A WAXWING WINTER - Why are there lots of about this year?

Join me as I search for a beautiful and rare winter visitor, the Bohemian Waxwing.
You might be thinking the suburbs of Norwich is a random place to look for a bird that breeds in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and most of the time you would be correct. In some winters less than 50 waxwings visit the UK and I have only ever seen one, once before in 2019. However, in some years, there aren’t enough berries in their usual range so thousands of these birds head south in search of food, and some of them end up in the UK. This is known as an irruption and this winter is going to be one of those years.
There are three species of waxwing, the Cedar waxwing, the Japanese waxwing and the bohemian waxwing, these are bohemians and they are the only species that is usually seen in Europe. They are slightly smaller than a starling, and have peach coloured feathers over most of their bodies. They have a black eye patch and bib, a yellow band at the tips of their tails and across their wings and one of their most notable features is a long crest of feathers on top of their heads.
Waxwings begin to arrive in the UK from October onwards and will usually stay until March or April, before heading back north to breed. During their time in this country, they can form large flocks, this group numbered 5 at first but became 82 over a few days. In the winter they mostly eat berries but during the warmer months a lot of their diet consist of flying insects, sometimes they will jump from the top of trees and catch flies as they pass by.
I know a lot of people want to see waxwings, and this year is probably going to be your best bet for a while. There are several websites that list where and when they have been seen and as they usually stay in the same area for multiple days, if you want to see them, it could be worth making the trip. Do let me know if you go searching for them, or if you have seen them before in the comments down below.
#waxwing
#birdwatching
#britishwildlife

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching this video and taking a look at the comments! If you would like to support me to make even more videos, please consider my Patreon which can be found here> www.patreon.com/ashotofwildlife Cheers.

[@fionahaigh708]

For the first time I saw a small flock of Waxwings in the tree tops, outside the kitchen window in North Yorkshire today, such a joy.

[@eamonmcdermott4032]

You're a dedicated man, Liam. Great stuff. Waxwings are beautiful looking birds. Never seen them here, on the east coast of Essex. Thanks very much.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

See my main comment above regarding my location. Keep a eye out for berry laden bushes and trees especially around supermarket / retail park car parks. 🙂

[@Revelationscreation]

If you live near colchester you might be in luck, if you are referring to England Essex. There's a group of 14 that are being reported from Brunel way.

[@EdMcF1]

Only seen them twice, first I thought they were starlings. Wonderful birds.

[@shonabeggs4640]

Beautiful birds, so glad you got to see them and film them for us. Thank you.

[@richardjohnson5529]

Thank you.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers!

[@Alan.92n]

Thanks Liam for this "irrupting" of waxwings, almost on your doorstep! Bet you were fair chuffed to see these rare visitors to the UK. What beautiful birds. Nice one Liam! 👍

[@tamjammy4461]

Loved it. Waxwings are just so ...different. My first sighting of them was back when i was just starting out on my journey as a nature watcher. At the time i thought waw , fantastic, but didnt really realise how lucky id been. Or that it'd be almost 20 years before I'd get to see them again! Beautiful birds. Grab your chance to see them when you can !!

[@cedarwaxwing3509]

U.S. viewer here. In this country we have the very closely related Cedar Waxwings, which are always a wintertime treat for us. I currently live in eastern Iowa, along the Mississippi flyway migration route, so we start seeing the small flocks of waxwings moving down from Canada as early as October, and they show up periodically through the winter. We have some ornamental crab apple trees and they love to gather in them for the remaining fruit (after the earlier migrating American robins have harvested most of it). But their real treat seems to be a couple of large junipers near our sunroom back window. They are crazy for the little gray-blue juniper berries and we’ve watched them cluster together and pass berries from beak to beak until one swallows. They seem to be very amicable to each other within their flocks, unlike many small birds (juncos, finches) that are forced together for migration but remain rather competitive and hierarchical in their feeding behavior. The waxwings migrate as far south as southern Texas. I lived in Houston for twenty years, and many of the landscapes there include ornamental holly trees. A flock of waxwings would move in during winter and could easily strip a tree of berries in a day or two. Sorry for the lengthy comment, but I really enjoy your UK wildlife videos and was very excited to see you feature a close relative of my favorite bird. I understand that parts of the U.S. get Bohemian Waxwings as accidentals from Eurasian, mainly in the northwest, but I’ve never actually seen one. Thank you for your videos and your love of native wildlife!

[@Revelationscreation]

You're slightly mistaken, Bohemian waxwings are not accidentals to North America nor the US. They breed in Canada, however they are birds that tend to only migrate longer distances when food availability or population density reaches an extreme. This is why we refer to Bohemian waxwings as an 'irruptive species'. However, they rarely stray further south than the northern states of the US.

[@cedarwaxwing3509]

@@Revelationscreation Thank you for the correction. I do know the term “irruptive” but wasn’t aware that it applied to Bohemian WWs. They are both fascinating birds and I would love to see a Bohemian sometime. Oddly - and disturbingly - we have not had any Cedar WWs show up this year so far. Hoping for some on the return-migration in late winter or spring. Thanks again for setting me straight.

[@oneoldgit]

I am working in NE Sweden and have seen Waxwings regularly since I came up here in 2015. I dont have to travel far because the town has many ornamental fruit trees and Rowan everywhere. In Sweden Waxwings are called 'Sidensvansar' which is 'silktails' in English.

[@The_Robert.Fletcher]

What a wonderful find, I am in Leicestershire, I don't suppose I have a chance.

[@Stinkyeahh]

These are very rare near me and yet I saw a flock of 20

[@paulsanderson8804]

Liam your perseverance is outstanding and you got to see this beautiful bird great footage 🎉

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

I've only been sure of seeing waxwings once, when a flock of them were feeding on the berries in a stand of mountain ash tress near where we used to live. I may have seen a couple of them very recently, though, when there were birds I couldn't identity due to light conditions in a mountain ash near to where we live now. I'll be keeping an eye open for waxwings now !

[@clarsach29]

this has been a bumper year for Waxwing visitors to Scotland; lots of sightings across the east coast and through the central belt in places like Stirling....always brilliant to see a small flock of them (of whatever the collective noun is for Waxwings.....maybe "a quiff of waxwings" given their hairdos)

[@Bobblers07]

Yes I have seen one in my Manchester UK garden. It was on the Holly bush and also eating from the bird feeder. I live next to woodland and there are plenty of berries around the area. I only saw it a couple of times around 3 weeks ago and had refer to my bird book to see what it was. Thanks Liam 😊

[@markjohnno1]

Just seen our first flock of Bohemian Waxwings feeding on mistletoe berries in Baysgarth Park, Barton-on-Humber...beautiful

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Brilliant! I am glad you got to see some.

[@RedHeadWolf117]

Beautiful birds! I've seen them a few times here in Prague (which I guess is expected considering they're called Bohemian waxwings!) but only one or two at a time. This last summer I also saw some cedar waxwings in Washington state in the US. I've never gotten a good picture of any, thank you for sharing! I had no idea they flock.

[@BobLonsdale]

Over the last few weeks we've had waxwings in our rural Garden in Northumberland around 20 miles north of Newcastle. It started with one and after a couple of days there were half a dozen not seen for odd days but two there again today. They've been feeding almost exclusively on leftover windfall Bramley apples and I strung some in the trees on wire for them. They seem quite bold. It's the first time we've seen them here so quite a treat. Beautiful birds.

[@avtaras]

Thank you so much, Liam! Thanks to your video I was able to find out about the unprecedented wave of Bohemian waxwings, and 32 days ago I actually saw some in Balham!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

How brilliant! I am glad this video helped you to connect with nature in your own life. Cheers!

