The White Falcon

Could have been a 2nd Redhead of course 😉...

And it'll be the same bird that was a juvenile (a 1CY in autumn 2024, then 2CY in early 2025) in the same sort of area in February last year.

#justiceforfuscus 👊

Did you see the Titchwell Hooded Merganser as well Tom? Turned up on the back of the same extreme weather event (polar vortex before we knew what they were) that perhaps dumped the Canvasback (if it was different to Kent bird). Strong case as I saw it. Better than many others...(just saying 😅)...

It's separating the wheat from the chaff with MD, I understand that but Hooded Merganser is really no different. The voucher record for MD has to be robust but I think there have been good records that have been passed over & consigned to the bin, ditto W-HD (especially W-HD)...

If the MD was submitted, then BBRC will OK it and it should get passed to BOURC. Trouble is observers can get "battle weary" & fatigued w/submitting Marbled Duck & W-HD given the negativity around them. The Saul Worth MD w/that big flock of spring G Ibis...I mean, hello 👋. And W-HD is a huge miss...

The one-day Marbled Duck at Kelling Water Meadow in May 2000. Turned up on a warm, southerly airflow (when other southern overshoots were around too) & was gone next day... Photo Alan Tate 👍

I'd have White-headed Duck over HM anyday of the week. That bleached 2CY drake at Hardley Flood was as good as I can ever imagine, let alone other W-HD we've seen in UK. And you're spot on, I think some of the Marbled Ducks feel much better than HM. Canvasback I don't mind so much...

Last one...
...a beautiful Cley afternoon sky on the walk home today.
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Common Crane
Old Womans Lane, Cley
March 11 2026
A little bit of patch gold on a breezy early, early spring afternoon.
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Common Cranes are a regular (annual) sight over Cley in spring, when the warmer days coincide with a bit of a breeze and entice Broadland (and Fenland) birds to go for a fly along the coast. Occasionally there's the odd bird seen in autumn too. Cranes on the ground are much less frequent here & they'll often hang out on the marsh when they do ground themselves. All of that made today's bird, feeding on the expansive fields along Barn Drift a bit more of a surprise. It headed to the reserve to roost on Pat's Pool late in the afternoon.

On the walk home over the Hangs, a pair of Ravens gave us a fly-by (what a change in status for them in Norfolk over the last decade). Then, better still, some patch gold when Lynnette quietly grabbed my arm along Barn Drift, Common Crane!
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Here's a second Adder that Lynnette found just a few yards from the one above. After a short while, it slithered off into the gorse. So, so smart.
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2/2

As well as the Orange Underwings on a better day than expected, we found 3 Woodlarks & even better, 3 Adders. The wonder of the new phone zoom, the 10x bins & a steady hand meant I could get some great grabs without the Adder getting fazed.
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1/2

Cheating a bit, as here's an archive photo of mine, from April 2021, of one of the "original" Orange Underwings that Lynnette and I found on Salthouse Heath. We've found them every since, in various spots on the north and south side of the heath but often only in ones and twos. Today we found at least 10 ~ good going with the breeze blowing around the birches.

Despite the breezy conditions there was enough in the warmth of the sun to see us head for a walk up to Salthouse Heath today in search of Orange Underwings. We were very happy to find them in two new spots + our original spot of five years ago.
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A surprise last night was Scrobipalpa costella (Bittersweet Moth or Winter Grounding) ~ we've not had many here before & we've definitely not had one anywhere close to March before. Recorded year round in Norfolk, late summer the peak.
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Ours is only a year or two more than yours Clive. But, year-on-year, we've noticed a consistent trend for increasing numbers of early emergence in a broad range of species.

Thanks Stephen, it really was smart 🙂

It's a beautiful piece of wood we picked up locally a few weeks ago. We're always looking out for attractive pieces such as this for the moth photos & this piece was one of the nicest we've found.

There's a significant population of minima x leucopsis hybrids in NL (especially north of Amsterdam). Some Dutch birders refer to them as North Holland Geese 😅 Extremely variable in appearance.

Hi Steve, at 1st glance that has the look of Ridgway's Cackling Goose (minima) but is almost certainly a smart Cackling x Barnacle (some of which can look like minima). A number of these hybrids were associated with the recent movement of White-fronts & Bean Geese from the Netherlands & Germany.

Another lovely moth from last night was this colour coordinated Shoulder Stripe. Lynnette had one a few days ago & this one came to the front window ~ they love the light in the Guillemot's window! Another super-fresh looking moth.
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A productive CMO night last night. Five NFYs (49/17) including Water Carpet, Red Chestnut, Engrailed & Early Thorn. Engrailed & Red Chestnut our earliest by 2 weeks, Red Water Carpet earliest by 11 days & Early Thorn earliest by 5 days.
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An atmospheric clip of the Black-winged Kite, late afternoon at Ludham Bridge. We'd been along the footpath, no joy, but saw it distantly from the noisy road bridge. Curiously reminiscent of a gliding Leach's Storm-petrel at times.
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It was a tongue-in-cheek/facetious comment on Kent duckponds really. Almost any old Hoodie will do. I didn't see a lot in the birds I mentioned to convince me of wildness. I don't see a lot in many of accepted HM re wildness. Best of the bunch was at Titchwell, post Polar Vortex at Canvasback time 😉

The unseasonal female on Shetland kept coming & going & was deemed OK by BBRC. There appears to be an ad hoc approach, good candidates sink, duff candidates swim. Yours surely isn't any worse than the unlikely Wiltshire bird or the duckpond Kent HMs? Wonder how many true vagrants we've actually had?

Red Kite
Holkham Park
March 9 2026
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Absolutely love this Red Kite on the lakeside snags at Holkham as the watery sun started setting in the misty & murky sky this evening.
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A brilliant set of birds that day. We'd seen the Goole Great Reed Warbler at dawn & I had my head literally in a bush looking at the Thrush Nightingale by the canal (I think), not far from Savi's Warbler when all hell broke loose! Hurtled to the Obs., for the show down 😅 Big crowd by mid-afternoon!

The atmosphere at the Obs when the May Bank Holiday Blyth's Reed Warbler was trapped the following spring was so tense. People standing guard front & back of the Obs, in case ringers snuck out the back door with it. Such a rarity in 1984, maybe 2nd of the modern era & 1st ever twitchable bird...

Oak Beauty @ CMO this morning. Exquisite...
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The 3rd Oak Beauty of the last week or so was the smartest we've had ~ absolutely pristine, like it's just been unwrapped from the moth box. Can't get enough of them ~ a proper 10/10 this one...
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