A DUDLEY wildlife photographer has told of her delight at capturing visiting Waxwings on camera in Wordsley.
It was third time lucky for News Group Camera Club member Heather Hyde who managed to snap the striking birds as they rested in trees near The Glassworks pub, Camp Hill, on Saturday February 3.
She told how she’d hoped for some time to catch a glimpse of the eye-catching winter visitors, which travel from Scandinavia when food supplies run low, and even better capture them on camera.
Gornal-based Heather said: “I’d missed them about three times so boy did I get a wriggle on yesterday when I heard they were there!
“There were 15 to 20 birds. Wonderful to see.
“They migrate all the way from northern Europe when the berry supplies there fail. They are a Starling-sized bird and aren’t fussy about where they get their berries from so we often find them in towns, car parks and gardens.”
Waxwings are instantly recognisable by their striking head crest and colourful feathers. They are reddish-brown in colour with a black throat, small black mask around the eye, yellow and white on the wings and a yellow-tipped tail.
According to The Wildlife Trusts: “Some winters there are only a hundred or so across the UK, but in other years they arrive in their thousands - an event known as an irruption.”
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