The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Further to Hugh Middleton's recent post, I have now put together some general background points, observations and recollections of the 2010/2011 Waxwing Winter and Spring 2011.

These amateurish jottings - which are making their appearance in this casual LBC Bird Chat section -make no claim whatsoever to any scientific content: they are not notes for a PhD thesis or for inclusion in "British Birds" or the "Ibis", for critical reviews, and I lay no real claim to originality. They are merely the somewhat rambling observations and occasional personal historical recollections of an average birder, and doubtless the more professionally minded birder will treat them and view them in that light anyway. The less patient reader can skip sections as wished and I suppose the really impatient reader can skip the whole lot.

Nevertheless, I hope that they will be of interest to some, especially to those who understand the rambling tendencies of a septuagenerian birder, as they do contain the thoughts and experiences of a keen Waxwing addict who has spent some considerable time on their trail this past winter. As well as drawing on my own personal experiences, I have also invariably gleaned some interesting background information from various authoritative sources, rather than finding new ways of stating recognised facts, so as to make the post more comprehensive and more readable. Where particularly relevant, I have indicated their origin, but I have avoided constantly quoting sources in an effort to make the post less scholastic and hopefully, less hardgoing. These observations will also contain the occasional undeveloped and unpolished reference or comment. So be it..... and after that required disclaimer, let's begin.



The Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) (also known as The Bohemian Waxwing in north America) is one of three species worldwide. It breeds in high latitudes from Scandivavia and Finland across northern Russia, and again in north-west Canada and Alaska. Close relatives found in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere are Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) found in north America and Japanese Waxwing (Bombycilla japonica) from north-east Asia.

Waxwings breed in the Spruce and Pine trees of the taiga (marshy pine forests) both in the dense forest interiors and also on the fringes, edging the peat swamps. In winter, when their summer food of fruits and insects has gone, they rely on berries, and their winter distribution depends largely on the berry crops close to their breeding areas, especially on the Rowan (or Mountain Ash), an abundant tree in northern Europe. However, the Rowan crop can vary from year to year. In a poor year, the berries are rapidly exhausted. Waxwings must then migrate from the taiga or starve, and the problem can be particularly compounded when a poor berry crop follows a successful breeding season. In such years, large numbers of birds will move considerable distances and this is when we receive an influx into Britain. During large scale movements, remarkable distances have been achieved and Iceland, Spain, southern Italy, Greece and Turkey have all reported Waxwings.

My own first Waxwing sighting was recorded on 24 November 1985 at Wiveron, Norfolk as part of a solo East Anglia twitch from Folkestone, Kent to see the Westleton, Suffolk Nutcracker - which thankfully also performed well. The official figures for the number of individual sites (not sightings) reporting Waxwings over the last ten winters in Britain are:

2001/02....................................... 113
2002/03....................................... 687
2003/04....................................... 645
2004/05....................................... 1,915
2005/06....................................... 572
2006/07....................................... 188
2007/08....................................... 175
2008/09....................................... 1,779
2009/10....................................... 242

and for this past winter 2010/11, there have been many thousands of birds reported from several thousand sites: it could well be that the recent irruption (or invasion) has been the largest ever recorded. In the early days of the Autumn 2010 irruption over 2,700 Waxwings were reported in two days in Scotland alone, with many smaller flocks along the English east coast.

A "Birdguides" correspondent recently criticised an article for under playing the number of Waxwings seen and the number of sites recorded in certain years in the 10 year table and for only highlighting 2004/05 and 2008/09: " Whoever wrote the article obviously didn't experience the 'dry' years during the 1970s and the 1980s. Despite being an active birdwatcher in the greater Glasgow area since 1963, I didn't see a single Waxwing between 1973 and 1988 - sixteen consecutive years! By any medium a long term comparison, there have been significant Waxwing irruptions in six of the last ten years. Even taking into account increased reporting, both total numbers and flock sizes of Waxwings recorded in most irruptions since 1988 have been significantly larger than previously, even than the great irruptions of 1956 and 1965. Flocks over 100 were a very rare sight prior to 1988."

The longest 'dry gap' of the 20th Century lasted from 1922 to 1944, and there was a 10 year gap from 1946 to 1956. The 1956 irruption figured prominently in the RSPB magazine "Bird Notes" of the time. Perhaps it might be a thought - provoking exercise to consider the difference in the dissemination of birding news back in 1956 as opposed to today's options.

Back in 1956 the great majority of the British population had no 'phones other than the use of the 'red box' on the corner (2d for a local call ...c. 1p) and no cars either. The usual way of communicating new bird sightings was through the post which meant, of course, that it was generally too late for recipients to act on the information.

The first real birding grapevine didn't exist until Nancy Gull appeared on the scene in Cley, Norfolk in the 1970s: 'Nancy's at Cley' or just 'Nancy's'. Birders from all over Britain would ring the Nancy's Cafe number in Cley Norfolk to find out "what's about?". When I visited Nancy's on birding pilgrimages to Cley, I had to remember that if I wanted a relaxing cup of tea and peacefully enjoy some of Nancy's bread pudding (The Dam Buster), I had to sit well away from the endless ringing telephone and the log book. I still have Nancy's updated telephone number from the early 1980s(0263 740 767 ) (9am - 6pm ONLY!) in my records, and that telephone number was the only real point of contact for rarities for countless birders at that time. Calls to Nancy's on Fridays were often the central gen. reserve of the Friday evening grapevine calls to fellow birders as to the coming weekend's trip plans. Nancy's Cafe closed in 1988 but not before the appearance of telephone hotline services like "Birdline" (1986 - run by Richard Millington) and "Bird Information Service" (1987 - run by Steve Gantlett (based in Cley), Richard Millington, Roy Robinson and Lee Evans........the latter - named being generally acknowledged as the field member of the team. Of course today with the help of paging systems we can track the locations and movements of scarce and rare birds within minutes of their being sighted and reported, while sightings websites engage the attention of the less frenetic birder. We even have Bird Chat web sites to interest us with casual and low-key exchanges..........so I am told.

