A different species is getting its meals at Asda near North Station, Colchester.
They do not use the car park or shopping trolleys but since arriving at the supermarket site a couple of days ago, they are being carefully watched.
Watching the birdies at Asda
The visitors are waxwings birds which, it seems, have left the intense cold of Siberia to find food on the bushes at the sides of the store's car park.
And the watchers are twitchers, the dedicated band of bird watchers.
Waxwings are beautiful birds with unpredictable patterns of movement and migration. They may be seen in one place for a short time and then not again for years.
Gordon Harvey, of Asda, who spotted the birds said: "They are like big fat robins.
"The come from Siberia and when it is very cold like it is now they come here to supermarkets because we plant quick-growing bushes with multiberries at our car parks.
"About 23 arrived over the last two or three days and we have never had them here before in the five years the supermarket has been open."
Published Thursday, January 23, 2003
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article