Waxwings, Teddington, Ticked

Waxwings, Teddington, Ticked

After dashing out yesterday evening and dipping a flock of 19 Waxwings down the road in Teddington, I was getting desperate to glimpse these exotic gems in Surrey, after also dipping the flock in Epsom a few weeks back.

Now, one dip I can handle, but two dips and its getting personal, so it was another early morning for a bicycle twitch, with Teddington being just a few miles down the road, to hopefully catch up with yesterday's missed birds.

Things weren't looking promising when, no sooner had I got onto the bike, I already had a stitch, and with the temperature reading a figure that wouldn't seem out of place on a weather station out in Antarctica, my usual Sunday morning routine of a sofa, a duvet and Match of the Day seemed extremely tempting. Luckily though, with the help of a life-saving Crunchy bar keeping my chocolate levels stable, I managed to resist the urge, and made it to the hopefully Waxwing infested road by an impressive time of 9am...

A small crowd of Waxwing admirers had gathered along the road; a good sign I thought, and no sooner had I turned the corner, and I already had brilliant views of the birds as the whole flock lifted up into a nearby tree...

What is a Waxwing without a berry bush?

In flight, and especially when silhouetted, the Waxwing looks very like your average Starling, and it can be surprisingly hard to tell the two species apart... these are Waxies...

Finally, I've connected with the Waxwing, and by the looks of things it might not be my last this year, with quite a few birds making their way down south in this irruption of a year for the species.

Oh, and yes, the photos you see have been taken by me, and yes they really are that stunning. I was thinking of entering them into a few competitions, but I think I'll let someone else get first 1st place for once.