The unlikely location a flock of rare waxwings have taken roost in Hull

They've given Spurn Point a miss

Dan Kemp

18:46, 8 JAN 2019

When you think of birdwatching, you would imagine people dressed from head to toe in camouflage, staking out in the middle of woods or on cliff tops.

But birdwatchers from across East Yorkshire have decided against scenic trips to Spurn Point or Bempton Cliffs - instead opting to do their spotting in an altogether less likely place.

Men and women with their long lenses have been spotted focusing on a group of rare waxwings in Hessle , just yards from where hundreds of shoppers go about getting their groceries.

The birds have been spotted near Aldi and Sainsbury's car parks on either side of Priory Way.  A flock of more than a dozen of the rare birds have taken up residence in trees near the supermarkets.

Birdwatcher Michael Flowers says the birds were spotted as early as the end of November but that their numbers are now at a high for winter 2018/19.

He said: "The Waxwings first appeared at Hessle this season on November 28 when nine were seen. Numbers gradually dropped until there were only three on 23 December. Numbers rose again on 5 January when 13 were seen. There must have been another influx from Scandinavia."

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Robin sightings in Surrey reach 20-year high as south east also sees huge rise in unusual birds

The waxwing, from Scandinavia, is just one of a number of unusual birds that has been seen in huge numbers this year

By Tom Herbert

14:00, 9 APR 2017

The south east has seen a huge rise in the number of unusual birds visiting UK gardens.

Bird fans saw an explosion in the number of waxwings, a Scandinavian migrant bird that flocks to the UK only once every seven to eight years.

The bird, which has a prominent crest and black masks around its eyes, only visits us when the berry crop fails in their native land, in a process known as "irruption".

It meant that in 2017's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch in January, the striking looking bird was seen in south east gardens around 19 times more than in previous years.

The boom also extends to birds such as redwing and fieldfare, as the sub-zero temperatures on the continent forced them to go in search of milder conditions.

The south east saw numbers of redwing triple while our gardens saw a five-fold increase in fieldfare sightings.

Dr Daniel Hayhow, RSPB Conservation Scientist, said: "There was some speculation as to whether we could see a ‘waxwing winter’ and the results prove that to be the case.

"Flocks of these striking looking birds arrived in the UK along the North Sea coast and will have moved across the country in search of food, favouring gardens where they can feast on berries.

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