With the growing frequency of the irruptions of Waxwings into Britain in the last ten years, it may be that the proliferation of supermarkets and their car parks and their abundant berry trees, plus an obvious planting spree of attractive berry trees in new housing estates, are readily available food source facts that are becoming hard - wired into Waxwing winter dispersal strategies. That proposition certainly provides food for thought for birders too, for are we in fact witnessing a behavioural change in a species' habits? One can readily cite other well -known examples of 'new' avian behaviour where birds have relatively quickly adapted to new advantageous opportunities, eg.

a. Blue Tits and milk bottle tops. In the early days of the 20th Century, milk bottles delivered to the door had no tops. Blue Tits and Robins learnt to siphon up the cream from this rich food source.

Between the two world wars, the UK dairy distributors closed access to the food source by placing aluminium seal tops on the bottles.

By the early 1950s, the entire Blue Tit population of the UK, about one million birds, had learnt how to pierce the seal tops and get at the cream. This rich food source gave the Blue Tits an advantage in the Darwinian battle for survival. Conversely, the Robins, as a family, never did regain access to the cream. The reason was explained thus:
Blue Tits, as social birds often moving around in small groups, had learnt to peck the milk bottle tops by copying one another whereas young Robins, being from a territorial species, had little opportunity to learn from other Robins. Birds that group together appear to learn faster and increase their chances to evolve and survive, including by developing new feeding strategies.

b. Gulls and the move from the coast to inland areas, especially towns.
The Clean Air Act of 1956 forbade the burning of refuse at landfill sites. This provided Gulls with a new regular and plentiful supply of food, and Gull populations in Britain exploded. Faced with a lack of space in their traditional breeding colonies and a dwindling fish population, Gulls, especially the Herring Gull and Lesser Black -backed Gull, ventured inland in search of new breeding grounds.

Urban Gulls find plenty of food and are rarely troubled by avian and other enemies. Their eggs are laid in the sanctuary of house and factory rooftops. Survival rates have been shown to be dramatically higher at inland sites, where Gulls can live beyond 30 years.

So, if sociable Blue Tits and sociable Gulls can evolve such advantageous new behavioural patterns so readily, why not sociable Waxwings?

Over the years, many Waxwings have been ringed in Britain and especially so in 2010 in Scotland as they came through in their thousands. Mark Grantham wrote recently (Feb '11): "There are actually very few recorded movements of birds back to Scandinavia and beyond, but considering they will be disappearing into a very large expanse of forests, this isn't too surprising. Currently only 21 British - ringed Waxwings have been found abroad, including 5 in Sweden, 3 in Finland and 2 in Russia".

"Birdguides" has reported a record of one Waxwing ringed as an adult male in Aberdeen on 31/03/05, during the large irruption of 2004/05. It was killed by a cat the following February on 15/02/06 in a village in the Ural Mountain range and north of Kazakhstan, 3714 Km north-east of its ringing location the previous winter.......and closer to Mongolia than Aberdeen.

Incidentally, Aberdeen is considered the Waxwing capital of Britain. If there is any influx from Scandinavia, Aberdeen, with its location being on the flight path from SW Norway, usually gets some birds. Further, the city has an abundant supply of berries to the extent that flocks of over 1000 have been recorded there in irruption years.

Up to the middle of the 19th Century, the breeding grounds of the Waxwing were considered so remote and in such a vast, virtually unexplored area of Arctic Europe, difficult if not impossible of access, that the first documented Waxwing nest was not recorded until 1856.

Fast forward some 150 years and recently it has been possible to book a 2-week trip (in May/June) with a British bird tour company (eg "Birdfinders" and Celtic Bird Tours") where "species to be searched for include (Bohemian) Waxwings on their breeding grounds in the extensive taiga forests". Perhaps one or two of our more intrepid LBC members have braved the inevitable hordes of mosquitoes and have actually been on such a trip??



Part Two to follow....... and after this general introduction to set the background to the Waxwing Winter 2010/11, I shall be "getting personal".

Freddy

Thanks Freddy - looking forward to part 2

Interesting article Freddy..............it's a shame that the two White-fruited Rowan trees on Tentercroft Street that have delighted many birders (and the Waxwings themselves) are destined to be lost under a planned new road junction in the name of progress !!

Alan

Thanks, Hugh, for your encouraging comment; you and Robert C. also promoted the concept.

Thanks also, Alan, for your kind comment. That is bad news re the 2 Rowans on Tentercroft Street......they were well watched target trees for the Waxwings not only in November/December 2010, but also back in November 2008.

