The Lincolnshire Bird Club

This morning (Wed), I thought I'd check out the Waxwing site again at Frieston near Fulbeck on the A 607, which I visited on Sat 16th Feb when 3 Waxwings were around. Having passed through Navenby village heading S on the A607 en route to Frieston, I saw a distinct group of Waxwings/Starlings? in a tree by the roadside on the left just 300 yards or so after the village. I parked nearby and checked out the group - there were 46 Waxwings (11.00am). Close by in the garden of the white house at 23 Grantham Road, was a large fruiting Cotoneaster smothered in red berries. The Waxwings made no attempt to feed and flew off after c.10 minutes.

When I arrived at the Waxwing stakeout at Frieston (11.30), there was nothing to report (NTR).

Driving back later past the new Waxwing site at Navenby, there was just 1 Mistle Thrush in the 'Waxwing' tree. I parked nearby and loitered for a time before driving on back to BBH. Given the large number of berries still on the Cotoneaster, I'm sure the Waxwings will return sooner or later.

HOWEVER, just after leaving Navenby heading N on the A607, I passed ANOTHER group of birds perched along the roadside. I parked and then discovered 21 Waxwings outside the Holmleigh Care Home (12.10). They were occasionally flying down and feeding on a Cotoneaster in front of the Care Home.......about 100 yards on the right past the derestriction 30mph sign. They flew off E after about 5 minutes or so.

Waxwinging can be both disappointing and exhilarating. Disappointing when I regularly drive around Lincoln, the local country lanes and villages and it's NTR; exhilarating when I go out to check on 3 Waxwings and end up finding 2 large groups not far from BBH. It's anybody's guess whether the 21 birds had broken away from the original 46, or whether they were all part of the original flock of 100+ which went missing from Lincoln a week or so ago, or.........?

Freddy

Checking on 'BirdGuides' this morning (Fri), I saw that a flock of 34 Waxwings had been reported at The Rise, Navenby, the turning opposite 23 Grantham Road (A607) where I had seen 46 on Wed 20th Feb.

Arriving there (it's only 10 minutes from BBH) at c.1.00pm, I found 37 Waxwings in the reported tree; the birds were dropping down into the nearby Cotoneaster to feed. A Mistle Thrush arrived in the tree at 1.20 and spooked the whole Waxwing flock. They flew to another tree about 50 yards away but the aggressive Mistle Thrush followed them. The Waxwing flock then flew to a further tree along The Rise, at least 200 yards from the Cotoneaster and perched there. They were still there when I left at 1.30. It's remarkable that a single Mistle Thrush (a non-raptor) can intimidate a flock of 37 birds to such a degree, but it's not the first time we've seen it happen, eg. at Tentercroft Street in Lincoln, in Bourne and elsewhere.

Freddy

Yesterday (24th Feb) Dave Roberts, Grantham birder, had 30 + Waxwings on the Cotoneaster berries at 23 Grantham Road (am) and c.12 Waxwings later (pm).

Today at 12.20 I had just one lone Waxwing feeding on the berries - chased away by the resident Mistle Thrush to a nearby TV aerial.

Freddy

There were 11 in the tree adjacent to 23 Grantham Road at about 4.00 p.m. yesterday. They did not feed whilst I was watching them and were still there when I left at about 4.15.

Cheers,

David Cohen