A whole winter of scanning tree tops and listening for a certain high pitched trilling call finally paid off again. As always it is at the most unexpected moments that Waxwings strike. On this occasion my family and I were making our way back from Bury Knowle Park where we had been admiring the magnificent newly carved Aslan. C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnian series just round the corner on the edge of Shotover Hill, Headington and this magnificent carving by Matt Cave adds to his existing wood carvings in the park. Best of all, it was paid for by the 5p carrier bag levy from the local Tesco store. As we neared our house, I was cut short in conversation by exactly the sort of high pitched trill that I have been listening out for. Even without optics or camera, we could make out 3 Waxwings perched among the upper branches of a tree just off Bateman Street:
I ran home to grab my camera and returned a couple of minutes later, slightly frustrated that the birds were just out of sight and sound of our house, leaving the garden list still Waxwing free. But the birds were still there and the sun had come out, so some distant record shots were possible.
Where I really wanted the Waxwings to perch was on top of a local landmark, about 200 metres up the road:
The Headington Shark, a symbol of the power of radiation descending from the sky following the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster, is a pretty eye-catching structure in a terrace of Victorian houses. Now imagine a line of Waxwings perched on the tail – that would be a picture!