Waxwings and kingfishers

We passed the well reported flock of waxwings on Manchester Road on the way over the Snake Pass on Tuesday so the following day I joined other enthusiasts at Crosspool. A flock of 16 was feeding on rowan berries when I arrived. In the afternoon and the following day more joined them. Redwings were also feeding and a Mistle Thrush roosted.

 At Endcliffe Park the female Kingfisher fished and a male arrived.

Scooter, the resident elderly feline, sleeps in our room and when her food dish is empty, walks over us until the house slave fills it up (she has a thyroid condition and eats voraciously).

feasting on Rowan berries

Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus

Redwing, Turdus iliacus

Black-headed Gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus

Kingfisher ♀, Alcedo atthis

Kingfisher ♂

Scooter

Dippers, kingfisher, redwing and bullfinches

Dipper, Cinclus cinclus

We arrived at Danuta and Ken's in Sheffield on Thursday afternoon for our annual migration north. I visited Endcliffe Park on Friday and immediately saw a female Kingfisher, probably the one I photographed as a juvenile a couple of years ago. I then followed the Porter Brook upstream and found a Dipper, This pattern was repeated on the next four days. Today I took Sue and we watched the kingfisher catch a fish. We also saw the Redwing that has been feeding on the holly berries. Yesterday I saw a pair of dippers again at the usual place.

  This morning we visited Sunnybank Park, managed by Sheffield Wildlife Trust. It has a nice little pond which should be teeming with life in the Spring. In the garden I photographed the bullfinches which visit the feeder.

Bullfinch ♂, Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Bullfinch ♀

Dipper, Cinclus cinclus

double dippers

Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea

Grey Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis

Grey Wagtail, Motacilla cinerea

Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis

Porter Brook

Redwing, Turdus iliacus

Sunnybank park

Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes