Waxwing
Don't get over-excited, but ...
09:25 - Park Inn, Telford - Waxwing heard.
I'll claim a little previous here - of the four lots of Waxwings that I've "found" - i.e. I had no prior information or expectation that they would be there, two of them have been located on call before visual confirmation, so I quite fancy myself for having a good chance of a positive ID. Also I can only think of one occassion when I've thought I've heard them and not seen them before today and that was in Denmark in November, so probably a fair likelihood - it was also about 20 minutes after sunset, so I've an excuse for not finding them!
Anyway, I'd just parked in the hotel car park for a 9:30 meeting and heard the call. My impression was of one bird calling several times, probably in the trees between the hotel and the raod (Rampart Way). I had a minute to spare but no bins handy, so walked over to try to get a view, nearly slipping on a patch of ice in the process, but couldn't see anything.
I had another look after the meeting at about 14:00 but couldn't see/hear anything. I then went down to Telford Station where there are often plenty of berries but no luck there either.
If anyone else fancies a look, there's no free parking at the hotel. Staples is probably closest or the station. The flock that was around in spring 2006 was quite mobile and could often be seen from the ramps to the footbridge for the station, the trees between the westbound waiting room and the A442 and even, oddly enough, in the poplars between Staples and the A442.
May not be worth a specific trip but any birding train users should keep their eyes peeled.
I'm in London tomorrow and Poland until the middle of next week, so I'll look forward to hearing about any others found in the county this weekend, which given the changing conditions must be a possibility.
