THIS week’s picture choice is a fabulous splash of colour to brighten the dull opening days of January.
The portraits were taken in Beaconsfield by Lesley Tilson, a regular contributor to the Beyonder’s Chilterns Year series of monthly articles chronicling the changing seasons, and show one of the most beautiful birds to be seen in the UK, the waxwing.
Berry-loving waxwings are winter visitors from the coniferous forests of Scandinavia and eastern Russia, the pinkish, starling-sized birds heading for the UK in years when there is a poor crop of berries in Sweden and Finland.
“Waxwing winters” when many hundreds of the birds visit the UK are relatively rare but sizeable visits were recorded by British ornithologists in 2012/13 and 2016/17.
The birds have swooping crests, distinctive black “eyeliner” and orange, grey and lemon-yellow tails. They get their name from the red tips of their wing feathers, which look like drops of sealing wax.
Their preference for red berries often brings them into contact with people, and 2023 was hailed as being the best “irruptions” for more than a decade, with flocks of more than 500 being recorded by enthusiasts in Scotland in November.
By the end of December, the colourful visitors were being spotted across Buckinghamshire in such numbers that local ornithologists stopped trying to record all the sightings.
The plump arrivals adore rowan and hawthorn berries, but also cotoneaster and rose, their liking for the colourful berries of ornamental trees drawing them into city centres, supermarket car parks and out-of-town shopping areas.