Well I did say that I didn’t do ‘wildlife cameraman busman’s holidays’. Not strictly true obviously. A few winters ago, 2010-2011 to be exact, we had a real cold snap over the Christmas period. There were common gulls in the centre of town here feeding around bird tables. Redwings and fieldfares were everywhere, and joy of joys even a flock of waxwing.
I heard them before I saw them, way up in the top of a row of poplar trees. Eventually they came down to this apple tree right on the side of the road in a position where we could see them from our garden. This one I think was taken on Christmas Eve, or it may even have been Christmas day. I didn’t have a decent video camera at home at the time, which is a great shame, as opportunities for shots like this don’t come along that often.