Who's got a Loyalty Card?

My patience ran out today when I heard that there were Waxwings back at Folkestone by the B&Q car-park. I had resolved to wait until I found some in St Margaret's, preferably my garden rather than photograph them somewhere else.

The lure of B&Q proved too much, and I went this morning. When I arrived there was no sign, but after waiting for them to show in the same place as they did two years ago, on Dec 28th 2008, I remembered that, then, they did disappear for periods, before suddenly showing up again. I had a drive round the estate in case they were sitting in a different tree not far away, but no luck. I had almost decided that they must have moved on when they appeared in the same trees that the used before.

The trees on the other side of the road were laden with berries, which I must admit I thought were Rowan. When Steve Coates turned up a few minutes later he told me that they were in fact Whitebeam, another member of the sorbus genus. What ever they are they certainly attract Waxwings! The group which I counted as 23 sat in the tall tree opposite and then suddenly some or all would descend into the berry rich trees opposite.

It doesn't matter which way round they are sitting they are both stunning and instantly recognisable, they just aren't any other birds with that amazing wing pattern and punk crest.

Once in place it was a matter of demolition as berry after berry was consumed. With 23 birds there I don't know how long it will be before the trees are bare!

I imagine to the birds that had already identified this as a good place to stock up, such as this Song Thrush, the Waxwing flock must have been a rather unwelcome intervention.

There were several Blackbirds as well, trying to get their share of the spoils. I didn't actually see any intra-species aggression this time. I have seen a Mistle Thrush defending a large berry bush in Dartford, when it was overwhelmed by about 35 Waxwings. It was totally futile and of course it expended a lot of in effective energy.

This Blue Tit had a look at the goings on but i don't think that these berries would be on it's normal shopping list.

Lars Svensson, in the Collins Bird Guide, says that Waxwings will feed on semi-fermented berries rendering them over the limit for safe flying. It would seem that they have developed very efficient livers to deal with the alcohol and they recover quickly.

Sometimes, as it they needed a they would take just one last berry and then as if they needed a take away, instead of swallowing it they would take it back up to the tall trees where they rested before the next feeding frenzy.

It certainly seems that it is going to be a bumper year for Waxwings, it is always worth keeping an eye out for them. And of course they also have a distinctive pleasant ringing call, that can be heard here. If you find any in St Margaret's please let me know.

Deep Freeze

Hopefully today will be the last day of the very cold weather, with much warmer temperatures forecast for tomorrow.

Today though was very cold, when I stated my car this afternoon, just to check it would start, the thermometer was reading -7 deg. Fortunately the wind had dropped and it didn't actually feel that cold. For a while I thought that the freezing fog we'd be warned about was going to arrive. The church had disappeared from view and it seemed to be closing in. This was as bad as it god, and by sunset it was much clearer.

The front garden pond has now frozen over, except for a small area where some water is being pumped down the stream. It would be an ideal habitat to find a wandering Woodcock, but so far, unlike several Kent birders I haven't had one in the garden.

Kingsdown Road looked pretty bleak today and from the look of most cars along the road most people had decided to stay off the roads at the moment.

There were no new arrivals in the garden today and I was forced to take a few photographs through the window. The Pied Wagtail remained around but I say no sign of the Grey Wagtail today.

There was also another visit from a Brambling, I don't think it was same one as a few days ago. I did go on a feeder for a short while, but it didn't seem as confident as the Goldfinches in this position.

There are increasing numbers of Goldfinches around the garden and their noisy harsh calls, signalling a bit of conflict when two are contesting a favoured feeding perch are constantly heard.

The Brambling fed on the ground for a while, but after one of the periodic panics, possibly due to an unseen cruising Sparrowhawk, it didn't return.

I was surprised that the Blackbirds tolerated this Song Thrush feeding on the berries, they are normally quick to chase each other of their patch and not normally welcoming to any other birds.

Pam took a couple of nice pictures as dusk arrived. The clouds here look as if there is still a lot of snow waiting to be dropped, but thankfully so far we've be free of fresh falls since mid-morning.

The fog had lifted when Pam took this from the attic window, looking towards the remaining two sisters (What would Checkov say about that?)

