With its striking mohican-like crest, a black throat, and a black mask round its eye that looks like eyeliner, the waxwing is the 1980s pop star of the bird world. Slightly smaller than a starling, it’s pinkish to brownish grey in colour, with yellow and white flashes on the wings, and a yellow-tipped tail. Despite all of this, it gets its name from the red tips on its wings, which look like drops of sealing wax.
The waxwing doesn’t breed in the UK but is a winter visitor from Scandinavia and Russia. Most years only a few hundred waxwings arrive on our shores, but in some years several thousand will arrive. These irruptions occur when a good breeding year coincides with a shortage of food in their usual range. Birders will travel miles to catch a glimpse of them.
In winter, waxwings eat berries, particularly rowan and hawthorn, as well as cotoneaster and rosehips in gardens. They turn up in the most unlikely of locations, from supermarket car parks and industrial estates to city centres and tiny gardens. Where there are berries there may be waxwings – it’s always worth keeping an eye out.
How to care for waxwings
As winter visitors in search of food, the only thing you can do for them is provide them with something to eat! Plant berrying trees and shrubs such as rowan and hawthorn. Avoid planting Cotoneaster horizontalis as it’s considered invasive and is listed on Schedule 9 of the wildlife and countryside act. They also eat apples – both windfalls and shop-bought apples – simply halve them and hang them from trees for the birds to find.
