December 2023, Pt.2

My best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to my readers.

With this post, I bring an account of some of my sightings, both at home and at relatively local locations, for the second half of December.

Friday, 15th December          Garden  :  Bagworth

During breakfast in the conservatory, I took a few photos of Bullfinch and a female Pied Wagtail.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - our garden

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - our garden

With notice that Waxwing had been seen ten miles (16 km) from our home, although it was very dull weather that morning, I decided to go and have a look to see if I could find them. It is not often that we get an irruption year for Waxwings and I wanted to make sure that I did not miss out.

Very specific directions as to where the Waxwings had been seen had been given, and I spent half an hour or so looking without seeing them. I had given up and started to walk back towards my car when I heard a shout from behind me. A lady who was about a hundred metres or so away waved and then turned and started walking away. I was not entirely certain that the wave was intended for me, so was a little concerned about following her and kept my distance in case she was spooked by me. A couple of hundred metres or so further on I saw that she had rejoined a small group with long lenses - they were onto the Waxwings! Having thanked the lady profusely, I set about trying to get some photos.

Initially, I was watching them high in some tall Rowan trees on the west side of the road, and with the poor light, photography was extremely difficult, and the results were not up to much and have been discarded.

After a while, however, some birds flew over the road into some shorter Rowans on the east side of the road, and here I managed some better images, although far from good - I've had to do a fair amount of manipulation on the ones below. I had not seen Waxwings since 2019, and that was in Scotland, so you're going to get rather a lot of images!

Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) - Bagworth

The birds stayed for just five minutes before departing south and disappearing into the distance. They probably would have returned eventually, but I needed to anwer the call of nature and head home for lunch so departed. It seems that, by mid-day next day, they had gone.

Hopefully, I might get another chance to photograph Waxwings this winter - I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Saturday, 16th December          from the House

This was a bright sunny day with, unfortunately, too much to do at home. Lindsay alerted me to a rather fine sunset, with aspects leading me to believe that they were probably Nacreous clouds -  clouds, that form in very cold conditions over the poles and in the stratosphere, up to 19 miles (31km) high, far above normal clouds. These unusual clouds were being reported in many areas of England at this time.

Sunset - from our house

Tuesday, 19th December          Dadlington

There were reports of nine Cattle Egret at Dadlington. That day, I was committed to take Lindsay to meet up for lunch with a dear friend of hers that she'd not been able to see for well-over a year. As Lindsay is currently unable to drive and barely able to walk, even with a walking frame, my input was necessary. Knowing that they would be in the restaurant for at least two hours, I had time to kill before needing to pick her up again. As I'd last seen Cattle Egret in February, 2018, it was an obvious choice as to how I would spend my time!

I found the place quite easily from the description given, although there were no other birders present. However, someone arrived as I was getting out of my car, and we were instantly looking at the nine Cattle Egrets. Unfortunately they were in the far side of a pasture that had been partitioned off with many fences, so getting a clean shot was virtually impossible. There was, however, one bird that was a little closer and I did manage a few shots that were not behind a wire fence.

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Dadlington

This next shot, of some of the group where most of them were foraging, gives you an idea as to the problems the fencing was giving.

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Dadlington

One of the group seemed a bit restless, and occasionally took to the air, flying round in a wide circle before landing back with the others. The first time it did this, I missed getting a shot, but I did get a few on its subsequent forays.

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Dadlington

At one point, it landed briefly on a fence post.

 

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Dadlington

Three more people arrived and we chatted for a while. I was about to pack up and go to retrieve Lindsay when two of the birds left the pasture and landed in the arable field to the east.

 

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Dadlington

Lindsay had forgotten to take her phone with her, so was unable to ring me to tell me when she was ready. My timing was perfect, however, as they were just finishing as I arrived.

Friday, 22nd December          Garden

The garden trail cams captured an unwanted visitor in the early hours of the morning, in the form of a large Brown Rat. If I have a phobia, it is for rats!

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) - our garden

 

Saturday, 23rd December          Garden

 

We are currently getting three crows visitng our garden on most days. On this day, I took some photos of one of them. I think that their appearance exudes intelligence.

 

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) - our garden

Late that night, the garden trail cams showed that we'd had a visit from a Fox. It was a very welcome visitor, and it had been a long while since we last saw one in the garden.

 

Fox (Vulpes vulpes) - our garden

 

Monday, 25th December          Garden

 

It was Christmas day and, when I looked at the output from the garden trail cams, I found that we'd been visited by a Hedgehog in the very early hours of the morning. I did, check, but I couldn't spot its sack of presents.

 

Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) - our garden

 

Sunday, 31st December          Garden

New Year's Eve, and a Blackcap just managed to squeeze in a visit before the end of the year. Once again, it was a female - we haven't seen a male since early February.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - our garden

That brings me to the end of December and the end of 2023. For various reasons, my blog output might be a bit limited in the next couple of months or so. However, I expect my next post to feature a bird that I have only had the pleasure of encountering three times in my life - in South Shields at a great distance in 2009 (no photos), on the Isles of Scilly at a closer distance in 2014, and recently locally, and at quite close quarters, in 2024.

I hope to return soon. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature, and have a wonderful 2024 - - - Richard