Is this a good spot, or whatever you call it?…
A flock(?) of waxwings, 18 I counted, sitting on a neighbours aerial yesterday morning. I seem to remember a few years ago that a waxwing was seen in the area and the twitching fraternity where going bonkers about it..
Any twitchers in the house??

No, NOT a twitcher.

For the record, a ‘twitcher’ is no more than a stamp collector who collects birds instead of stamps. I really dislike the epithet ‘twitcher’ when applied to birdwatchers. I have been labelled a ‘twitcher’ many times for going birdwatching, and although it was in jest from mates it’s still wrong.

18 Waxwings: you jammy barsteward! One of the birds we really wanted to see this winter! Good on you! (And I wonder how many people on STW would have known what they were or even looked a second time?)

PS: you didn’t say where you saw them…

Rather a good read.

Twitcher = Bad
Bad birdwatcher = good.

i thought mine was good – about 20 cross bills up cannock the other day!

Agreed CFH: not read the book but read the original article in the RSPB’s Birds magazine. It was excellent and made us think about the birds we look at. Equally happy to see a flock of sparrows as a Red Kite.

Bad birdwathcer = good.

Never wathcered birds though! (Not sure how!)

Check my edit!

Met Barnes a couple of times in the Members tent at Burghley. Scruffy oik of a man, but charming company over a glass or two!

Shall never use the ‘t’ word again, many appologies (gulp!)
Partial to a bit of tw… er birdwatching myself, quite unmistakable really.
Spotted in urban Nottingham.

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Check my edit!

Checked and noted!

Great to hear that Waxwings are still here. May be hope yet then… Got a few Bramblings in the garden still, which is brill.

twang – Member
Shall never use the ‘t’ word again, many appologies (gulp!)

No worries: regular thang!

mikeclarke – Member
i thought mine was good – about 20 cross bills up cannock the other day!

Also brill: nice one… Not seen a Crossbill for a while

We have a little family of Wren in the garden here in London. Lovely little things! Country spot has, as you might imagine, all the usual garden birds, then a few additions. We have a treecreeper, long tailed tits, pheasant, red-legged partridge, partridge and have even seen a sparrowhawk take a kill!

This was on our neighbours fence last weekend.

Male sparrowhawk, picture was taken from our bedroom window. A female has also been sighted around the village too.

Excellent – still yet to see waxwings so most jealous! Fair few Red Kites over the Chilterns as usual today – remember seeing these birds back in the day around Rhayader when there were only around 50 pairs in the UK. A conservation success story!!

Yes, I was lucky enough to see a Red Kite as a kid when there were about six pairs in the country – nearly 30 years ago. Great to see them pretty much any day we go up around Watership Down. A real success story.

Saw a Snowy Owl (yes, really!) on Jan 2nd this year!

A few barn owls up the lane in the country. Lovely to watch ’em at the sport.

Still nothing like seeing one of these at it, though;

Hey, great photo of the Sparrowhawk! Saw one on the patio the other week – sitting on top of an equally surprised Collared Dove. Think the dove escaped, though – no feathers around…