200 tinkling bells

Was up in Aberdeen at the weekend visiting Lisa. Not really birding as it was a flying visit on two overnight buses from London. We were keeping an eye out for Waxwings though and just a few minutes from Lisa's flat we looked in St Peter's Cemetery at the rowan trees. No sign, then the sound of 200 tinkling bells as a flurry of peach bombycillids dropped out of the snowy sky. But they were soon off, rising and settling further away as a possessive Mistle Thrush claimed all the rowan berries in the graveyard. A female Sparrowhawk had noticed the flock too and drove them further away. I had to settle for a flight shot instead.

Further along King Street we faced the oncoming crowds heading to Pittodrie then found two Rock Pipits on St Andrew's Cathedral - perhaps forced to feed a short distance inland due to the snow cover. Later that afternoon, a roost of Pied Wagtails was forming in the same street at the bus garage.

From the bus between Glasgow and Aberdeen: Buzzard (29), Kestrel (5), Red Kite (1), Peregrine (1), Merlin (1), Whooper Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Stock Dove, Fieldfare, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Mute Swan, Goosander, Tufted Duck, Pheasant, Meadow Pipit, Curlew, Mallard, Wigeon, Cormorant, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Pied Wagtail, Rook, Carrion Crow, Redwing, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Feral Pigeon, Roe Deer and Common Seal.