Following my successful visit on Mon 4th Feb, I returned to Exeter Street, Bourne this morning (Fri) at 11.40 but there were no Waxwings in the Sainsbury's Carpark or around the St Gilberts Road area. I walked from Sainsbury's to Maple Gardens (12.00) where I counted 15 Waxwings in the tree with Mistletoe at the junction with North Road. There could have been more behind or in the c.30 Mistletoe clusters.The Waxwings flew off towards Sainsbury's at 12.20 but I couldn't find them in that area later.
I returned to Maple Gardens at 12.45 and found 2 other (non-LBC) birders there, including one digiscoping. I now counted 28 Waxwings (twice) in the "Mistletoe Tree" together with a vociferous and territorial pair of (aptly-named) Mistletoe Thrushes. The Waxwings flew off at 1.00pm. Many thanks to Vin Fleming for his post of 13th Feb for without his info, I would probably never have found the Waxwings in Maple Gardens.
I then drove on to Stamford where for several days BirdGuides has been reporting up to 31 Waxwings in a Lime Tree outside the Malcolm Sargeant School on Empingham Road (A606). The info couldn't have been more exact for when I arrived at 1.30pm, there were indeed Waxwings in the tree right outside the school. I counted 10. The attraction was a fruiting Cotoneaster Tree just inside the school perimeter. While I was watching them, a lady with binoculars approached me. She told me she lived locally and had counted over 30 in the tree last weekend. Her daughter, a pupil at the school, had already written a "mini-project" on the Waxwings. The 10 birds were still in the tree when I left at 2.00pm.
Freddy
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