Just back after Migfest 2025: brilliant vis mig, super tame Red-necked Phal, Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Osprey and more, engaging lectures and socialising 🍺, but above all a friendly, welcoming event superbly run. Thankyou so much to the team at @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social (next year we’ll win the quiz 😉)

2 Cattle Egrets flew in to roost on east side of island at Whitlingham CP tonight (with 3 Little Egrets). A Whitlingham tick for me, only taken 30 years! Usual excuses for the photography - distant, light poor, digi-scoping ability worse etc

Well, autumns here. Time of Yellow-brows, rarities, checking the forecast hourly and…..the start of Pied Wagtail roost counts. To start an occasional series of photos of random concrete abominations here’s Tesco’s, Harford Bridges, Norwich where 24 Pied Wagtail roosted on Sunday. You’re welcome! 😉

Happisburgh Obs: migrant Sedge Warbler, 6 Whitethroat, 6 Stonechat & GS Woodpecker (dispersing bird). Most notable sighting 11 Mute Swans north offshore. Also Painted Lady, Small Copper and sev Willow Emerald Damselflies in cop. Scant reward for 17,000 steps and no hoped for hirundine passage

Happisburgh today in the sunshine: first Pied Fly of the autumn (Blacksmiths Lane), Whimbrel, juv Marsh Harrier and trickle of Swallows north, Yellow Wag south, Lesser Whitethroat, 200+ Med Gulls, Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Lovely to be back!

For looks, the Caspian Tern was over-shadowed by this gorgeous adult Med Gull however!

A gentle trundle up to Cley on Sunday afternoon was well timed for the Caspian Tern that’s seemingly commuting to the Wensum Valley to fish

A fresh version of the Rare birds in Western Palearctic is live on tony-rinaud.shinyapps.io/WP_rare_birds/! New sightings are coming from Syria, Poland and Luxemburg. Many thanks for the respective members for their help! #Rstats #Shiny #RareBirds #WPBirding #MEGA @bio-data.bsky.social

Crazy scenes between Walcott and Happisburgh this week when the Sand Martin colony survey yielded c605 AONs. Last year we counted ‘just’ c265 AONs although birds move depending on the suitability of the dynamic cliffs

John Crossland, the owner of the carpark at Thornwick Cafe opened it free of charge yesterday for the Song Sparrow twitch when there is normally a fee. For everyone who came, please consider donating to John's JustGiving page supporting Alzheimer's Research UK. www.justgiving.com/fundraising/...

Still present 18.10 at least (& 2 Pale-bellied Brent) #spurnbirds

Black Brant & 1 Pale-bellied Brent Goose with c270 Dark-bellied Brent Geese - still Easington Straight, Kilnsea #spurnbirds

Purple Sandpiper & 2 Spoonbills - Beacon Ponds, Kilnsea #spurnbirds

Temmincks Stint still at Kilnsea wetlands 08.15 #spurnbirds

A very pleasant evening with the most intensely spotted Spotted Sandpiper I’ve seen in the UK showing amazingly well at Grafham Water dam (it had been elusive in waterside willows for 3hrs before we arrived!)

Early spring is a productive time for presumably north or east bound New World wildfowl in Norfolk but they often don’t stay long so a quick trip to Kelling Water meadows to see this drake American Wigeon this evening was too tempting….

A video of the aforementioned Hoopoe at Winterton (sorry for the shake, it was very windy!)

Finally Norfolk has got involved in the Hoopoe influx and this bird at Winterton Dunes is flighty but very obliging with care 😍

Happisburgh: patch gold with an Avocet on the beach briefly then south! Also fem Black Redstart, 9 Wheatear, 1 White Wagtail, 7 Redwing, 4 Whimbrel & 1 Barwit south, c200 Sand Martin, 2 Red Kite north. 2 ad/s Med Gulls & c35 Common Gulls north. Just 17,000 steps!

Whitlingham tonight: Reed Warbler, c25 Sand Martin, 9 Redwing, 2 Marsh Tit, 12 Cormorant AONs, 3+ Grey Heron AONs, 1 Pochard, 146 Tufted Duck (split Whit/Thorpe)

As spring starts to get going (& not a moment too soon!) moth catches are getting more varied - two of my favourites at this time are Brindled Beauty and Oak Beauty 😍

Whitlingham CP, Norwich late on: GW Egret & 7 Little Egrets roosted on the island, 179 Tufties (incl the pink billed male), 1 Pochard, 3 Shoveler, 5 Little Grebe. 97 Redwings to roost, Woodcock at dusk

A quality early spring day at Happisburgh Obs. Vis mig 05.55-08.25 gave 1060 Starling, 409 Chaffinch, 128 Siskin & 1 Sand Martin all south. Later a 2cy Glaucous Gull and a 2cy Caspian Gull drifted north & 4 Wheatear, 225 Golden Plover & White Wagtail. Well worth the 3.50am alarm & 17000 steps!

With the pause button apparently about to be pressed on spring in Norfolk, c310 Pied Wagtails still roosting at Sainsburys, Longwater Lane, Costessey tonight (1 less than attempted to, after a successful kill from the regular male Sparrowhawk!)

