Waxwings 13th dec

This ones a little belated but there we go!

There had been several reports of waxwings in the area so I decided to check in on several places close to my house. On the way to the meadows I passed through Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts Kings Meadow reserve in lenton and was greeted to the trilling of around 50 waxings feeding in some trees directly above me on the cycle path. I instantly got off my bike and grabbed the camera and managed a couple of shots before a cyclist came through and spooked them.

I knew there were loads of berry laden bushes around the area so decided to get back on the bike, camera at the ready, to see if i could relocate the flock. I got to the main entrance to the meadow when again i heard some trilling, and looked to find 2 waxwings in some bushes only a few metres from me.

It was almost as if these birds were acting as sentinels, as they sat there calling every now and again and occasionally eating the odd berry, before, almost as if given the 'all clear', the rest of the flock moved in. The whole flock then entered into a feeding frenzy within a couple of metres of where i stood, allowing me to get some nice shots of their feeding behaviour. Nice bright light and a clear blue sky, along with some nice frosty berries gave excellent photographic conditions, and i was very pleased with my pictures, although in hindsight i wish i'd taken care not to cut out some of the birds tails in some of the shots due to some lazy framing!

Thats a few of the shots i managed to get, the full set can be found here.