Nature’s Corner – Cornel Nature
Invasion of the Bohemian Berry Chompers. At last! After a gap of some 6 years, we finally have a spectacular winter influx from a truly handsome creature of colder climes which to any interested parties, is most welcome.... The Bohemian Waxwing. A simply stunning bird to look at, quite unlike any of our home grown or migratory visitors from elsewhere; these Starling size beauties travel to the UK in huge numbers when the winters in their home countries of Russia and Scandinavia are particularly harsh always reaching the East coast of the UK at first. Waxwings (the Welsh being Cynffon Sidan meaning silk tail) have an almost comical yet feisty appearance with a stern expression, enhanced by a prominent crest which tapers to a point when fully alert and quite amusingly blows about in Trump fashion when windy. They have bright keen eyes which can spot a berry on a tree from way on high and they will occasionally launch themselves into the air to take passing insects on the wing too.
The Waxwing name is derived from the wax like coloured feathers on the wing and tail, these are yellow, white and red and look just like a dripping candle has been used to apply the colours against their light brown and grey plumage. Nearly always seen in flocks of between 20 and 50, it was great to hear that there were about 40 of these birds in the area around by the school at Llysfaen above Old Colwyn early in December 2023. 22
