The Perils of Birding

After very belatedly hearing of Waxwings at Great Yarmouth, just after 5pm on Thursday 28th October, I made my way over to the Pasteur road opposite the Pasta foods factory and parked in Lidl's car park. I saw a small flock of approx 17 birds seen for a second, possibly waxwings disappear behind the roofs of some houses. The lovely trilling sound of a single Waxwing flying around, I viewed the bird flying around before it flew high in a south- westerly direction. 

Seeing a friend at the Library on Friday, he told me about an experience that a very well respected member (and finder of several rarities) of the Yarmouth Bird club was subjected to. He, too, was watching the Waxwings from Lidl car park and he was approached by Lidl's manager to say that he had complaints from people in the houses saying they had seen a person looking through people's windows with binoculars. Of course, he wasn't, he was just looking at the Waxwings feeding either on the Mountain Ash berries or perched on the aerials.

When he had explained what he was looking at, the embarrassed Lidl's manager apologised and bore a hasty retreat. 

Birding around housing estates and looking especially for waxwings can be a hazardous pursuit.

It reminded me of a time when I was looking at Waxwings at Tottenham  on a housing estate in London and I had rude words shouted at me by teenagers in the neighbourhood.