Waxwing unexpected; Ross's Goose down closed roads

Waxwing wasn't on my radar for the day of birding I had planned with Lee, but ended up being the star of a day dominated by geese.  In search of Ross's, Taiga Bean, Tundra Bean and any other species we could find, we drove north.  I've written before about the controversial place Ross's Goose has in the UK with almost no accepted records as of the time of writing despite the increase in movement associated with overpopulation of both Snow and Ross's Geese in North America.  The powers that be are probably right to be slow and cautious rather than shotgun acceptance, no matter how it seems to those of us outside the process.  Rather than retread old ground, I'll just stick a copy and paste caveat here: these geese might not be truly wild, will probably never be accepted because their wildness can't be proved, and I simply don't care.  Seeing a free-flying Ross's Goose in a mixed flock of Canadas and Greylags will never not be a thrill, regardless of self-appointed list police bringing the buzzkill mixer to the cocktail of joy.  I love these birds, and will happily give them benefit of the doubt.  It's a personal thing.  You do you.

Arriving in Lessonhall in Cumbria en route to search for Bean Geese at Houghton we were confronted with a road closure and a satnav flickering between a 40 minute detour and telling us to simply drive through the digger and 16 ton truck currently clearing road surface for a new water main.  We opted to park and ask if we could walk through the works.  The lads working asked what we were looking for and seemed mystified that we would do a couple of miles round walk for a small white goose, though they were kind and pretended to be interested on the return trip when we showed them our photos.  As we'll see later, this politeness isn't universal.  The Ross's Goose was simple enough to find, feeding in the centre of a flock of Canada Geese and Greylags on a flooded field in good light, though always a little distant for my camera.  Scope views were brilliant, and it was a joy to watch my third Ross's Goose of the last 12 months following birds in Western Scotland and at Marshside last autumn.  In fact, this could be the same Marshside bird given that Lessonhall is only 80 miles as the goose flies, barely a couple of hours' travel.  

We searched for a while for both the Taiga Bean and Tundra Bean Geese at Houghton without any luck.  There's possibly some truth in the old saying about chasing wild geese; they move a lot in big landscapes.  Just as we were beginning to feel the clock ticking towards a visit to Geltsdale and Black Grouse (which will be a visit I make soon) news of the Waxwing at Hexham reached us.  A little over half an hours' drive away from us, a lifer for Lee, and one of the most obvious misses of my Big Year (though 2024 and 5 were nowhere near as good for Waxwings as 2023), we cut our geese losses and made for a tiny pond at the back of a council estate in Hexham.

A little treasure of a water body, there was a good number of Chaffinch and Greenfinch present, along with calling Dipper (which we never got eyes on, sadly).  I picked up the Waxwing on the opposite bank of Wydon Water almost immediately when it flew from the top of a birch and promptly disappeared into hedgerow full of berries.  I simply could not get Lee on the bird before it vanished - my poor directions not helping at all - and a small but growing crowd of local birders were congregating and asking for directions.  We decided to circle the small lake and walked slowly around.  No sign.  Returning to the north bank I managed to pick the Waxwing up sitting deep in hedgerow at one end of the upper path.  Lee got eyes on it, and was trying to help a couple see their first when it flew across the water and perched openly not far from us.  We cautiously approached, but seeing that chain-smoking dog walkers and then joggers didn't disturb it from its branch 15 feet up we stopped as close as we felt we could without disturbing the bird.  The Waxwing perched there happily for over 15 minutes and let a dozen birders drink their fill.  Some of us filled our SD cards with a thousand photos of this stunning bird.

Lee was reflecting on having a non-birding family during our day.  When we see something new and exciting, when we have an encounter in nature that makes us feel something positive we naturally want to share it with those around us that we love.  Anybody with a passion is familiar with how this goes: enthusiastic gathering of family around your phone to show them photos of whatever it is that you love - in this case, a bird.  I've lost count of how many times I've seen those looks of curiosity turn to a half-frown of disappointment.  As Lee said, our partners and parents and kids and friends often look at your picture and say, "it's a brown blob.  It's always a little dull brown thing."  Well, not this time. Waxwings are a beautifully put together bird, like seeing an understated colour scheme done well in a tastefully appointed home.  There's little gauche-ness about Waxwings, no tropical over the top saturation of brightness.  They're proportionately beautiful, from the size of that bill, to the wisps of crest, to the velvety mauve of the body, and then those little bits of extravagance with the bright yellow tail and the red "wax" drops that break up the outline and highlight just how smart these birds are.  Even my pub quiz friends were impressed with this bird.

We were on a very tight deadline for me to get home, but following a conversation with an elderly couple at Wydon Water we decided we couldn't miss out on the Taiga Bean Geese that have been at Whittledene Reservoir with Greylag geese.  The flock was obvious but distant, and we spent a couple of minutes picking out the Bean Geese through scopes.  Not the best views, but an interesting species to see in England following a good goose winter.  For someone not really trying to amass a big year list, I've already gone some way past my January total for 2025.  Friends are asking if I'm sure I'm not trying for 300 and the answer is a very definite no big year.  Instead I've been trying to improve my photography and spending a bit more time capturing pictures of more of the species I see locally rather than taking images of the rarest birds I see.  I'm enjoying birding this year, and taking my time to see what I want to see instead of dashing for every bird.  

Though as Kris says, "ask me again in spring."