Waxwings still in Westmorland Close

Quickly checked the Flats today for the Med Gull, but not many birds present and certainly nothing interesting. Best bird was an adult Lesser Black-backed which gives you an idea of the quality on offer. A Pied Wagtail was feeding on the shore of Alexandra Lake, which had eight Greylags and an amazing sixteen Mute Swan, the most I have ever seen here - usually a dominant pair chase all the others away.

Then onwards to the Park, via Westmorland Close. Couldn't find the birds yesterday afternoon, but they were present and correct this morning - I counted at least 37 birds sitting in a large tree, subsets of which would fly down and feed on a berry bush near the houses. A wonderful sight, and the mass trilling was pretty special too. I observed them for about ten minutes, at which point the whole flock got up and flew west.



Finally managed some tolerable shots of the Water Rail at the west end of Perch pond, which today was being relatively showy. Incredibly dark in there, but the wonders of modern high ISO (in this case an almost unbelievable 5000!) meant that I could get away with it. Nothing much else to report really. I'm just waiting for Wheatears to turn up.