Having seen Waxwings on Cotoneasters so often in the New Year, we tend to forget that Rowan berries are the Waxwings' favourite,and those berries disappear first. Moreover, other Rowan trees which we know have been visited by Waxwings are few and far between in Lincoln...... think McDonalds,( Carlton Centre- from November 2010 ), Newark Road (opposite the Ocean Chinese Restaurant - early January 2011), North Hykeham ( South Kesteven School ( early January 2011), plus one I know of on Burton Road which was also visited by Waxwings in Autumn 2008, and.... ??

Freddy

Superb stuff Freddy thks...

_________________
Regards
Dean Eades



Take nothing but photos - Leave nothing but footprints - Waste nothing but time

My website: http://www.birdmad.com
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Thanks, Dean, for your heartening comment. Also thanks for your marvellous Waxwing photos over the winter and spring (especially not forgetting that super "Christmas special"), and also for your company and your Dad's at Waxwing stakeouts (incl.2008) : Waxwing chasing can quite often be a rather solitary pastime.

Freddy

Much appreciated Freddy.

But you must get a Life

Will let you know if Sfly's come back.

Cheer's

Brian.

Thanks for your cheery post, Brian. You're right that Waxwings have been a large part of my life these past six months and I'm not looking forward to the inevitable withdrawal symptoms.

Mind you, Waddington Spotted Fly's would be a good pick me up tonic. Look forward to your positive news.

Freddy

freddie what a superb article !! i like you well remember those barren years of the seventies, it took me 12 years of birding to see my first waxwing, yes just a single bird. i twitched the bird from derbyshire to hull where a single bird was in the hedgerow at hull rugby club and was well chuffed to have great views of this somewhat exotic looking species. what memories !! nancy's cafe, the hotline roy robinson, he is still around down the broads, i think lowestoft way. many thanks for the article and jogging the old memory banks i am sure when we next meet we will chew the fat a while as the saying goes and have a few giggles along the way ta everso much keep it up and roll on episode 2 and perhaps you could include a passage on how to find waxwing feeding areas after failing to find where they were feeding in humberston this winter

anyway freddie well done

terry whalin

Terry,
Thanks for your welcome post and comments. Your mention of 'hotline Roy Robinson' reminded me that if ever Nancy's telephone number was endlessly engaged, or it was before 9 am or after 6 pm or when there was a mega about, then you could often ring Roy at his Walsey Hills location (between Cley and Salthouse).....and not so many people knew that number. Depending on his mood and work pressure, you could get the necessary gen.......as I distinctly remember doing before I went and twitched the Little Whimbrel at Blakeney (1st September 1985). ( Nancy's would have been constantly engaged ). Roy also started a recorded " what's about " daily message service, after 8pm... the first such available service in the UK, as far as I know, ( and thus before Richard Millington's 'Birdline' in 1986 ).. on...and I still have the number... 0263 740094.

They were happy , though sometimes frenetic, birding days.

Freddy
PS. As and when we do meet up ( " don't know where, don't know when " ), you really must tell me about that tricky (sensitive) embarrassing moment you hinted at on the web recently.
PPS. With a little more focus on work rather than pleasure, I should be posting Part Two in the next 2 or 3 days.

PART TWO


The Waxwing is a sleek, handsome, well-groomed, elegant and silky-tailed bird : bombyx, after which it takes its scientific name (Bombycilla garrulus), is the silk moth; cilla is the Latin for tail. Of all the birds that visit us each winter Waxwings, in addition to their plumage attractiveness raising avian aesthetics to new levels, are surely among the most charismatic. Much of the Waxwing's special aura or X Factor is its unpredictability - some years there are hardly any around but in others, as in the Winter 2010/11, many thousands, so we should claim it as an irruptive species rather than as a regular visitor. As we saw in Part One, Waxwing irruptions are not related to hard weather in the autumn but are due to a combination of breeding success and food shortage. Given a good berry crop, many birds actually remain in their breeding range in the winter 'whatever the weather'.

We were told by authoritative obervers/commentators that the vast majority of Waxwings arriving in the autumn 2010 irruption did so from SW Norway into N/NE Scotland : for example, "Birdguides" reported a total of 4,700 in Scotland 0n 30 October alone. They subsequently filtered down South. One wonders, then, what the Waxwing return dispersal strategies are in the spring following such irruption years. Do most or all filter back N via Central England (there have been very few reports of Waxwings in eastern seaboard counties north of the Wash in March and April) and into N/NE Scotland, then return NE to SW Norway/Scandinavian shores ? However, there have been no reports of returning large flocks in N/NE Scotland during late February, March or April. If (reported) thousands came into Britain via that route, one might ask as to why thousands or at least hundreds aren't being reported returning that way. In fact, in late February and in the whole of March there were few reports of Waxwings in Scotland, with only scattered relatively small groups. One would assume that reverse migration back to Scandinavia would not have begun until, say, late February/early March: after all, even in the western seaboard areas of Scandinavia at that time (let alone N Scandinavia) there could not have been many remaining berries, let alone flying insects or even leaf buds available as food.