[@Compo67]

Great video and filming of them Liam. We had them a few years back as an erupting in the woods right next to our house. I wondered what all the noise was as I had never heard their song before. I didn’t realise there were three types of Waxwing . Thanks for this very informative video. 🙏☺️❤️

[@patricianunes3521]

Thank you Liam. Beautiful birds.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers. Thanks for watching!

[@sidensvans67]

My lifetime favourite bird . Wonderful creatures .

[@auroraborealis2442]

Thank you for showing us these beautiful birds

[@MrPaoTrieu]

many beautiful birds

[@grahamjordan1040]

When I as a boy in the sixties we used to get a lot of them on a large hedgerow in west Lynn a village on the opposite side of the river Great Ouse from Kings Lynn.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

If you are going to go looking for waxwings, here are a couple of good sources for where they have been seen. www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/realdata/gallery.asp?SpeciesID=10480 facebook.com/groups/214355264013107 Go on, if youve came to read this, why not leave a comment to help more people see my video and to grow the channel, Cheers!

[@The_Robert.Fletcher]

Thank you for the links.

[@-xirx-]

Thankyou for the links. Did you see these Waxwings near Snettisham? I am here in Cambridgeshire, but would love to travel to see some.

[@moonstar21868]

Waxwings are excellant barbecued 🍗

[@sarahmarles7633]

Ooh I'm on the Wirral peninsula and I think I've just seen hundreds (and yesterday), I could only capture them on my phone and they were right at the top of the trees but one flock merged into another and then another, hundreds in all easily. I've never noticed them here before and I walk here every day. So glad I've seen them, their call was their identification for me as my eyes couldn't pick out plumage etc from that distance. I did get a video yay 🎉

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Wow, what a great spot! There are so many about at the moment. Will you be posting the video?

[@Jaded-Wanderer]

In the late 1970s me and my family marvelled at the scores of waxwings present in our garden on the the Wirral peninsula. We saw them during one season only.

[@simondo1027]

Hello Liam, thanks for the video. I Live in Manchester and today I saw my first waxwing. There were a flock of about 30 of them feeding on the berries of a Rowan tree. The tree was by the side of a busy road in the middle of a busy town center. There were quite a few photographers when I arrived. The sky was blue and I saw some amazing sites of them eating berries. I watched them for over an hour until they spotted a sparrowhawk and flew away to safety. Beautiful birds!!

[@cliffzinha]

Every now and then there is one in my yard in southern Finland. They're so cute!

[@janerobinson466]

I live in Hull EYorks and just about to go for a bike ride looked up and saw a dozen or so ‘starlings’ in a cherry tree. Then saw the crests. Dashed inside to get my camera and got the best views ever from my doorstep on the Rowan tree on the street. The birds couldn’t see me for the fence between us but I could see them gobbling berries not 10 metres away!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Great video Liam. As far as I'm aware there have been none seen in my catchment area yet (South / Metropolitan Essex). I've seen them a few times in previous years but not since January 2017. I've only ever seen them after the turn of the year. With it seemingly being a good irruption this winter I'm optimistic of seeing them over the next couple of months but I'm not going to drive a stupid distance to see them. I've briefed staff at one of our practices which is right by a known previous hotspot for Waxwings, and I've got other spies on the lookout too! 🙂

[@jeffreyconrad8125]

Well liam i saw one eating berries in a side street in potters bar herts only 1mile from the m25 only last week my very first in 50 yrs keep up the good work !

[@jimbenge9649]

A few days ago I noticed a flock of starlings circling outside my bedroom window ready to descend on the rowan trees in full berry. As they did I noticed something odd looking about them. As they came to settle I noticed they were in fact waxwings. First time in my 63 years I've seen them.

[@geoffharding7779]

Thanks for sharing that. Good to see that you finally saw them. Last time I saw some was quite a few years ago, opposite a McD's in Pitsea, Essex where my son and I had a slightly surreal experience of sitting in there eating burgers while watching them outside in some nearby trees. I'll keep an eye out for them this year.

