The Werrington Waxwings

Pete spent the day at a committee meeting on the Great Fen, which involved me taking him there. Unfortunately the fen road we usually use was unexpectedly shut, which meant I had to make a significant detour via Whittlesey. Surprisingly he was only about five minutes late.

I returned home to do some work, and then about half past twelve I went to pick Chris up, as we'd plannied to have a walk round either Holme or Woodwalton Fens in the winter sunshine, before meeting up with Pete at the end of the afternoon. When I arrived Chris asked whether we had time to drop in at the Crab and Winkle pub in Werrington - a seemingly strange request until he told me a couple of waxwings had been sighted there very recently. 

We half expected to find that they'd flown away, but for once we were in luck, and there was only one other photographer present, though a few more joined us as the news spread. It's always a thrill to see waxwings. They're such charismatic birds, with their punk hair, Zorro masks, rouged cheeks, yellow-tipped tail and beads of red on the wing, thought to resemble sealing wax. And their call is a delicately musical trill - once heard, never forgotten. But I couldn't resist also photographing the much more prosaic house sparrows - under-rated birds which are very attractive when viewed closely (see extra). This one was well fluffed-up against the cold wind.

We were glad that we'd visited the pub, as Woodwalton Fen was unusually devoid of bird life, and I took no photographs. However, it was quite a thrill to hear cranes bugling in the reed-bed - a haunting sound which we've only been able to hear again in the Fens in the past few years, after 400 years of silence.