Good day: 7 hawfinches and displaying goshawks in the Brecks.
Bad day: 13 assorted deer, 3 badgers, 1 tawny owl plus sundry pheasants, squirrels, rats, pigeons, and unidentifiable bits of roadkill. Survival instincts seem to disappear when the hormones start raging.
Glenfinnan monument? I guess everyone else there was a Harry Potter nerd. Have you been to Culloden yet? Brilliant visitor centre and spooky battlefield. Clava Cairns nearby if you prefer ancient history and Cawdor Castle if you did Macbeth at school. Pretty good birding too. I know a great book...🤣
We were enjoying close up views of a male hen harrier this afternoon when a merlin appeared from nowhere, in hot pursuit of a meadow pipit. The harrier followed it and so, within the space of 5 seconds, we were watching both birds over the bonnet of the car parked next to us. Mind blowing.
And to you and Sienna.
Merry Christmas one and all. Nice present from Santa in the form of a cracking male Eastern Black Redstart at Sheringham. Seen down to a few feet, and also a car tick! Also peregrine, kingfisher, Jack snipe, turnstone, 20 avocets, 25 black tailed godwits, a guillemot and 12 gannets at Cley.
Highlight at Cley this morning was a woodcock in-off the sea, pursued by a marsh harrier. Supporting cast included a very obliging jack snipe and kingfisher, plus three stonechats. A peregrine beat the place up in full attack mode, before flying off and spooking 2000 golden plovers over Blakeney.
Sometimes you forget just how small crests are. At Titchwell this morning, we had a flock of 6+ goldcrests and 2+ firecrests straight out their roost, fossicking around 2-3 feet in front of us. They are seriously tiny. Magical experience.
I've not heard what next year's dates are yet. I'll ask for you. There have been complaints that it's too expensive, but when you consider the cost of a cottage, plus cooking your own food/eating out every night, there's not a lot in it. Plus you get all guiding for free, unlike eg Heatherlea.
As you love the Tudors, but slightly earlier in time (Henry 8 rather than Liz), the best historical novels I have ever read are the Shardlake books by CJ Sansom. A crookback lawyer gets involved in court politics and crime solving. Suggest reading them in sequence.
I don't know if you like historical crime fiction, but i can recommend Revenger by Rory Clements, which features 2 of your 3 guests. Starring intelligencer John Shakespeare, brother of Will, working undercover for Cecil, this is one of a series of award winning titles.
You're right. I love watching male merlins take on goldies too.
Yes, my personal highlight. Never even dreamed about that one.
Just returned from leading a birding trip in Speyside. Highlights included a hen harrier mobbing a sea eagle, ring-necked duck, green-winged teal, 3 little gulls, flocks of 60 purple sandpipers and 20 bullfinches, plus all the usual suspects. As usual on these trips, dipped dipper 🤬
Saw my first house festooned with Christmas decorations today, at the same time as they were letting off bonfire fireworks. Come on guys, make your minds up. FYI, xmas decorations should not go up before Xmas eve. 🤣🤣🤣
A great day with a dusky warbler, 2 yellow-browed warblers, 3 crossbills, and a large passage of chaffinches, bramblings and redwings at Walsey Hills, a barred warbler, another ybw, and 6 glossy ibises at Blakeney, and a pomarine skua with full spoons and a red-breasted merganser at Cley
It has sort of worked. Just need to tweak a load of settings now, as the reinstalled app behaves nothing like the original. Ho hum. No doubt you will hear all about it on Sunday. If that's not a very good reason to stay away, I don't know what is.
Any techies out there? My emails will not download to Outlook. I can get them on my phone, or on my BT Web page, but not where I want them. Any ideas? Am currently trying to reinstall Outlook. Thanks in advance.
No, then I got home to discover that you wanted another list of random numbers from me...
Brilliant evening @rspbtitchwellsnett.bsky.social -red-necked phalarope, glossy ibis, pectoral, wood and curlew sandpipers, 4 little stints, greenshank, spotted redshank, 35 spoonbills, 5 cattle egrets, great white egret, 30+ dunlin, golden plovers, and 1,000+ starlings
Highlights at Cley this morning included a male crossbill that dropped in for 2 seconds, an influx of snipe, a curlew sandpiper, wheatear, and an early flyover pink-footed goose. There were good numbers of juvenile chiffchaffs and willow warblers for comparison purposes.
If you are in the area tomorrow, and fancy a bit of a laugh, I am giving a talk entitled 'Molotovs and Merlins', a light-hearted look at the trials and tribulations of writing a 'Where to Watch Guide'. The Assembly Rooms in Swaffham at 7.30pm. £4 for non-members.
I suppose if you live in a landlocked county and have never seen one, or a picture of one before...
I once heard someone from Birmingham describe one as a magpie eating a carrot!
I had enough trouble getting past autocorrect's artic skewer. I really hate the 'new' names. It will be interesting to see how many go into popular usage. While you're there, can you please remind me of the deadline for the book article?
Brilliant morning at Cley. Osprey low over our heads. Wood sandpiper and water rail right in front of us. Spotted redshank, raven, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gulls, 5 green sandpipers, 16 ruff, 2 dunlin, 34 curlews, Sandwich tern, 3 spoonbills, all 3 egrets etc. Plus a clouded yellow butterfly
Oh the irony. I had a bad headache and went to take a couple of ibuprofen. Managed to slice my finger open on the plastic packaging as I popped the tablets out. #worstpapercutever
No, I'm afraid that it was raw, and no, the book wasn't Animal Farm🤣🤣🤣
And, at the other end of the spectrum, I once found a slice of bacon, being used as a bookmark in a library book that I had just borrowed.
A gentle seawatch at Cley this morning, but it did produce my first two arctic skuas and manx shearwaters of the year. Autocorrect wrote seawater, arctic squash, and many shearwaters. Ho hum.
When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide, But they still go for peanuts when coated in cyanide...
