berries from the smallest of Rowan trees, before spooking and flying away when either traffic went by or a Mistle Thrush bullied them away.
There were loads of redwings too, but the Waxwings looked lovely in the clear winter sunshine. I got some shots of them in the trees, and managed a few of them feeding. I've cropped them as i had to take them from across the road.
Satisfied, i hopped on another bus to check out Arnot Hill Park, as sometimes its quite entertaining when there are lots of passerines about. However it was pretty quiet today, so i had to make do with looking at the waterfowl collection. To my surprise they'd added a few Pintail to the collection, which was a nice oppurtunity to get a close look at these handsome ducks.
Also got a couple of shots of this captive Shoveler
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