A Waxwing winter part 2 – now they are local!

I mentioned in a previous blog that a Waxwing winter is underway whereby large numbers of Waxwings are found in the UK. For more information on what this means, lots of background info on the birds and lots of photos click here.

As the winter progresses the Waxwings tend to move south and west in search of their main winter food, berries. Rowans are a particular favourite but they are also quite partial to mistletoe berries if they can find them. Fortunately, mistletoe berries is something that we have in great abundance locally so I’ve been watching reports hoping for a local flock.

My wish was granted last week when a flock of at least 36 began to feed on copious mistletoe berries a short distance from home. I was waiting for good light to coincide with a free day to make a visit and so with this Tuesday forecast to be a bright sunny winter day off I went. The Waxwings were feeding on an avenue of trees laden with mistletoe next to a main road just outside of Malvern. They were quite easy to find with 10 or so people present with cameras and bins watching them. While there was considerable disturbance from people gossiping and talking loudly, something that always winds me up when bird watching, the Waxwings seemed totally unphased by the commotion and continued to feed while showing appropriate blissful complete disinterest to the gossipers.

All my photographs of Waxwings have been taken while they were feeding on rowan berries and a small issue with photographing them feeding on mistletoe was immediately obvious, the berries are much higher up the tree. In general, bird photography for non-flying birds works best from a vantage point which is level with the bird. Another small issue is the mistletoes themselves. The mistletoe berry contains a very gluttonous and sticky sap around the seed. When they are eaten and transported to a new location by an unknowing gardener, the “output” is still extremely glutinous. This allows the seed to stick to the bark of its new host where it can germinate and grow into a new plant. The rear end and feet of Waxwings feeding on mistletoe can therefore be, shall we say, a bit messy!

I spent two very enjoyable although freezing cold hours watching the Waxwings feeding. Occasionally they would drop down behind a hedge in an adjacent garden, my guess would be that there was a water source of some sort in the garden to help wash down their sticky winter feast. They are very characterful and charismatic birds with the gusty wind often blowing their feather crest up giving them a somewhat, I would guess unjustified, angry appearance.

Around 15:00 the whole flock flew off. Presumably to somewhere a little more sheltered to roost for the night and snooze off their sticky feast.

I’m very much enjoying our Waxwing winter and would guess that this won’t be my last visit to see them before they depart back to Scandinavia in early spring.