The last few berries...

Ben and I watched Winterwatch last night, which had a piece about the recent waxwing irruption. They stated that, having devoured most of our berries, the majority of the birds have now moved into Europe to seek fresh supplies. Fortunately our local flock of about thirty birds seems to be staying put for the moment, though the number of rosehips is depleting rapidly, so they may soon be off.

Much of yesterday's snow melted overnight, but there was still enough around to make it worth dragging Alex and Ben out for a walk. After a grey start to the day, we had gloriously dazzling sunshine, and the lack of wind made it feel quite pleasant. For once the waxwings were being very obvious, and we spent some time watchin them drinking and bathing in some muddy puddles along a shaded track. They then flew up into the tree tops, enabling Ben and Alex to get really good view through the binoculars. This was the first time they'd ever seen them and they were pretty impressed!

I wanted to try and get a picture of one feeding, so we went into the scrub in the hope that they would come down. I moved away from the others and was rewarded with the experience of a significant group descending to feed in the bushes around me. They could quite clearly see me, but weren't bothered as long as I stayed absolutely still, thouigh they did mostly keep themselves somewhat screened by the vegetation. So this was my best effort - still not quite what I was hoping for, but I'm pretty pleased all things considered. I might have stayed longer to try and capture the perfect shot but watching other people take photographs has limited interest (or so I'm told) and we all really needed to get back home to do some work.

In the evening I gave a talk to the Peterborough Museum Society on the Changing Flora of Peterborough. There was a good turn out considering the weather, and everything went very smoothly. I even got a small cheque to cover my expenses, so I may take the boys out for a pub meal later in the week!