Moving into early April, "Birdguides" noted on 10 April :
18 British reports of 339 Waxwings with only 15 birds at one site in Lothian in Scotland. After mid-April it is interesting to see the daily dip in reported Waxwing numbers in Britain : "Birdguides" :

16th April....17 reports....491 birds....40 in Scotland (Lothian)
( 16th April was when I saw c70 at Colney, near Norwich)
17th April....17 reports....438 birds....none in Scotland
18th April....21 reports....380 birds....45 in Scotland (Lothian)
19th April....17 reports....278 birds....10 in Scotland (Perth)
20th April....13 reports....241 birds ....7 in Scotland (Lothian 6, Aberdeen 1)
The 20th April report of just ONE Waxwing "on an aerial" in Aberdeen is particularly poignant as on 30 October 2010, Aberdeen recorded flocks of 130, 110, 100+ and 70, while nearby Kincorth had 700 and Stonehaven 150.....and Inverness(Highland) had a flock of up to 1000 and Dunblane (Forth) had 700.
21st April....4 reports.....101 birds....none in Scotland.
It is interesting to note that with the arriving heatwave in Britain, numbers soon dipped to only c100., and the 4 reports were all in SE England : Surrey, Essex and Cambs. Will those birds ( as perhaps other Waxwings did before them), migrate across to Belgium/Holland on the "short sea-crossing" ?

Of the many reported thousands of Waxwings which entered Britain in Autumn 2010 only c100 are being reported now. I am puzzled,then, as to
a. How did those thousands of Waxwings disappear in late February, March and April if not back eventually into Scotland en route to Scandinavia ?
b. If, indeed, they did return by other routes (eg. the shorter route to Belgium/Holland and then N), why weren't large migrating flocks reported, anyway ? The Waxwing is such an unusual and charismatic bird, flocks of Waxwings are far more likely to be reported than winter flocks of Siskins, Redpoll and Brambling. Further, they are famous for being approachable and for frequenting urban areas, most of which have a sprinkling of birders with some of those birders being 'reporters' or at least passing on details to 'reporters'. I haven't found a full answer to these questions on the web, only partial ones. These may appear to be somewhat naive questions to the professional birder, but reasoned answers would certainly be welcome by this puzzled birder.

Perhaps Waxwings wintering in Britain have a much higher mortality rate for whatever reason than one would expect, and could that factor be part of the key to the puzzle ? On the other hand, we haven't had reports of people finding hundreds of dead Waxwings. In any case, The Waxwings departing our shores from whichever fly-off point, must surely be ill-prepared calorifically for such a hostile and necessarily perilous journey over the North Sea back to Scandinavia. They leave when the stocks of winter berries here in Britain are at their very lowest, if not widely depleted, and before many insects are on the wing. Available leaf buds ( a recognised alternative food source) are not that much use in building up the necessary fat reserves for such a long haul flight, or for that matter Ivy berries which I saw the Colney, Norwich flock of c70 Waxwings reduced to eating, on 16th April. Any resultant reduction in fat reserves will reduce the birds' body condition and subsequent survival in the dangerous journey home, let alone a possibly lowered potential breeding success if it does make it back. I say 'dangerous', as of course, many Waxwings will perish on the return journey - killed by a predator, dying from exhaustion or simply not having enough body fuel to reach their destination. Let's hope the return trip has not also been affected by adverse weather conditions to compound the problem. The 'literature' tells us that migration accounts for the majority of annual adult mortality in land birds, and the return flight to Scandinavia must certainly be one of the most energetically expensive and traumatic events in a Waxwing's life.....especially for those which are not fully fit and fuelled-up. Does, in fact, the cruel sea swallow up hundreds even thousands that just can't make it ? Certainly, reporting birders/observatories in Scandinavia should be able to monitor the returning birds.

Has much that is readily available been written ( even as a percentage guestimate ) about how many Waxwings ( or of our other winter visitors ) make it back to their country of origin ? It's a subject we read very little about. Hopefully, the mortality rate is not similar to that of our migrant butterflies' autumn fate....only a very small percentage of arrivals ever make it back across our sea boundaries. Let's not forget that butterflies for all their apparent fragility are remarkable long distance migrants eg. Painted Ladies (even up to a recorded 1500 miles) and Red Admirals which make it to Britain in spring, but returning ..?? Although some 12,000 reports were received of returning Painted Ladies leaving our S coast in autumn 2009, one wonders just how many made it back to France and beyond,and of course many tens of millions had arrived in the spring. Incidentally, there is some evidence that Painted Ladies on the few scientifically recorded return flights actually climbed up to 1500 metres where they were whipped along by some of the high altitude currents. It's not impossible then that spring returning Waxwings also make use of such high level air currents as one of their return strategies in a desperate effort to make it back home.

Let's return to some more descriptive points about Waxwings. They have red waxy appendages on the tips of their secondary feathers - hence the name - and, along with much the same plumage, both male and female Waxwings have 'wax' on their wings with the number of waxy tips correlating to maturity. Research has shown that Waxwings match and mate according to age ( Waxwings can live up to 10 years ). Most observed mated pairs are composed of two birds belonging to the same tip index category, where the number of tips correlates closely with age. So the 'wax' on the wings is really a sign of matching suitability. Younger birds pair up with younger birds, older birds mate with their peers.



PART THREE follows in a couple of hours or so.....understandably the typing fingers need a rest.

Please post no comments yet so that Parts two and three appear together.

Freddy

PART THREE


The size of the Waxwing can be confusing to some. We are so used to seeing full frame photographs of the bird or to viewing the bird through binoculars or telescopes that we may find it surprising to realise that the Waxwing (7.5 ins) is smaller than a than a Starling (8.5 ins) and even slightly smaller than a Skylark (7.75 ins). In Grantham, I saw a Waxwing feeding next to a singing Blackbird (10 ins) and it appeared quite diminutive by comparison, the Blackbird being a third as big again in length and certainly in 'bulk'.

