Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes - Dec 2 2009

These strange looking birds which are the size of a starling fled first into Scotland during early October and then came south into Wales and the Midlands where there were 14,000.

One flock contained 1,200 birds. By January small flocks had flown down to Midhurst, Horsham, Crowburgh and Southwater.

A flock of 300 lived happily in Southampton gardens feeding on ornamental shrub berries such as berberis and rowan.

It is thought that about 2,000 birds were in Sussex by the end of the winter.

This seems to be a record number counted, just beating the previous best of 1,200 birds in 1995/6.

It used to be thought that these sudden invasions by birds which normally live a comfortable winter life in Scandinavia, was purely due to the failure of the rowanberry crop.

Now it is know that a good breeding year and therefore overcrowding will cause mass migration.

It seems to me nothing less than panic because many flocks do not seem able to stop flying and continue south and west until they run out of fuel.

Waxwings have been found dying from exhaustion in North Africa '“ a thousand miles farther south than they ever needed to go for safety.

Even if they do survive, they have all that way to fly back home again, and will find the journey too exhausting for their ability to breed.

Butterflies such as the painted lady indulge in mass exodus, as we saw this year when millions came into England from Africa.

Waxwings are strange and even exotic looking birds, almost resembling parakeets or small parrots.

They have a large crest and pinkish plumage which makes them distinctive in the garden, and they are usually very tame.

One of the oddest features though is the so-called waxwing, small red feather-stems without barbs or barbicels which look somewhat like old fashioned sealing wax drops.

The tail is brightly tipped with yellow, as are some of the flight feathers.

There are white corners to the mouth which sometimes give the adult the appearance of being juvenile.

This sometimes induces other birds like fieldfares to feed the adult waxwing as though it was one of its own chicks.

It also makes the male waxwing want to feed the female when they return to the forests of Sweden to breed.

This in turn brings the female quickly into breeding condition, bringing to mind the old latin proverb: Sinne baco et serise amor friget: Without wine and food love is frozen.

Both old and new-world waxwings species are closely related to the silky flycatchers of South America.

Keep a look out in your garden for this odd bird but sometimes several years pass before we see any.