Saturday 5 January 2013

Waxwings at last!

As the previous posts show, a Waxwing flock that can be relied upon has now been found in the area, thanks to the tip off from Will on Friday. I only managed to see one of the 135 birds at Prince Alfred Road on Thursday, but on Friday morning at least 90 birds could be viewed.
The majority of the flock perch up in Sycamores and Willows next to the electricity sub-station behind the closed down carpet world on Smithdown Road and make occasional forays in smaller groups over to the berry trees in the Penny Lane shopping precinct and down onto the rosehips opposite the carpet world, and occasionally onto the old factory roof for a bit of bathing and preening. Waxwings at any time are a real treat but to have them just 'around the corner' is even better! 15 Goldfinch and a Cormorant flying north-west where also in the area.
 
 

Elsewhere, in Greenbank Park 2 singing Treecreepers, singing Nuthatch, male and female Tufted Duck, hybrid Goose, Mute Swan, 10 Redwing, Grey Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, and flowering Daffodils could all be seen this morning.


I took advantage of the glorious weather today and had a walk along Crosby shore with the family this afternoon and was rewarded with two Divers, which looked very much like Great Northern Divers flying into the Mersey River mouth, apart from this sighting small numbers of Sanderling could be seen along with 600+ Oystercatchers and 100+ Bar-Tailed Godwits, 15 Skylarks, 14 Tufted Ducks and a female Red Breasted Merganser on the Marine Lake, and bizarrely a decapitated Auk species on the beach!

5 comments:

Andy B said...

My first ever Waxwings!! And so close to home too. Thanks for the tip off Danny. Without this site I woudn't have know about them.
I decided to pop along to Penny Lane shopping arcade early this morning. Around 8.15. As I was walking down Penny Lane I heard an unusual bird call.I looked up to see what looked like starlings sitting on a chimney opposite Penny Lane field. I heard the call again and focussed my binoculars. Waxwings!! They took flight and circled over Penny Lane field,about twenty birds,and then headed in the direction of Smithdown Road.
I headed to the car park at the shopping arcade.There was a birder already there.He said he'd only seen birds in ones or twos today but yesterday he'd seen around one hundred birds.I headed behind the carpet shop.There were six Waxwings sitting in a tree but were spooked by some Crows and they flew off. Back at the car park there were still only a few birds around,occaisionally feeding in one of the trees.I left around 9and returned about 9.40. The birder I spoke to earlier had been joined by another. They told me that there were no birds to be seen at all now.Looks like they've moved on in search of another food source.
So I didn't see vast numbers of Waxwings today but I didn't care. I'm just so happy to see these beautiful,enigmatic birds at last!

RSPB Liverpool Local Group. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no' 207076, Scotland no. SC037654 said...

Hi Danny,
Liverpool RSPB had their annual Big Day Birding trip today. 61 species seen in Liverpool. Highlights jack snipe and peregrine Speke Garston Coastal park. Med gull, female mandarin Sefton Park.
Report on Liverpool RSPB Blog.
Chris Tynan

Danny Foy said...

Hi Andy
Im glad the blog came in useful! hopefully these wont be the last flock in the area this winter....fingers crossed

Danny Foy said...

Hi Chris
thanks for the post, im glad the RSPB group found so many decent birds. I didnt know of the group blog and I will add it to my links. Where about on the reserve was the Jack Snipe.....youve gripped me off there! was the Med Gull on the lake in Sefton?

Anonymous said...

Me and my husband were extremely surprised when we realised the flock of starlings sitting in the tall trees at the back of our garden were actually waxwings! I didn't believe it at first as my bird identification book (un)reliably informed me that waxwings are not seen in this area so I googled and found your blog - and was delighted! Just to confirm, they were sitting in the trees that surround St Margaret's School playing field on Aigburth Road.