Friday 11 January 2013

January Wildlife

It is still cold, dark and damp up here in the north. It doesn't get light until about 8.20am which doesn't inspire me to get up in the mornings. However, the sight of a flock of 30 Waxwings did light up the day for me recently.
These beautiful birds are exotically coloured like little parrots. In severe winters they fly over from the Russian tundra and Scandinavia to the UK looking for berries to eat.
We only get to see them every second or third winter so it's a real treat to find them. In flight they look like a flock of starlings but once they settle on a tree their head crests give them away.
Look for them now because by the end of February they've gone, not to be found until December if we're lucky or two or three years hence if we're not.