Here are some of my favourite winter birds here in the UK.
Fieldfares have always been a bird I look forward to seeing – or hearing – in the winter months. The “chacka-chacka” as they fly off from a hawthorn or apple tree. Sometimes they arrive in large flocks from Scandinavia, which is always a treat. Their grey heads and napes, with speckled fronts and silver underwings makes for a very handsome bird.
I have never actually seen a Waxwing, but I know they do visit Sussex as they head over to the UK from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe to feast on berries.
Here are some sketches I did in a Stillman & Birn grey sketchbook. Bullfinches are such a glorious sight on a winter’s day, and brighten up a hedgerow, especially with the backdrop of a low sunrise on a cold morning. These drawings are pencil, pen and gouache.
Which birds you are pleased to see in winter?