It's cold outside

A bit more snow did arrive last night, and continued to fall sporadically all day. To be honest it wasn't much, especially compared to some other areas in Kent. When I was a kid, it would have been put your wellies on and walk to school. In this age of over reliance on cars and an age of being totally risk adverse, the country has ground to a halt.

Looking East you can see the paddock behind Foxley has a good covering of snow. I didn't see any horses out there today, it was certainly pretty cold.

The garden had a good covering and I'm not at all sure if a Badger visited last night. There were some prints out side the back of the house that may have belonged to one, but on the other hand there are a lot of moggies and Foxes around. If I do leave peanuts out the large number of pigeons, that seem to see our garden as a cafe, descend on them early in the morning, forcing me to get cold toes if I want to save them for the following evening.

The cars remained like this all day as neither of us attempted to go far. I got as far as next door to check that Chris (the old biddy) was OK, only to find she'd already trotted off to the shop to get her paper. When she came back she came by to see if we were alright, we must count as "old folk" who need checking on in adverse conditions!

I did watch the comings and goings outside, what is it about Robins that makes them so photogenic. One thing I didn't see today was a single House Sparrow.

As well as this Grey Wagtail, a first for the winter in the garden, a Song Thrush came down to bath in the "stream" It kept it's back and tail towards me nad dashed into the bushes as soon as it finished, obviously camera shy.

A Pied Wagtail completed the pair and spent most of it's time just out side the window. It been around the area for a while, often calling for a roof, but it took the harsh weather to bring it down to the feeding station.

There were several Great Tits around, dashing in for a seed and the straight into cover to eat it, and then returning for the next one. They could save a lot of energy if they adopted the more sedentary approach of the Goldfinches.

Although there are lots of berries left on the bushes there are also an incresing number of Blackbirds queuing to eat them. Well, not really queuing, more squabbling, a bit like the french at a bus stop. This youngster worked out the best strategy was to come over to the patio and wait ofr the seeds that the finches dropped.

I think that this Robin would have come right in if I'd opened the doors. He seemed to be looking at me, in my comfortable chair, cup of tea and warm house with some envy. We'll try and find some treats for him tomorrow, sunflower seeds must get a bit boring.

While it was snowing I noticed this Magpie clinging to a nearly empty fatball holder. I haven't got any at the moment to replensh it, and this is the first time I've seen a Magpie actually on the feeder. When I can get out to Malibu Grains at Shatterling.

Still waiting for a Waxwing.

Much of the country is in the grip of the earliest snow blanket that I can remember, but so far we've just had a couple of centimetres here.

Even so it is pretty cold with the wind coming from an uncharitable ENE at about 20mph. The temperature remained at about -1 or -2 deg C all day, and Chapel Lane was pretty slippery when I went to the shop this morning.

The Village Pond is completely frozen over and of course all the Mallards have disappeared. With the rather harsh lopping of the tree and vegetation clearance the area looks rather sparse at the moment, but hopefully it will look rather more interesting when there is some new growth next spring.

Today heralded a new era for the village shop with a change of management. They are changing the opening times to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days a week, which will be a big help to me on Sundays when I used to forget the shop closed at lunch time and then I'd run out for milk for my morning tea! I wish them luck as I think it important that the shop flourishes in the village.

In the garden there are still a lot of berries, but there are still no Waxwings to take advantage of them, I'm still hoping that one or more will arrive while stocks last.

The number of Chaffinches seems to have increased and today there were quite few feeding on the seeds that the other birds drop from the feeders above them.

I've set up a couple of feeders about four feet from the lounge windows and providing I'm not moving about the birds feed happily undisturbed.

Chaffinch have the the Latin name coelebs, derived from the Latin from bachelor. It was given by the great father of Taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, who saw only male chaffinches in his native Sweden, females from its northern breeding grounds winter further south.

The charming Dunnock is still a common bird in the garden, but it is now on the amber list for conservation because of recent decline in the breeding population (1996-2001). In my early days of bird watching the Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow wasn't a bird that visited garden feeders, but in recent years they have learned to take advantage of feeding stations.