Caister-on-Sea dunes 06.30-08.30: a light southerly movement of Chaffinches and Siskins but most invisible in the clear skies. Woodlark and 2 Reed Buntings the highlights along with a beautiful sunrise. Worth the 4.45am alarm after 4hrs sleep? Debatable!

Finally nice to moth trap again with genuine optimism after a few weeks of the almost expected blanks here in south Norwich. First moth of the year was this Small Brindled Beauty which is new for the garden so the optimism wasn’t misplaced for once! (Pale Brindled Beauty for comparison)

Wow, simply wow!

Just had confirmation this yellow-ringed Mute Swan at Whitlingham CP on 29th Jan was Thetford ringed (it was still in Thetford on 6th Jan) - at 30+ miles the furthest movement of any of the Swans they’ve ringed there and therefore about exciting as Mute Swans get!

Today at Happisburgh was best described as monochrome! Speculative seawatch 08.00-11.30⁩: drake RB Merganser north, 1 Bonxie, 4 Kittiwake & 1 Fulmar all south. Also 202 RT Diver, 326 Gannet, 30 large Auks, 1 Eider. Surprisingly busy, unsurprisingly freezing cold!

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If you’ve ever wondered what a very grumpy, doubtless freezing cold, Cattle Egret looks like at extreme range (50x scope zoom, 5x IPhone zoom) when taken by a poor photographer in the glare…..wonder no more! (Opposite Wheatfen NR today with Belted Galloway cattle)

Whitlingham CP: redhead Goosander, drake Goldeneye, drake Tuftie x Pochard, 17+ Shoveler, 1 Wigeon, 20+ Pochard, 2 GW Egret. Not the place to be at the moment if you don’t like crowds!

c200 Pied Wagtails arrived to roost at Sainsburys, Longwater Lane, Norwich despite the continual attention of my nemesis, this tame male Sparrowhawk (Iphone photo). Love that birding can take you to such contrasting places on consecutive days!

For anyone who may need these over Xmas…just in case

Without a deluge of options Happisburgh Cliffs 08.50-11.50: 1 GN Diver south, 1 Fulmar north (plus 185 RT Diver, 57 large Auks, 26 Gannet, 19 Common Scoter, 40 Wigeon, 2 DB Brent Goose)

Sometimes good to be reminded how beautiful some of the lesser known buildings in Norwich are 😍 particularly when you are doing your biennial Feral Pigeon population count 😍😍

Our AGM will be on Friday 24th January and will be followed by the next of our Winter talks - Stuart Newson on the BTO Acoustic Pipeline. Stuart's enthusiasm for bioacoustics makes this one not to miss! @btobirds.bsky.social

This female Blackcap remains omnipresent in my south Norwich garden all day every day (usual excuses - photo through glass window, photographer incompetence etc 😊)

This female Scaup at Swanton Morley GP on Sunday was a nice diversion in a winter with very few so far

This juvenile Glaucous Gull has been on a dead seal pup between Holme & Old Hunstanton for almost a week and shows very well. Beautifully fresh and more coarsely marked than many I’ve seen, probably because most I see are later in the winter

The most surprising sighting at Whitlingham was a Grey Squirrel unconcernedly swimming c100m to the island, chaperoned (but not attacked) by 3 Coot! Seemed weird given we are not short of mature woodland without the hassle!

Whitlingham CP: very little change: drake Goldeneye, 27 Pochard, 293 Tufties (incl pink-billed male), 2 Wigeon, 8+ Shoveler, 13 Little Grebe, 2 GW Egret, 1 Little Egret & 16 Siskin

c455 Pied Wagtails roosted at Norwich Bus Station last night which gives me the opportunity for another in my occasional series of random photos of urban concrete! 😊

Whitlingham CP this morning: 4 Goldeneye (1 drake), 26 Pochard, 340 Tufties (incl the regular pink-billed drake), 12 Shoveler, 152 Gadwall, 15 Little Grebe, GW Egret, 4 Little Egret, Grey Wag

Moths may be petering out for the year, but fortunately one of favourites is still on the wing - I give you the under-rated fluff ball December Moth

Coming up on Wednesday...

Happisburgh Cliffs 08.15-11.15: 252 RT Diver, 1 Little Gull, 3 Eider, 3 Gadwall, 1 Pintail, 95 Teal, 152 Common Scoter, 9 Gannet, 10 DB Brent Goose. It was tough out there…..

A drop in the temperature and a plentiful supply of apples and immediately 2 Blackcaps regular in my south Norwich garden

Two vis mig sessions over my suburban south Norwich garden show the contrast which makes it second only to seawatching in unpredictability: Thus 21st - highlights 3 Goosander & 1 Ring-necked Parakeet amongst 150 birds Fri 22nd - highlights 1 Fieldfare amongst 10 birds! Gave it a miss today !

Vis Mig over Norwich NR1 has tailed off lately as we reach the end of Autumn so a chunky Hawfinch south this morning was a pleasant surprise. Also an increase in thrushes with 71 Redwing, 7 Fieldfare and 6 Blackbird plus a single Common Snipe presumably all responding to the drop in temperature