Redwing on rowan

Last winter there were huge flocks of migrant thrushes and waxwings feeding on the prolific crop of hawthorn berries and rose hips. This year I've seen far fewer and hardly any at Ferry Meadows, where the hawthorn berries disappeared remarkably early. Today I saw three redwings in total - this one was feeding on the last few rather wrinkled and forlon rowan berries, and was accompanied by a pair of bullfinches. By the time I spotted them the beautiful early sunshine had disappeared behind a dark cloud, making exposure difficult. However, in the end I rather like the effect of the pale sky behind the bird and berries.

I've had a quiet day, doing some pre-Christmas tidying, entering lots of botanical data into MapMate and baking a couple of cakes, including another Christmas cake based on a sticky toffee pudding recipe, which will eventually be iced with toffee icing. I'm hoping that this version will be more popular with those people who don't like rich fruit cake. I must get off to bed now as I have to make one last visit to Sainsbury's tomorrow, and want to get there early, before the crowds arrive!