How lovely to see another Waxwing – 51 years later!

Here’s a photo I took outside my home in Cheshire one afternoon in late March. I had been out working tidying up the garden. It was a beautiful afternoon and I ‘gloried’ basking in the warmth of the sun. I had already spotted a Robin, obviously at the beginning of nest building. The next thing I heard the sort of unmistakeable ‘churrring’ that baby birds make when a parent returns to the nest with the next feed. Heck, that Robin has nested early, I thought. High in the neighbours’ three Sycamore trees was a gathering of birds that seemed to be between, in size, Song and Mistle Thrushes. The crests became unmistakeable. I watched the group for about 15 mins. I assumed the spectacle would last but a few minutes before they left. The last time I saw a Waxwing was in the school garden in Shavington, Cheshire, when I was aged 11 – 51 years ago. The lone bird stayed around the school garden for a few days in the winter of that year, feeding on the bountiful berries. The ‘picture’ of the bird remained clearly in my mind for all those years. What a joy to see one again, and so many! Chris Dodd