To the Waxwing watcher, there are two regular ID mini-hazards, especially for those of us not gifted with 20/20 sight. The first one is 'Starlings'. The flight of the Starling, particularly with its triangular wings, is not unlike that of the Waxwing and from certain angles and in certain lights there can well be an initial confusion. Even the great Victorian ornithologist, Henry Seebohm (1832 -1895........born in Bradford), at first mistook the Waxwings he saw near Sheffield one winter for Starlings.

The second mini-hazard can be 'Ash trees', particularly when one is looking for a reported Waxwing flock. One often comes across Waxwings perched in the bare branches of a tree, and one can scan trees for Waxwings silhouettes. At a distance and especially if one is driving, the clusters of Ash seeds grouped regularly along the tree's bare branches can momentarily make the heart beat faster.

Waxwings make use of multiple feeding strategies throughout the year. One main food in early summer is fruit which they eat on their breeding grounds (eg wild strawberries, serviceberries and ripening blackberries) and they breed relatively late so as to take full advantage of summer ripening fruit; through late summer and into autumn and winter they feed on a wide variety of berries (especially Rowan) crab apples and rosehips. As spring arrives, they also turn to buds: I saw them nibbling Silver Birch buds in Grantham in late March. Insects are also taken, either by gleaning or by midair capture: I witnessed the latter in Bourne in early April. Flycatching reports in Britain increased with the warmer weather into April when one observer watched a group of 15 Waxwings flycatching for some 10-15 minutes before they flew off without even visiting a nearby laden and usual targetted berry tree. In Norfolk in mid-April - by which time there was an obvious shortage of red berries - I saw a flock of some 70 Waxwings feeding on Ivy berries....hovering in mid-air to snatch them from the berry clusters.

Waxwings usually nest in close proximity, in a loosely colonial way, and quite close to water on their breeding grounds. Thus they will have ready access not only to any ripening fruit in the area but also to myriads of mosquitoes and other insects.. Incidentally, a pair of Waxwings will not defend their nesting 'territory' on the approach of other Waxwings...... the reason perhaps as to why Waxwings have no true song.

Waxwings can consume massive amounts of berries during the winter and a previous study reported that a single bird consumed several hundred Cotoneaster berries in one day. That is quite a feat but it helps us to understand why large flocks can quickly deplete a favourite berry tree or shrub of its crop.

By January 2011, Lincolnshire's stock of Hawthorn and Rowan berries had virtually all gone, not only due to the feeding activities of Waxwings but also of native and winter Thrushes. I always found it quite moving to see bewildered Mistle Thrushes valiantly but vainly defending their prized berry tree against the overwhelming odds of a Waxwing onslaught. From January 2011, Lincolnshire's stock of Cotoneaster berries then became the main Waxwing target. Incredibly, after the close attention of even large flocks of Waxwings, that stock wasn't really finally exhausted until early April. A familiar name in garden shrubs, there are only 3 or 4 Cotoneaster species which are tall enough to be cultivated as trees. Their berries have a brilliance and generosity in numbers that can produce a spectacular display.......a magnet for Waxwings. The Weeping Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster hybridus pendulus) and Cotoneaster frigidus 'cornubia' are the most often planted of the tree Cotoneasters, and the ones which Waxwings have been stripping bare of berries over the winter throughout Lincolnshire.

The standard feeding procedure for Waxwings at a berry site is:
a. arrive from wherever into their perching tree
b. swoop down in a smash and grab action to feed on the berry tree
c. return to the perching tree (b and c may be repeated several times)
d. depart in haste from the berry tree/perching tree

If you are at a stakeout, eg in a car, and you can only have in view either the known berry tree or the known perching tree it is advisible to choose the view with the perching tree. Several times I have waited at stakeouts when the Waxwings have arrived in the perching tree and stayed there for up to half an hour..... and then flown off for whatever reason without even visiting the berry tree. Observation of only the berry tree would have led to a dip out. One can always follow the flight from perching tree to berry tree. Sometimes such as at Tentercroft Street in Lincoln in December, the initial perching tree (a Sycamore above a Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Dealer's) can be up to 50 - 100 yards away from the berry trees (in Tentercroft Street..... 2 Rowans by the Public Car Park.

Searching for Waxwings can involve cruising the streets of known berry tree sites........ I never did get arrested for curb crawling although I was subjected to some very funny looks. I could well imagine this scenario: "Would you mind stepping out of the car, Sir.... Did you say 'Waxwings'? Well, I've never heard that one before!" One lesson definitely learnt was to be especially careful at school opening/closing times, especially when parked, as the following incident shows:

Steve Nesbitt had put up a post (Grantham Waxwings - Fri 18 March) telling how he had photographed Waxwings outside a school at around closing time. I replied:

I hope you didn't have the same experience I had on Wednesday 16 March in Grantham when viewing Waxwings through binoculars as school children were coming out of school along Kenilworth Road after 3.00 pm. The Waxwings were ignoring the children and vice-versa. There was I, parked along Kenilworth Road admiring the flock of 19 Waxwings when this 'character' appeared at my car window requesting a word. "To put it bluntly", he said "are you looking at the school children? ... We do have paedophiles around here". At that precise moment, I felt like pulling his leg and saying, "Oh! I bet you're one of us, aren't you? Hop in the car, mate, and you can share my binoculars!" However, discretion ruled the day...... otherwise I would have had 4 Squad Cars, 8 PCs, an armed SWAT Team and 2 Fire Engines surrounding me within 5 minutes..... so I politely explained all about Waxwings, their rarity and pointed to the berry tree. He seemed satisfied and sloped off. (Fortunately, Steve had taken the wise precaution of alerting the school-crossing warden as to what he was doing with his camera.

