This is not the Christmas Blog.

But it’s been an amazing year for holly — I’ve never seen so many berries. Nor such huge haws.

And the Mistletoe is marvelous.

It all bodes well for a good Christmas but we are waiting for the long predicted Waxwings to appear.

These beautiful birds live in Scandinavia but head south in winter in search of food. This is one of those exceptional years when food is thin in the trees at home and the winds have been northerly. There have been lots of sightings as they following the berries, coming further south and west as they denude the trees. We got up before dawn to sneak into Newtown College car park where there are still rowan berries, their favorite… To no avail. Maybe there is so much to eat in the North of England that they will never get to Northamptonshire where Bill photographed this one in 2013 — the last exceptional year