[@johnpark8297]

Brilliant Liam, thanks for posting. I saw a similar sized flock in west central Scotland about a mile from my house 😊. There are still flocks in the area, first time I’ve ever seen these smart looking birds in 40+ years of bird watching👍

[@Nemrai]

They're really interesting birds(and with a very recognizeable call). Where I live in Norway they usually show up for a while in autumn, before moving on(probably after eating what they can find of rowan berries and the like here XD)

[@samhancock268]

I saw a pair for the first time in my life whilst on a dog walk near my house the other day. I heard the call before I saw them. Managed to get a couple of pics on my phone.

[@paulwarner5674]

Beautiful. If there is info where to see them and they stay a few days, why did you stand in the rain for 8 days😂? Thanks Liam another great video.❤

[@christrella3134]

I live in the US and I'm always surprised and can't believe the same/ similar kinds of birds we all have in common. Nice video of the birds that eat the little crab apples in the tree along my house

[@JesterRlP]

Hi Liam, I live in Ipswich and we're lucky to have them visit every other year, usually in built up areas. Earlier this year (Jan) they set up camp in Blanche St and were there for a few weeks. We went to go and take a look, and had a double surprise because at the top of the largest tree in the area were a pair of stunning mistle thrush, which I've only ever seen once before ☺

[@missapippin9020]

Thank you Liam. Great to see them. I’m in Australia so I am very pleased to see them through your videos. ❤

[@celestenova777]

The only time I have seen them was in central Scotland. They suddenly appeared in one of the trees in my garden - too many to count - but what a glorious sight, truly beautifuI, especially as I had never see any before. I live way down the south coast now and haven't seen one. Thanks for upload🕊

[@alanjust]

Great video Liam. Ironic isn’t it that you got soaked over several days and then success on a rare sunny Norfolk day 😂

[@iainb1577]

I live in Perth where both I and my wife have seen them at different times and different locations within the city. They do not seem particularly rare here but perhaps we were just lucky.

[@blutey]

Thanks for the heads-up Liam!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

You're welcome, I hope you get to see them!

[@robertadowns217]

Beautiful birds! I saw Waxwings in a housing estate in Northern Ireland, over 20 years ago. There were about 15 of them on several bushes covered in berries...

[@gillywibble]

I've never seen a Waxwing, but I did see a Golden Pheasant last month at Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire. Quite a sight!

[@sallywinyard5639]

Amazing thanks so much for the insight into these birds. I love your wildlife videos they are full of info x

[@claregeorge3075]

I’ve never seen one it’s up their in my top 3! We do get loads or red wings and field fares every year though.

[@martinhankinson7945]

Had two in the front garden in North Manchester

[@bernardshieldstysonfive1009]

Hi Liam brilliant video never heard of this bird before lovely looking bird love all the wildlife you share with us my wife and myself love watching your videos keep up the brilliant work and videos Bernard

[@Andrew-pb7os]

I live on the outskirts of Norwich and have lots of berries lining the border of our garden Will be keeping an eye out for these Thanks

[@mohammadumair9497]

Always a great videos liam always top notch videos. you and cookie animal anomalies are my favourite British wildlife youtubers keep the great work up.

[@philiptaylor7902]

You lucky chap Liam. I have only ever seen waxwings once, more than 50 years ago. Maybe this year eh!

[@barryanthonywing4848]

Yep my wife and 2 or 3 bird watchers ( with the gear)saw a small nearly bare tree full of them a few years ago in the Morrison's Supermarket car park at Catcilffe near Rotherham in South Yorkshire,very colourful if I remember correctly,I had a idea what they were called.Got the Observer Book of Birds and Eggs.👍🦉

[@tago69mago671]

I saw a group of about 20 about 10 years ago when we had a really bad winter in Barrow in Furness believe it or not. I knew it was rare to see them but never thought they would be so far north and on the west coast as opposed to the east coast. Also had a group of Redwings visiting my garden for a week the same year! I saw a big flock of redwings on farmland only this week so I'm guessing its going to be a pretty cold winter this year.

