Nature's Corner

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.

Of course, the place was soon swamped with the birding fraternity and their expensive looking camera equipment and binoculars, which thankfully did not seem to spook them at all, with the Waxwings swooping onto ornamental and Rowan berries in a garden opposite the school. Whilst these Waxwings were still hanging around the Llysfaen area, it was great news when a small number initially were spotted at Rhuddlan on 16th December at the nature reserve opposite the Premier Inn.

The numbers increased to around 30 birds within a couple of days, and it was a real treat to watch them as they flew down from the tall trees in the reserve onto one of the few trees heavily laden with yellow cherry like berries, devouring as many as they could within a short time before returning to the safer taller trees until the next mealtime.

These could be watched easily from the side of “Morfa Table Table” without causing any disturbance to them and were later also present on the trees alongside KFC and ALDI with easy viewing from the parked car.

There has been plenty of information on local Facebook pages and even in the local papers telling of their arrival, they have since been seen in Kinmel Bay and St Asaph so there’s a good chance that most interested parties will have at least caught a glimpse, keep an eye on those garden berry trees too.

Probably best to get out and have a look before late February when they will begin to head homewards as it could be another good few years before they spend their winter here again

....Dave Parry.