WAXWINGS and Other Local Birds

With the news of Waxwings at Wimbledon in early March, I decided it was finally time to track down this species which I have wanted to see for a long time. The next day was a Saturday, so I travelled down to Wimbledon on the train early in the morning, and arrived at the location where they had been seen.

However, it was immediately evident that I had messed up - after an unsuccessful search for them, I checked Twitter again to see that the only time they were coming to this park was to roost, but spent the day in some other unknown location.

I twitched a Med Gull at my patch, Stocker's Lake - an unusual bird for the lake, usually with just a single record a year

I searched the surrounding area hopelessly, with no success in finding the Waxwings, and had to give up. But there were some interesting species in the park, including Redwings carpeting the floor, including some singing ones, and a few Mistle Thrushes. 

I decided the best thing to do was to go birding somewhere local and return in the late afternoon, so I went to London Wetland Centre, where there is always a chance of something good. I made straight for the Peacock Tower hide, the best one for viewing a wide range of habitats. 

I couldn't find much except a Snipe over a long period of time, so I went to check the Gulls from the hides on the other side of the reserve. There were, however, a couple of problems. Firstly, many of the Gulls were sitting on distant islands and rafts, and I didn't have a scope with me, so judging any plumage details was difficult.

Secondly, and worst of all, my camera was out of charge, so I knew that if I did return to the Waxwings later, I would have to stick with views (usually, I prefer watching birds over photographing them, but its always good to get at least record shots of interesting species).

I did have some luck in the hide, with a Snipe coming right up to the window, and I found a Yellow-Legged Gull on one of the tern rafts, thanks to one of the volunteers letting me borrow their scope to scan briefly. 

YLG taken through a volunteer's scope

It was a good, distinctive bird, clearly bigger and chunkier than herring gulls, with clean plumage, but I can't say everyone else in the hide shared my excitement with this big brown immature gull.

By the time I was finished here, it was the evening, and I decided to head back to Wimbledon to try again with the Waxwings. I met up with Kabir and Arjun at the site, and there were lots other birders, although most of them were trying hard not to make themselves visible. 

I was talking to Arjun and Kabir when a high pitched, piercing sound made everyone turn their heads at once, and walk over to the source. It was clearly a Waxwing call, and it wasn't long before we saw the birds fly in and land at the top of a bare tree. 

For the next half hour we enjoyed reasonable views of the birds, at the top of one of the trees. Although the light wasn't great, once would occasionally shift position and sit against the tree, giving great views of the plumage.

 I, annoyingly, couldn't take any photos with my camera, but tried for a couple of phone record shorts through my binoculars. Honestly, with the end results, I don't know if they're good enough to be classed as record shots. 

Artistic Waxwing shot

Both Arjun and Kabir got much better photos than me, even though the conditions for photography were challenging. This was my second lifer of the year - new birds are becoming harder to find now. 

Other local birding was done in the period leading up to the Easter holidays, including a few visits to Maple Lodge, producing Snipe, Water Rail, Green Sandpiper and Oystercatcher, and a visit to Stocker's Lake to successfully twitch the Mediterranean Gull. 

Water Rail

Lastly, I visited Burnham Beeches, where I was unsuccessful in finding any Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, but did manage two flyover Lesser Redpoll, two Bramblings, Siskins, Mandarin Ducks, Nuthatches, a Treecreeper and a couple of Woodcock.

Snipe

Oystercatcher