Waxwing- Hilfield!

I returned from a week in Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains on Thursday morning, but have been at school since then, and so I haven't had time to write up the trip, which I will do shortly.

I had a chance encounter with certainly the most exciting bird I have seen at Hilfield. I went outside to refill our birdfeeders, when I saw a plump, starling-sized bird fly past and land in a tree in the garden. I ran inside to get my binoculars, and to my disbelief it was a waxwing! Obviously my first at Hilfield, and only the second time I have ever seen the species. Waxwings have flocked to the UK in great numbers this winter (there are about 5000 in the country right now), but have only started to move into Dorset in the last week or so. Thankfully I managed to take a few pictures in deteriorating light:

Waxwing, Hilfield, 13.1.13

The only other bird of note seen at Hilfield today was a marsh tit- the first on the feeders this winter.