Waxwings

Friday was my birthday so took the day off and went to Big Waters where a pleasant morning was had in the company of Alan J and Ian D where the highlight of the day was again the Peregrine which spent a couple of minutes harassing the inhabitants of Big Waters although the Ducks on the pond never moved but everything else in the vicinity certainly did.  Only managed to get a long distance shot as I didn't put my binoculars down till it was just about to disappear.

Also a small flock of siskin entertained me in the feeding station for 20 mins.  

Alan and Ian then went for a walk round but due to it being slightly later than usual I had to go and push some carbs into my poor withered body so ended up at Gosforth Park after a quick Maccydees.  It was bloody freezing by now so just had 45mins in the feeding station where Paul McM joined me for part of it.  It was extremely busy with literally a hundred or so birds being in view for a considerable amount of time.

Room for 1 more on top

Shot off home for a quick bite to eat then picked up Sedgedunum Warbler and off we went to the Hancock for a presentation on Visible Migration given by Keith Clarkson, East Coast Area Reserves Manager for the RSPB.  A great talk by a great orator.

I could go on about Saturday which was a day out up North with Sedgedunum Warbler but the day was brought down to earth with a bump when Mrs Howdon Blogger contacted me about 10.30 and said "You know those pretty coloured birds with the spike on their head and the bright bits of yellow on their wings", not exactly a Collins description but I knew what she meant so I said yes, you mean Waxwings, she said she had just seen some in the garden which were chased by a Sparrowhawk.  No photos but she said she would keep a watch out.  Now as you know Im a  bit of a happy snapper with the camera and Carole is not exactly a snapper and only sometimes happy so I wasn't expecting anything and I even thought that she might have been winding me up.  So when I got back and picked up her favourite bridge camera, not a pic.  Then she said "No I used the one with that thing that keeps making a noise and keeps moving when I take photos".  For the technically minded thats a Nikon D70 with a 70-300m lens (the £100 one) and here are some of her pics taken at god knows what settings cos she presses buttons and moves the "windy thing" at random to fit the things in the picture.

ps.  She apologised for not getting the Sparrowhawk (and so she should) ;0