[@SlowToe]

Thanks Liam, stunning birds.

[@steventyreman3642]

Thanks Liam, only saw one on cotoneaster years ago,never forget it as they are stunning.y beautiful birds,,,,once again thanks😊

[@fredricholst5362]

Beautiful, thank you. Its great to se!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@squidhead812]

I had about 30 Waxwings feeding on berries just in the small tree in my front garden!

[@Isaacmg187]

Great video! We’ve had up to 40 here in Colchester over the past week

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Brilliant stuff. Thanks for watching!

[@jackieduncan973]

Lidl car park - Thirsk - North Yorkshire. Spotted here last week and also 3 years ago!! Eating berries from the trees.

[@Calvin.The.Unfindable]

this was amazing, i've never seen a waxwing in person before. it is definitely on my wildlife bucket list. what a great little video. brilliant. i bet all that rain was worth it though to get such amazing views, and so many birds too. if i don't see you before, i just want to take a moment to wish you happy holidays, & yuletide greetings. i can't believe where the year has gone again!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Hiya buddy, my hot tip for seeing them is to keep a eye out for berry laden bushes and trees especially around supermarket / retail park car parks. 🙂

[@Calvin.The.Unfindable]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK ahhh, Graham, hello my friend. thanks for the hot tip. i will write that in my notebook. 😄👍👍

[@90skid97]

Great dedication. I love these birds. As a dane I've seen these many times but im pretty sure they never breed this far south

[@nobbyblob9906]

We had some appear about 10 or so years ago in our rural garden in north Bucks. They'd been feeding off a large cotoneaster. I've been looking out for them every year since.

[@timroot4207]

Thank you !!!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks for watching!

[@birdlover7690]

Thank you for sharing experiences x

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching!

[@Angus_Macgregor]

I used to see them every year in Edinburgh when they would descend on a heavily berried laurel in my neighbours garden. We would sometimes get Neumann thrushes as well. But two years ago they decided to cut the whole tree down. 😭

[@victoriapayne7239]

Oh dear , that’s a tragedy . I hope there was a valid reason for that . For some of us , a tree is almost like a person.

[@Buster-pw5dv]

Love watching your videos.Thank you Liam.They are always interesting and informative.

[@steventyreman3642]

Ps have you seen any brambling they are stunning winter visitors as well ,😊

[@williamrobinson7435]

I have indeed seen waxwings, and been amazed by how quickly a few birds, maybe 3 or 4 can strip a garden full of berries bare. Lovely, colourful little birds these, I shall certainly be looking out for waxwings. Nice one Liam! ⭐👍

[@nickjames4497]

I’ve seen Waxwings in the gardens I work at … I will keep an eye out for them…An extraordinary amount of berries around at the moment…

[@williamrobinson7435]

@@nickjames4497 Well take a nice photo or two of your berries, just in case! ⭐🤣

[@nickjames4497]

@@williamrobinson7435 I have taken some holly with berries home for Christmas decoration….A large flock of Redwings have arrived, as usual …. Stripping everything bare 😫

[@MegaVector2011]

Great upload Liam. I've seen a few small flocks in my home town York, in the Museum Gardens which has a wide variety of berry trees. Lovely little birds but the ones I spotted were quite elusive and shy and were feeding high up. I've tried to photograph them, but they invariably disappear deep down into the foliage when they spot me.... so no luck so far.

[@grampawud]

I saw one of these in my garden this year with a couple of chicks. It was only about 10 foot away from me and didn't seem to bothered by my presence. Once it was gone I found its nest while I was trimming the trees at the bottom of the garden. It was a beautiful bird.

