Town is in grid-lock with everyone rushing to buy-in all the supplies we think we might need at Christmas, and more. Life is an unimaginable challenge for wildlife, like these waxwing flocking in from Fenno-Scandinavia, in search of berries. They've been in the neighbourhood for the last month and berries dwindle. Once their food-source is exhausted they'll be gone.
A waxwing takes one of the last berries on a rowan. Bare fruit-stems show how a flock has fed here before and stripped the rowan berries.
Town is in grid-lock with everyone rushing to buy-in all the supplies we think we might need at Christmas, and more. Life is an unimaginable challenge for wildlife, like these waxwing flocking in from Fenno-Scandinavia, in search of berries. They've been in the neighbourhood for the last month and berries dwindle. Once their food-source is exhausted they'll be gone.
0 Comments
' What's that bird with a crest on its head?' asked Kate. I knew it was waxwing without seeing it, so made the daft decision to rush back home for binoculars. Reckless when you have a very new knee and it's your first day out on crutches. We returned too late, the bird had flown. We scoured the area and my scouts told me three waxwing had been seen gorging on yellow rowan berries. For the next ten days we searched but could not find them. Then the snow came. It looked lovely but snow followed by ice and heavy rain put paid to my venturing forth for the first ten days of December. One Boxing Day I stood in wellingtons in the snow beneath this birch tree and listened to twenty five waxwing chattering in its branches in the fog. They roosted there, safe in its high branches. |
AuthorJan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She also explores islands and coast and the wildlife experience. (See Home and My Books) Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|