Stonechats at Henhurst Lake !

With a couple of hours spare I could not resist the temptation to revisit Jeskyns Country Park and look for those elusive Waxwings that reportedly are frequenting the area near Henhurst Lake, apparently not while I'm there.

I walked around the areas where the Waxwings have been seen in previous days, brilliant sunshine but freezing temperatures. My heart did start racing when I caught site of a small flock of birds flying in to the top of some trees, not Waxwings but a small flock of Redwings.

I ended up spending most of my time watching the Stonechats around the reedbeds of Henhurst Lake. I counted at least seven individuals, most were hunting through the reedbeds in pairs.

Interestingly I wondered what food sources they were finding, they were obviously attracted to the reedbeds.

I watched this female Stonechat hunting close by, she flew on to some dead vegetation and you could clearly see what she had found, a caterpillar of some sort, I wouldn't have thought that caterpillars would be around at this time of the year, especially in these freezing temperatures of late.

She flew to small grassy mound in front of me and proceeded to bash the caterpillar against the ground, I guess to kill it, so it was obviously alive.

The Stonechats seem relatively approachable allowing some nice photographic opportunities, although I could not get any flight pictures, plenty of posing.

Female Stonechat

Maybe I'll get the Waxwings on my next visit , third time lucky !