My blog is mostly about wildlife, particularly birds, walking, days out, all growing things and anything else that comes to mind.
To view pictures in larger format, just click on any picture for the picture gallery....

Saturday 15 January 2011

Waxwings... just!

The sky is - Blue!!
The sun is - Shining!!
I am - awake!!
No - I am dreaming!!

Never mind, despite the grey and drizzle I duly arrived at London Wetland Centre (and had breakfast :D - best value meal there). Some of the regulars were already breakfasting and John and Therese very kindly offered me a seat in their car as they were off to (hopefully) see the Waxwings that had been frequenting a Homebase (other stores are available ;) ) car park in Osterley. I accepted their kind offer and together with another couple of friends we headed off.

In a rather messy corner of the car park we waited - together with some other familiar faces that had arrived before us. Well - three Waxwings duly arrived but perched up high against a dull sky - not really conducive to good photography.

But hey - nothing ventured nothing gained
(so herewith another set of record shots - perhaps before 2011 is over, I will have managed a picture that isn't a record shot!!)



Having watched the 3 for a bit, a small flock of them flew over and...... continued going!! harumph!!

Whilst we stood and waited, a couple of Redwings came down into the bushes.


We headed back of to Barnes. Nothing much about although one of the Bitterns was showing - intermittently!

A Shoveller - shovelled

had a bit of a preen....

and a scratch

and tried to squash that itch!!

A little Grebe swam into view.... hunting for food

which it found...

but what it found.....I've no idea
(if you have, I'd be pleased to know what the Dapchick's meal was?)




And that was it for the day.... I came home.... and the sun? Still noticeable by its absence!!

11 comments:

oldcrow61 said...

Those are wonderful shots of the waxwings. Sounds like you had a great day.

Chris said...

Oh I'd love to see a little grebe once more. I've only seen once in Morocco... I'm happy you got waxwings too... Still manage to see 38 today while I was just going with the family to a brunch at the national museum. They were just standing in the trees of the parking lot!!!

Unknown said...

Great series and love the waxwings. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

holdingmoments said...

Glad you caught up with these lovely birds Tricia. And you got them with berries!

Love the Little Grebe shots too.

Unknown said...

Beautiful photographs again Tricia.
Costas

Anonymous said...

Good pics of the Waxwings. I haven't seen any this year. We had a local twitch to some in Sheffield but they did not appear. Still plenty about, though, so we may have another try.

Glo said...

Terrific shots of the waxwings enjoying the berries! I hope you have sun soon so that you can have that lovely blue background that we all wish for. We have waxwings here, but I have never seen one to photograph, so I loved looking at yours. Your other photos are great, too ~

Anonymous said...

Good shots of the Waxwings Tricia.
A good record in any conditions!
I really do like the little Grebe too.

paul.

Tricia Ryder said...

OC - thank you... was good to get out and the company was nice too :D

Chris.. glad you're seeing the Waxwings still - and they seem to like car parks regardless of the country they are in :D

Gary - thank you..they are beautiful birds

Keith - yes finally I got to see some. To have dipped this year when there's so many about would have been..... unmentionable!!

Costas - many thanks as usual :)

Digi - the amount of editing I had to do just to get thus far lol. Hope you get to see some soon.

Glo - thanks so much and yes - a BLUE background would be fantastic (together with a little bit of orange in the sky too? )

Paul - thank you as ever.... there's something about Little Grebes that's always appealing (IMHO that is :D )

ShySongbird said...

Ooooh! I'm very envious Tricia! There have apparently been Waxwings all around me but I haven't been lucky enough or unfortunately had the time :( to track them down. I would be thrilled with those photos despite the grey conditions. Nice to see the Redwings too.

No idea what the Dabchick was eating but on enlarging the photos I decided it was welcome to it...YUCK! :)

The Wessex Reiver said...

I know everyone is buzzing over the Waxwings Tricia, but I have to say little grebes are just brilliant, well named with their nom de plume "puffballs"

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