Another potentially tricky situation occurred in Witham St. Hughs in late January after the Waxwing flock had in the main left the W St H - Thurlby main road area and moved int the Estate itself. I was watching through binoculars a sizeable flock of c50 on a berry tree in the back garden of a house in Raven's View when I noticed a movement through the berry tree. I refocussed and very quickly realised that I was staring at a woman at her bedroom window who was staring at me. She rapidly pulled the curtains together and I rapidly left the area (well, as rapidly as my Hernia would allow) and made for my parked car on the main road....... just in case her husband/partner/boyfriend (and, hopefully, not all three) might be in the house at the time. Peeping Toms are bad enough, but Peeping Freds??

Dedicated and serious Waxwing chasing can be a mostly solitary pastime inasmuch as one has to be ready to set off on a trip at short notice, eg. acting on news from an up-to-date website report or a telephone call, and without being able to give anyone else much, if any, warning. Further, one must put in several hours of travelling and waiting just to see the one species.... on repeated occasions, and notorious for being 'elusive'. Not many birders fancy visiting on numerous occasions McDonald's or supermarket car parks, busy street corners and main roads, brandishing binoculars, cameras and telescopes and being jostled by (? interested) passers-by; or even sitting in a car for two or three hours at a time and gawping at a solitary bare branched perching tree or a nearby berry source in case the birds happen to fly in.... which sometimes they don't, of course. I distinctly remember (how could I forget) certain extended dips in Grantham (09.30 - 12.30), Louth (1.30 - 4.30), Sleaford (10.30 - 12.30) and Skegness (11.45 - 2.15) etc.etc...... just as well I hadn't taken anyone else with me.

So it is particularly enjoyable when the solitary nature of Waxwing chasing can be relieved by meeting up with company at the actual stakeout, and I've enjoyed the company of many LBC members and non-LBC birders over the winter. I've also had conversations with countless non- birding people, including mothers pushing prams, shoppers, family groups, postmen, security men, cyclists, car drivers, van drivers, etc, who have approached me to enquire and to talk to me: Waxwing chasing is certainly one way of meeting people!

Freddy



PART FOUR (concluding)...... will follow.....
and PART FOUR contains:
..... lots of Waxwing chat
..... my detailed Waxwing records for Winter 2010/11 and Spring 2011
..... historical recollections of:
..... joining the RSPB in 1947, visiting the London HQ and meeting the Staff
..... hunting for Black Redstarts on the post-war London bomb sites.
..... and I suppose PART FOUR might be split into two ( PARTS FOUR AND FIVE) if our hardworking typing fingers need a break.

Freddie.

We all bow to your literary majesty.

An excellent read any problems on me making a copy for myself and posterity??

Hope the bird club does something with this for this years LBC report with your permission of course.

Yet again thanks Freddie for your time and effort.

All the best.

Brian.

Brian,
Thank you so much for your sincere and kind words......a post such as yours really makes all the effort worthwhile.
The article is now in the 'public domain' and may be copied and used as wished by people to their hearts' content.
Thanks again for your wishes.

Freddy

PART FOUR


My own Waxwing tally details to date - 26th April - and presumably final ones for Winter 2010/11 and Spring 2011 are :

Specifically recorded and targetted Waxwing trips....79
Successful....37, with each one being recorded in the LBC Sightings section
Dips....42 ..

covering the 6-month calendar trip period from 9th November 2010 (Carlton Centre Lincoln..7 Waxwings) to 16th April 2011 (Colney,near Norwich..c70 Waxwings). Unfortunately, I was slowly developing a Hernia over the Autumn and early Winter period which led to a hospital operation on 10th February with no trips possible for three weeks (6th - 27th February)....thus missing a number of Waxwing sighting opportunities.
I was successful at 23 different sites :

Successful sites : 21 in Lincolnshire..
Lincoln
1. Carlton Centre, Outer Circle Road 2. Tentercroft Street
3. Magistrates Courts, High Street 4. Railway Station
5. Deacon Road UPS 6. Bishops Road/Proctors Road
7. Wrightsway/Wilkes 8. Over the "Peacock Inn" Wragby Road.
NB. Being at one Lincoln site when the Waxwings were at another led to a number of dips for some birders.
North Hykeham..9. North Kesteven School, Moor Lane
Bracebridge Heath..10. No. 80 Grantham Road
Witham St Hughs
11. Swinderby Roundabout - W St H Roundabout
12. W St H - Thurlby Road
13. W St H Estate
Sleaford
14. Level Crossing, Castle Causeway
15. Spar Shop
Branston..16. Moor Lane
Grantham
17.Hebden Walk - Kennilworth Road
18. Harrowby Lane School
Bourne
19. Sainsbury's Car Park
20. Co-op Pharmacy
Skegness..21. Beacon Way.
plus
Melton Mowbray, Leics..22. Cowslip Drive
Colney nr. Norwich, Norfolk..23 UEA Playing Fields.
We won't dwell on the 42 Dips other than to say that they were scattered all over Lincolnshire.
The statistics above exclude many unrecorded (dip) revisits to previous Waxwing stakeouts in Lincoln and also reconnaisance and follow-up visits to promising berry tree sites. On such walks and drives around Lincoln and Bracebridge Heath over the winter, I must have located 15-20 fruiting Cotoneasters which I subsequently frequently revisited but at only one such tree did I ever later come across Waxwings - and that was a one day affair on 28th February at 80 Grantham Road.

