On Friday afternoon, after I'd been to Swithland for a proper look at the Velvet Scoter I headed over to Stoney Stanton on the hunt for the Waxwings that had been loitering around the school for the past few days. In the end it was all relatively simple, the birds were quickly found in an area behind the school and a convenient alley allowed me to approach close to the rest tree;
Very nice indeed, although a visit this morning drew a blank which only frustrated me into being tempted to go for the enormous flock that had been found on the outskirts of Loughborough. Shortly afterwards this temptation was heightened when I nipped round to Paul Riddle's gaff to collect a couple of Owlsaboutthatthen calenders (an excellent stocking filler!) and he told me all about how he'd been there earlier in the day and that viewing was excellent! This was all the encouragement I needed and soon sacked off the Manchester derby and was on the way. Good choice. Loads of Waxwings - easily 150+, more like 200, hard to tell exactly though as they were never all together. They were even flitting down regularly to a large puddle in a nearby field, first time I've ever seen them on the ground!
This above image was just about the point where some clouds rolled in and things became much more miserable, just as Paul turned back up to try and get some more flight shots!
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| Loughborough Serengetti |
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| Mr. Riddle nailing some flight shots |
