Thirsty...

One of those glorious frosty mornings that only occur a few times every winter. Rosie and I headed to Ferry Meadows after breakfast, braving -6C! I keep thinking that perhaps I should buy her a coat, but she seems to love the cold, crisp weather and certainly didn't show any signs of distress.

We walked along the hedgerow towards the hawthorn scrub on Coney Meadow, stopping every now and then to take photographs of frosty trees (me) or investigate rabbit holes (Rosie). As we approached the scrub I heard the trilling call of the waxwings and was pleased to see a large flock roosting in the tree tops.

I took a few images, but at that time they were staying high up. I counted at least 60, and having chatted to another fellow naturalist, was assured that there were actually nearer 100 present. At that time they weren't coming down to feed, so Rosie and I headed off around Lynch Lake. While we were on the far side three large groups flew over our heads, obviously heading off to feed elsewhere.

I headed back to the scrub, expecting to find it deserted but about fifteen birds had stayed behind and were beginning to feed on the rose hips. I achieved a very pleasing image of a waxwing eating a frozen rosehip, but in the end decided to blip this image, as I think it's more interesting.

In very cold weather many birds find it difficult to find water, but the waxwings seem to cope with this by eating ice. I watched several of them scraping ice off the tree branches and eating it - something that I've never observed before.

In the afternoon Ben and I went into town to buy him a a pair of walking boots. He now has no excuse not to come on plenty of bracing walks. They may be very useful if the threatened snow arrives tomorrow!