With the exception of the trips to Melton Mowbray, Leics (14th April) and to Colney,near Norwich, Norfolk (16th April), my Waxwing chasing was only ever done in Lincolnshire, as I had envisaged that in itself as challenge enough. Waxwings also did me the ultimate honour of visiting my garden in Bracebridge Heath on 3 occasions - 24th December (1), 27th December (4) and 28th December (3), feasting on Sentinel Crabapples - a tree I had read about as having a special appeal to Waxwings and so had planted one some 6 or 7 years previously with the main aim of attracting Waxwings in due course......"Oh ! Dream on!"......they all said.

Mention in an earlier part of this article of lack-lustre birding sites such as busy main roads, McDonald's and Supermarket car parks (so often frequented by Waxwings if berry trees are around) reminds me vividly of other unattractive birding haunts I have visited over the years. Ones which immediately spring to mind were the depressing and derelict bombsites around St. Paul's Cathedral in London just after the War. As members of the junior branch of the RSPB ( the JBRC - Junior Bird Recorders Club, which became the YOC in 1965 and then the Wildlife Explorers in 2000), a school birdwatching friend and I would travel up on the red London bus to the St. Paul's area. The bombsites were full of Willowherb, Starlings, House Sparrows and Feral Pigeons....plus a new London bird..the Black Redstart. Equipped with a single pair of borrowed 'ex-naval surplus' binoculars which weighed a ton and which we shared, we would tour the bombsites looking and looking, and doing our best to avoid the local bobby on his beat ( policemen actually used legs and bicycle wheels then, rather than car wheels ). Sad to relate we never did see the target bird, but we did see lots of Willowherb, Starlings, House Sparrows and Feral Pigeons. I suppose those 1946/47 trips were my first 'twitches'.

I was a dead-keen birdwatcher, as we called ourselves, not that we dared admit at school (Wilson's Grammar School, Camberwell, London SE5 - long since relocated to the green fields of Surrey) that we were into such a "soppy" hobby, and " not a lot of people know this", but I certainly wouldn't have dared talk 'birds' (feathered variety, that is) to a certain birth month, even birth week fellow pupil - FJ DOB : 10-03-33 : MM aka MC : 14-03-33, the then "Elephant and Castle" street fighter, Alfie type, Maurice Micklewhite, later aka (Sir) Michael Caine.

Talking of the JBRC and the RSPB..... it may be of interest to some RSPB members to read a little about the Society in the days just after the Second World War. I actually joined the RSPB (from the JBRC) at the earliest opportunity ( 14 was the minimum age then ) in 1947 - the sub was ten shillings, I believe , equal to fifty pence in today's money and I have been a member ever since ( on and off, admittedly, when serving abroad in the Army in the 1960s and 70s). Including my JBRC days-1946/early 1947-, I have been well acquainted with the Society for some 65 years now. Mind you, in 19478they only had c5,000 members ( with 10,000 reached in 1960). The HQ was in London in Victoria Street, where the Society had moved to in the 1920s, and I visited it a few times after school on the bus and would arrive there before the Office closed, probably about 6pm then. I remember it as a rather dingy suite of two or three rooms in a grey, dismal building in a very busy Victoria Street. The visit I particularly remember was with my school birdwatching friend, Peter Baldwin, after we had claimed on a 1948 or 1949 Bird report form to have heard and seen a Corncrake on migration at a S. London sewage farm. We had agreed by letter to present ourselves in Victoria Street to explain and give full details of our sighting. Our inquisitors were a Miss M G Davies (whose work included editing the RSPB magazine "Bird Notes and News" (later "Bird Notes") and a Mr P E Brown. They later co-authored a monograph on Reed Warblers, a book which I later bought so I have ready access to their initials. They more or less ran the RSPB between them and P E Brown later became the RSPB top man (or "Secretary" as he was called before the term "Director" was introduced). Anyway, M G Davies/P E Brown gave us a real grilling re our Corncrake record and finished by telling us that we had been mistaken. To soften the blow, they gave us some printed material on the Avocet, then a new breeding bird in East Anglia. The RSPB HQ moved from Victoria Street (via Eccleston Square in 1953) to "The Lodge" Sandy, Bedfordshire in 1961. From that Victoria Street HQ London staff of Davies/Brown plus a few office workers, together with a handful of reserves (including Dungeness and Minsmere (1947) they have since grown and grown to some 1500 employees (incl on reserves), 200+ reserves, 1600+ volunteers and well over one million members. Well done!! Fantastic!! I say.

Let's return to Waxwings and 2010/2011. This past winter, despite widespread reports of Waxwings, they have often been surprisingly elusive when one actually went out looking for them, even to known stakeouts.

......as Mark Avery, the RSPB's Director of Conservation wrote in his blog earlier in the winter: "Waxwings - I actually went out looking for them in east Northants yesterday and failed completely despite many recent local records. Did see lots of Rowan berries, industrial estates and Redwings, though! Will I ever see a Waxwing this winter?"

