Wonderful Waxwing

This arctic winter show no signs of easing. Before the last snows had melted North Antrim is white and icy again. On Saturday morning I had a choice to make, risk the treacherous roads or stay near home and go on foot.

A few minutes outside de-icing the car and the choice was made - I wasn't going too far from home. In fact once I started walking I didn't have to. Within 100m of my front door I found a flock of 30 or so Waxwings feeding on hawthorn berries in a back garden.

If I wanted to get shots I had to get to the other side of them, that meant walking up a small field almost knee deep in drifted snow. Then it was just a case of standing there for a couple of hours in sub-zero conditions. Was it worth? Definitely, even the sun was against me being so close to these magical birds was amazing. The way they look, the way they sound is just incredible, they just don't look like they should be in North Antrim.

I stayed for as long as my freezing feet would allow me, and I could wait to get back and see if I had got any decent images. Thankfully I had I will hopefully set up a Waxwing gallery in the next few days.

Update the birds are still in the Ramoan Road area of Ballycastle today Sunday