Waxwings fly into town

Over the past couple of years Ive followed fellow blogger reports of Waxwings sightings with a tiny amount of envy. If I had a bird list Waxwing would be vying for top spot, in close contest with a Bittern and a Jack Snipe, all unlikely candidates for sightings from my bedroom window. Unlikely that is until this afternoon.....

On opening the bedroom window to check the weather I heard a chorus of trills, and was astonished to see 15 Waxwing in the tree at the end of the terrace. A frantic camera search ensued, one had no lens, the other no card, a quick rummage produced only a medium lens and barely enough time to rattle off a couple of shots before they disappeared. Although gutted that they're all blurred/too distant, I was still chuffed with my garden sighting. Ive included a couple for reference and as a reminder to myself to always keep the camera ready for action, doh! The tiny blurry dots in the topmost branches are indeed Waxwing. The second pic shows the last bird to fly off, at least you can just make out the distinctive profile and my window frame top left.

After all this excitement I had to rush out of the house to catch a bus into town, and assumed that would be the last I'd see of the Waxwings.......That is until I got off the 49 bus at the bottom of the Headrow, beside the Crown Court building. I imagined I was hearing things when I caught the sound of trilling for a second time and gazed upwards to see 40/50 Waxwing in the uppermost branches of a Plane tree. This time, I was armed only with my camera phone I apologise once more for the shots which require a certain amount of zooming in, squinting and goodwill, but I assure you they wereWaxwing, and they were there. I chuckled at the appropriate backdrop and moved round for a better shot. 

15 or so on the bottom right branches and a few top left. 

Looking up towards the Headrow,  the Waxwing are sat at the top of the tree, not to be confused with the remaining Plane tree fruits.

Perhaps next time I might get a decent shot?

Leeds City Centre, autumnal views

Its impossible not to notice the current seasonal change even on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre. In the urban planting schemes and roadside verges the signs of autumn are all around.

On Sunday we spent half an hour wandering around sections of the riverside that we'd never really paid too much attention to before. Looking back towards Bridgewater Place, I'd never noticed this apple tree before which was heavily laden with fruit. Across the road there's a line of Small Leaved Limes, the leaves are turning rich yellows.  

In the culvert that runs alongside Water Lane that carries the Hol Beck into the River Aire we spotted tiny fishes feeding on vegetation which I didn't expect to see. Trying to find out more about this watercourse I came across Phil D's Flickr pages where has a collection of pics from a stroll along this section of the Hol Beck that are well worth a look. 

 

On the culvert bankside, leaves, stems and berries of a thicket of well established shrubs provide a tapestry of colour and no doubt plenty of cover for urban birds.

Fungi on the grassland near Whitehall Road overlooking the River Aire.

Near St Paul's Street next the site of the demolished Leeds International Pool this Stag's horn sumach (Rhus typhina) looking towards the Call Credit building.

Clusters of teeny-tiny cap and stem fungi growing on a grassy verge amongst fallen Sycamore leaves, near Whitehall flats.

River Aire sightings

On the River Aire, between Whitehall Bridge and the Dark Arches of Leeds City Centre I noticed this beautiful Black Swan, more than likely an escapee but nonetheless a striking character . They're native to SW/E Australia and were brought to Britain as an ornamental bird.  I remembered that Paul (Little Brown Job) spotted one at RSPB Fairburn last year. These two shots upstream and downstream indicate how close to the City Centre it was.  

Continuing our wander around Granary Wharf we stumbled upon the Leeds City Cruise boat and hopped on for a £3.00 return trip to Clarence Dock, what a great way to travel through the city. It was a much gentler journey than my last boat excursion which was to the Farne Islands where I suffered a humiliating bout of sea sickness, all for the love of nature! Another bird (this time more ornament than ornamental) was this Grey Heron sculpture near Brewery Wharf.

Other wildlife sightings included two female Goosander on the river to the rear of the Yorkshire Post building. They're frequently visitors as they overwinter on the river, previously they've appeared further upstream, in December last year by Kirkstall Abbey and also near Redcote Lane. The unexpected surprise of the day was the appearance of a Kingfisher as it zipped upstream and out of view.

Autumn colour in Park Square, Leeds

In Park Square, Leeds City Centre, ornamental trees in particular are aglow with autumn colour, no more so than this beautiful Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum located next to the Mayors for Peace Monument. The monument was unveiled by the Mayors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Leeds in 2003 and remembers all the innocent civilian populations killed in conflicts since the atomic bomb blasts of 1945. 

The foliage of another tree in Park Square is suffused with slightly more golden tones, and is possibly a Red Oak, Quercus Rubra (although a second opinion would be most welcome). The commemorative plaque associated with it reads, 'Presented to the City of Leeds to mark the Christian Celebration of the Centenary on Sunday 4th July 1997'



Leeds Light Night

Leeds Light Night took place on Friday evening as the city was transformed by performance, installations and exhibitions to shed new light on buildings and locations in Leeds. For me the great thing about Light Night is the opportunity to look upon the city from a fresh perspective as you would if visting a city for the first time. On our tour of St George's Field, Leeds University, an unexpected bonus was the sight of bats circling the Chapel seemingly unperturbed by the visitors.   Whilst walking through the university grounds I caught sight of these two illuminated climbers, Virgina Creeper and Clematis Montana that could have been worthy exhibits for Light Night.

Elsewhere, on the Headrow, a passing flock of migrant winged creatures appeared in front of Oxford Place Methodist Centre, perhaps on their way to winter feeding grounds.

This piece of work is entitled Flocks by Pyramid of Arts who run arts groups for people with learning disabilities and non-disabled people throughout Leeds.

Fieldfare and Redwing in Park Square

Earlier in the week I mentioned that there was a flock of Fieldfare in Park Square, Leeds City Centre. The birds were feeding on berries in the park and in the trees nearby. On Friday we popped into town to see if they were still there & to hopefully get a better look. Although there were much fewer birds approximately 6 Fieldfare remained, they were accompanied by a couple of Redwing and what we think was a juvenile Mistle Thrush (I'd appreciate feedback on this). A lovely clear sky made for some good pics, it was a delight to spend some time watching these beautiful winter visitors.

Fieldfare and Redwing feed alongside each other.

This is what we thought might be a juvenile Mistle Thrush, attracted by fruit & seed that we scattered on cleared ground to help them along.