......as Graham Catley wrote in his blog in December:
"Waxwings: give me a break ....so after 3 hours waiting I drove around and found the Waxwings, now 27, on the roadside sat in a Birch; they flew down to some Hawthorn berries....and back to the tree. Then off they went again about 1km into the distance - I would just like a few minutes to try and get some better posed shots but these birds just seem to be elusive with a big E this winter".

.....as Trevor Lee (Grantham birder) wrote in exasperation in a web post in March the day after 71 had been reported at the Kenilworth Road - Hebden Walk site in Grantham:
" I can't believe it! I was there this morning and couldn't find any !!".......and a day later:
"Still none this morning!! Am I in the wrong town??"

.....as I wrote in early April after more than a week or so of no Waxwing sightings in Lincs except for a small flock in Bourne which I saw on the 5th:
"We seek 'em here
We seek 'em there
We seek 'em everywhere;
Are they in Grantham
Are they in Bourne
Where the hell have those Waxwings gorn?"
In fact, the Bourne Waxwings were the last I saw in Lincs.

One of the heart-warming experiences of Waxwing watching has been when non-birding passers by take a genuine interest in these distinctive, colourful and famously approachable birds and in the outline facts one gives them. It is even more heart-warming when one can help a birder of many years' experience to actually see Waxwings for the very first time.

I particularly remember one occasion in Grantham in March while I was watching the Kenilworth Road flock. A man approached me and asked if the birds I was watching were Waxwings. I told him they were and offered him my binoculars to have a better look. He looked at the Waxwings for every bit of 10 seconds and then said that he was off......"to get Dave, a close friend who was a very keen birder of some 15 years' standing but had 'never ever' seen Waxwings". Ten minutes later, a car braked sharply nearby and out jumped pony-tailed Dave and his thoughtful friend, Keith. Well, honestly, Dave watched that Waxwing flock with such obvious delight, repeatedly giving Keith the thumbs-up sign and he even claimed to have seen the eponymous waxy wingtips. I swear his toothy grin from ear to ear lasted without a break the full fifteen minutes the birds stayed around.

Then there was the occasion when I had speedily reported the Waxwing flock at the UPS Depot in Lincoln. I had seen them at c12.45 and had put the post on the LBC web at 1.20 thus giving LBC member Greg Roberts sufficient time to get to the stakeout and record his very first Waxwings. He was courteous enough to put a post on the LBC website later:
"Waxwing has always been a 'bogey' bird of mine, believe me Freddy. I had given up on ever seeing one, let alone 40+ in one spot. I have been birding for over 40 years and have always been in the wrong place at the wrong time with that particular bird. Sometimes you just need a bit of luck....and help!! A great appreciative post!

Talking of 'help'....help is what I have received in enormous amounts over the winter and spring with numerous birders putting their Lincs Waxwing sightings on the LBC, Lincsbirders and "Birdguides" websites. Their cooperative actions have enabled me to home in on some birds with the minimum delay and enjoy another sighting. It is also a special pleasure when other birders turn up at the stakeout, too.

The camaraderie and atmosphere at a Waxwing twitch (as at most other birding twitches) can be quite dynamic and electric in its way, especially when Waxwings are on site and performing well when birders arrive. Non-twitchers find it hard to appreciate the buzz and high tension feelings generated at a successful twitch but, believe you me, it is all extremely invigorating and very pleasurable......plus there is a real sense of achievement, especially if it's in a new area which has been successfully reached with the correct site successfully located. It probably harks back in part to 'the thrill of the chase' plus, of course, the real pleasure of seeing a special bird.

Finally......so the Waxwing Winter of 2010/2011 into Spring 2011 is more or less drawing to a close (as of 26 April). Before long, I am sure that withdrawal symptoms will begin to kick in through a continuing deprivation of regular Waxwing fixes and they won't be pleasant. It won't be so much a case of 'cold Turkey' for me but more like 'cold Waxwing! I have checked the Yellow Pages and Google but there appears to be no "Betty Ford Clinic" or "The Priory" equivalent where I could go for treatment. Patience is a virtue, and it will be the only answer: I must wait patiently for the next irruption. Meanwhile, I can comfort myself by saying, "Well, at least I did see them frequently these past few months and I enjoyed their delightful company on many occasions...from the first encounter at The Carlton Centre, Outer Circle Road Lincoln on 9 November 2010 (7 Waxwings) to Colney, Norfolk on 16 April 2011 (70 Waxwings). They also did me the ultimate honour of visiting my BBH garden on three occasions in December. I never tired of watching Waxwings, or Waxywings as they are affectionally known in the family, repeatedly "gazing" at them with special pleasure and satisfaction whenever I had the opportunity.....as these paraphrased lines of William Wordsworth show:

"I gazed and gazed but little thought, what joy to me the birds had brought:
For now when in my bed I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude; And then my mind with trilling rings and wanders with my Waxywings."

In the lines above the word 'joy' appears....it is not such a commonly used word today, but 'joy' - pleasure, delight, bliss, elation - is what Waxwings have brought me over this past winter and spring.

We seldom get irruptions in successive years, so when will they return in really good numbers again....will it be two years, will it be five?.....and if I am no longer vertical and of this world, well, hey!....Heaven must have myriads of Waxwings and with my sight and hearing restored to perfection, I could enjoy the spectacle of flocks even 1000 strong, perching in some berry-laden Cotoneaster celestialis and all trilling softly in unison to the accompaniment of a Heavenly Choir singing Schiller's "Ode to Joy" as set to music by Beethoven.......now, THAT is what I call PARADISE.

Freddy