PHOTOGRAPHERS were left in awe in Saltcoats over the weekend, as a stunning flock of birds made their way to the town.
A whole host of local snappers travelled up the High Road on Saturday, November 11, to catch a glimpse of the Bohemian Waxwings which had flown into town.
The birds come to the UK in search of berries when crops run low closer to their breeding grounds in Fennoscandia and western Russia and opportunities to capture these in the Three Towns are few and far between.
One local photographer, Stevie Clarke from Irvine, explained how he went about capturing some incredible images of the birds over the weekend.
He said he had heard of a flock of around 40 waxwings being spotted on Friday, November 10 - so the following morning he quickly sprung into action.
Stevie parked at the nearby Tesco and walked up the High Road, where he was treated to a stunning encounter.
He noticed the birds high up in the trees which line the street, and watched in awe as they periodically swooped down to the rowan trees to eat the berries.
Stevie was one of many who visited the street in a bid to catch a glimpse of the birds - though admitted he got some "strange looks" by many drivers and passers by.
Though he added that one local stopped down the road and came running up and asked him if it was waxwings he was spotting.
"He had never seen them," Stevie explained, "so I loaned my binoculars so he could see them himself - he was so excited."
Though that was not quite the most interesting detail from his visit to capture images of the waxwings.
"While photographing these photogenic birds on Saturday," he said, "I noticed this one was ringed.
"So I decided to report the sighting, and was so pleased to have received detailed feedback from Alan Leitch at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)."
Alan then explained to Stevie that the bird was ringed as a young male in Finstown, Orkney, on October 29 - some 350-miles north of Saltcoats - and was one of 74 birds caught during an "invasion" on the island.
This sighting in Saltcoats was the first since it was ringed on Orkney - and Alan was delighted to be able to see it's progress thanks to Stevie.
While many may have wandered past and thought the waxwings were nothing more than a photogenic bird - they most certainly have an interesting tale of how they made their way into town.
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