Waxwings!!!!!!!!

Visited my Grandmother with Mum this afternoon in Ipswich, so I managed to persuade Mum to take a detour to see the Waxwings that have taken up residence on the way back. We started at Derby Road, where they were reported, but didn't see anything. We then continued on to Lattice Avenue. Didn't see any there either. We then went to Heath Road, and again we didn't see anything. We thought our luck was out. We continued on to Bixley Road and I spotted 8 birds sitting in the trees. They were Waxwings. We pulled up, and I crossed the busy road, and walked right underneath the birds, so I could get pictures. Incredibly tame and great birds....

Happy Birding!

Waxwings In Ipswich

I went to work with mum in the morning in Ipswich, and, as we were in Ipswich, I asked her if we could visit the flock of Waxwings on Heath Road. Well, here's what we got....

We played had a game of golf at Stonham on the nine hole course just to keep our hand in. Plenty of Yellowhammers, a Green Woodpecker and another Chiffchaff.

Happy Birding

Felixstowe and Levington Creek

Yesterday afternoon Mum and fitted in a few hours of birdwatching. We headed to Felixstowe to see the Waxwings that had been roaming there. We timed it just right because as we went down Glenfield Avenue, we saw a flock of 50+ Waxwing in a tree down Springfield Avenue. I say we timed it just right because after about 3 minutes of photos, they all departed away heading to Grove Wood.

Stunning Birds

We then headed to Levington Creek, which Mum and I had never been before, so it was a new experience. We parked at Levington Marina, and followed the footpath onto the Creek. I was astounded by the number of Reed Buntings were about. I reckon there was at least 15 birds present.

A nice pair

We then met a bloke who directed us to a Mediterranean Gull on the shore, nearly in summer plumage, but too far for a photo. We then followed the path along the bank towards the lagoon, and we saw 2 Little Egret, more Reed Buntings a Meadow Pipit, a very twitchy Rock Pipit, and a possible Water Pipit

Rock Pipit, Cheers Jim

We then reached the lagoon, and we were maybe hoping for the resident Spotted Redshank to be on the lagoon. The only things of note were a flushed Snipe and another Little Egret. We had lunch, and moved on to the gorse bushes. I spotted a fairly big long-legged wader flying right over us. It looked like a Spotted Redshank but I wasn't saying anything until it called. Our luck was in as it proved to be the Spotted Redshank as it called and landed on the lagoon. We snuck up on it, but it saw us and moved on out of site. It was a brilliant bird. We then moved back along the bank and we flushed the bird again a bit further down the lagoon. Typical! It then flew back out onto the mudflats. Other waders and ducks of note were Dunlin...

Curlew...

Wigeon...

Teal and Redshank..

Plus Grey Plover and Shelduck...

Shelduck

A great day with 4 new species taking the year total to 132. A brief visit to the patch on Wednesday afternoon didn't produce anything apart from a pair of Great-crested Grebes on both Needham and Bosmere. The Grebes were the only water birds at Bosmere apart from 3 Mallards. Disappointing :(

Happy Birding!

Incredible and Amazing!

After looking on Rare Bird Alert at 1:10pm, it said that there were 18 Waxwings in Stowmarket in the Cedars Estate. That is a minutes drive away from us. I told dad, and he agreed to go down with me to see if they were there. Boy were they! Enjoy the photo stream!

12 of them!

Probably the best one!

A bit blurred!

A Video of them feeding!

After 5 minutes, we drove back home, and got mum to bring her (better) camera to take some pics. When we got there, they were still there, but not showing as close as before. But hey, still some great pics from mum! As I say, these are what mum took....

Good aren't they?

Other birds about in the garden today was the sparrowhawk again briefly, with a Coal Tit too...

You never know, the waxwings might come into the garden as were so close. I'll let you know if they do. Off on a boat trip on the Stour Estuary RSPB tomorrow, so hopefully some good birds can show as they did last year - we saw Red-necked Grebe and Black-throated Diver last year!

Happy Birding!