A Welcome Return

Most days since New Year seem to have been depressing with very grey and gloomy weather.We are currently in a cold snap with many parts of the country suffering heavy snowfalls and much disruption to everyday life.Lancashire has come off lightly with very little snow but the gloomy weather is still with us as I upload this latest posting.Yesterday however brought a welcome return to brighter weather with sunshine but it was still very cold.Also making a very welcome return to Preston was a party of waxwings.The waxwings had been reported on Monday as five in number in the Corporation Street area of town.I had to visit Preston yesterday so took along my camera just in case.I went straight to the location and spotted some waxwings on the cotoneaster bushes which still had lots of berries.Cotoneaster seems to be the least favourite berry for waxwings but is currently all that is available.I was pleasantly surprised to eventually discover that there were fifteen waxwings and they came to feed on the berries very close to where I was waiting.I enjoyed some excellent close up views of these beautiful winter visitors and the best of the images I obtained are shown below.It would be nice if they stay awhile but I think they will quickly move on as they will soon be heading back to the breeding areas in Northern Europe.Thanks for looking in and let's hope for some warmer weather.