Some highlights from the start of 2025 ...

 Following up a reported 300 finches on the outskirts of Brampton on the Lanercost road, I arrived to find a huge flock of Linnets which I estimated to be around 500...

Applying a grid to a section of the flock and the number turned out to be over 1,000 ... and a few Brambling lingered on the periphery ...

... on the Solway Ruff are always a good bird during the winter months and these at Campfield Marsh showed nicely ...

... while on the coastal side an interestingly dark- mantled Barnacle Goose swam ... partial melanism perhaps ?

... further afield and ceratinly qualifying for 'beyond' the lure of a Least Sandpiper in Somerset was just too tempting ... an early start, clear roads and the bird was right in front of the viewing screen of the Quantock hide as I arrived ... it fed, flew round and generally performed impeccably ...

... more clear roads on the way home and back in time for dinner ... sometimes things just work out perfectly and this long awaited British tick completed my set of all the 21 Calidrid Sandpipers on the British List ...

Long days apart and it's good to be back on the home patch with some nice Crossbill views in Spadeadam Forest ...

Slimbridge revisited ... in the mist ...

 Yesterday was the one chance for a visit to this iconic location ... a childhood dream that never happened to a place that seemed impossibly far away at the time ... and a place that I've become incresingly fond of over the handfull of times that I've been there since ...

The last Bewick's Swans to be recorded in Cumbria were over ten years ago so they were on my wish list ... despite the mist the close proximity of the birds proided great views of this rather special species ...

... it was not recognised as a species util the early 19th century, having previously been lumped with Whooper Swan under the name Wild Swan ...

... there was a single Whooper Swan among the fifty or so Bewick's Swans and it was interesting to compare the two side by side ... first in the morning mist ...

... and later as conditions improved for a while ...

... this is such a great plae to get close views of wonderful and striking species like Pintail ...

... Wigeon ...

... Gadwall ...

... and Shoveler ...

... the pool frequented by the Bewick's Swans hosted a lone Black Swan that had apparntly been around for a while ... non-natives can be interesting too ...

... out towards the Estuary there were twelve Cranes which included a family party of four ...

... a single Barnacle Goose that was consorting with some Greylag Geese was perhaps of questionable origin and its companions undoubtedly did it no favours in that respect ... but who knows ?

... the other species on my wish list for the day was Russian White-fronted Goose and a group of forty or so fed obligingly in fields to the west ...

... a closer look revealed the pinkish bill, reduced belly barring and broader white terminal tail band compared with the Greenland race ...

... nearby a female Kingfisher posed nicely to the obvious delight of the occupants of the hide ...

... then moving away from th Estuary the South Pool provided rich pickings ... a juvenile Spoonbill roosted by the shore ... not the most obliging pose but the pink bill was at least partly visible ...

... a large flock of Curlews circled ...

.   and even more Golden Plovers wheeled arond in tight formation ...

... on the pool some Avocets fed ... 

... while others roosted ...

... and fifteen Cattle Egrets flew in and onto an island ...

... nearby a mixed flock of waders included Ruff, Lapwing, Dunlin and a Curlew while some Teal drifted by behind ... a rich mix !

The winter livens up ...

 Autumn can carry such high expectations and while Norfolk was a lovely experience, (not least of all with the memory of Moules Mariniere under a warm blue sky) it was not mind blowing.

There's something about the higher value of birds that we see when they're on our local patch.  Such was the case at Bolton Fell Moss in late autumn when on a misty day some Pink-footed Geese dropped in for a while.  This recently restored peat bog is often very quiet in winter as the habitat is still recovering from commercial peat extraction only a decade ago.  It was quite special to see these birds there ...

Last year I was in Spain for three weeks in May and seeing Western Olivaceous Warbler there fulfilled a long-held ambition.  There can be a down side to foreign trips and that comes when a really good bird turns up at home - and one did - you don't get much better than a first for the UK.  The Grey-headed Lapwing in Northumberland departed as I was on the ferry back to the UK.

When one appeared in East Chevington just a short time ago this was an unbelievable chance to pull one back ...

... first from the L shaped hide it kept company with Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Wigeon ... a strange lot of incongruous pool-fellows ...

Then from the South hide it performed some short vertical flights / jumps much to the delight of the gathered throng ... and to me !

... interestingly, the only other Grey-headed Lapwing that I've seen was also an out of range bird, in Mongolia ...

Back on the closer to home patch the Rockcliffe Marsh floodbank which is part of the new coastal path gave good views of some distant Barnacle Geese and an accompanying Red-breasted Goose ... an elusive individual and a good one to catch up with ...

... Carr Beds was disappointingly quiet ... so on to the Solway ... the light was failing and I resolved to make the Caravan Park layby at Port Carlisle my last stop ... checking through the first birds, a group of Teal revealed an excitingly unexpected Green-winged Teal ...

... first it was head on to show just two thin white bars and then viewed from a little to the west it looked better ...

Norfolk in October

 

Norfolk was a strange experience in mid-October with biting north winds at the start of the week giving way to days of Indian summer with 20 deg C and clear blue skies by the end ...

This illusion was dispelled by winter visitors arriving with Whooper Swans on Arnold's Marsh ...

A male Kingfisher entertained the occupants of the hide at Cley Marshes giving some close views ...

... and Bearded Tits showed incredibly well as they perched high in the reedbeds in the light winds ...

... and a lone Avocet was regular on Pat's Pool ...

... Titchwell delivered a predictably wide range of species as a Spoonbill flew by ...

... some dark-bellied Brent Geese loafed along the beach ...

... and Snow Buntings fed cryptically among the material along the tideline ...

... a flock of Pink-footed Geese near Holkham included a leucistic individual, the first I've seen in this species ...

... and Red Kites appeared in unlikely beach habitats ...

... with a male Marsh Harrier putting in regular appearances ...

... in an autumn where scarce waders seemed to be in short supply a returning Long-billed Dowitcher was a welcome visitor to Pat's Pool ...

... and interesting to watch it in the company of Black-taled Godwits rather than the Redshank that the long-staying Cumbria bird associated with ...

... two dusk visits to pat's Pool resulted in an absence of gulls although a nice Mediterranean Gull was there earlier in the day ...

... and good numbrrs of Ruff gathered at dusk ...

... one surprise was a fly by of two Ravens at Wells, I was told later that they breed at Holkham ...