[@Revelationscreation]

Probably wasn't a waxwing, they do not breed in the UK. They breed almost exclusively in the countries that make up the article circle.

[@Mgh-r]

Thank youuuuuu ❤😍💖👍👍😁😁😁💛🎁🎁❣❣🌹🌹🤗💐⚘⚘🌷

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks!

[@barnowl16]

brilliant video!! was just reading about waxwings in matt merritt's 'a sky full of birds', so pleased that they'll be about this year :)

[@mattykyle6622]

Seen them in wishaw lanarkshire last year

[@waxedlatexpanda8496]

Hi! I'd love to go on a trip so I'm definitely planning on going soon somewhere to see them

[@nickiramsay2421]

I would love to see these birds but we get sightings so rarely this far south. They were spotted about 5 years ago but had gone by the time I’d heard about it. Hopefully they’ll make an appearance this year.

[@gerrimilner9448]

there were a flock in a park in hampshire in 91, about 20 individuals

[@jonroads8281]

I've never seen one of these, but I'm hoping this year I might finally do so!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

There are lots about and they seem to be spreading quite far across the country so keep an eye out. Good luck

[@whitecloudmountainminnowpr6353]

Lovely looking birds them . I seen that cookie the wildlife KZbinr travel to go see them . Great video again

[@paulwarner5674]

Just got a notification from news channel Gazette Standard about the waxwing at the Colchester trading estate. Apparently being driven off by magpies wanting the berries. As waxwings eat 600 to 900 berries a day.. 😢😢 A couple of good photos though

[@thomasmacpherson5236]

Great video Liam many thanks very well presented and explained/put across keep the interesting videos coming that man. Tom Macpherson

[@NatureShortsGB]

Have heard lots about them this year, haven't seen then down in sussex yet.

[@birdsnestsnature]

hi liam, theres been a few sightings in county durham aswell ive seen quite a few pics on fb

[@markalton2809]

Quite a few around South Derbyshire at the moment

[@donnaml8776]

Thank you for spending time in the rain, uhh no rain on the day of filming though… lol, anyway, I appreciate your sense of humor. How large are the waxwing? Nice work, I enjoy your videos.

[@Jaded-Wanderer]

Another great video.

[@dexocube]

I'm keeping my eyes peeled!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Good luck!

[@padraigmacgabhann2045]

Hello Liam, how are things? I really enjoy your videos and I'm learning loads. Do Waxwings travel to Ireland?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you! They definitely do travel to Ireland but mostly the North and East. Fingers crossed you'll get to see them

[@christinenewell2679]

I’ve noticed that berries are very plentiful around my neck of the woods… that is Belfast NI. My Holly tree is heavy laden with gorgeousness just waiting for a ‘never seen before’ Waxwing. I cordially invite them to my table🫰.

[@williamhector6863]

I hope that I get to see them ❤

[@kate1138]

I just heard that there are Japanese Waxwings in our city in recent days. I've never seen one. Maybe I'll get lucky some day. :)

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Good luck!

[@glennrose-ward5651]

Had them in our garden a few times

[@MattThomas-g3g]

Waxing in South Wales. Cosmeston Quarry

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Great, did you get to see it?

[@craigm3018]

@AShotOfWildlife I may have seen some of these yesterday but I’m not sure. I was driving and only got a glimpse, I didn’t recognise what I saw though. I did a quick Google and I have ended up here, what I saw was about 3 or 4 birds of similar (maybe slightly larger) size to the ones in this video, with brownish feathers and the crest of feathers on top of their heads. They were on the ground and appeared to be fighting, they were in a field not far from woodlands and a lake. Could these have been waxwings or do they sound like something else you may be aware of? Thank you for any help you may be able to give! I am in Witham, Essex.

[@deborahkogan8742]

We have Cedar Waxwings in northeast United States.

[@kaymorrice8141]

Awesome!