19th-25th December

Sunday 25th - a family Christmas day walk around the village in the afternoon resulted in not one but two Shotesham ticks in the space of less than a minute! As we walked along Wash Lane, a male Goosander flew west overhead, but this was eclipsed soon after as a ringtail Hen Harrier crossed the lane in front of us. We later also saw it hunting between Market Lane and the Little Wood. Fantastic Christmas treat - 114 species for the village now. Also of note were a Little Egret, lots of Fieldfares (and a few Redwing), close views of a Marsh Tit in the Wash Lane house garden, and some rather early flowering Lesser Celandine by the stream between Stubbs Green and the Market Lane ford.

Saturday 24th - went to Horsey with the boys to see the Grey Seal colony. Seemed to have expanded further this year, with pups as far north as by the Gap car park - a chalked up sign said 320 pups so far. Birds in the area included 23 Cranes in flight over Horsey Mere, 2 Goosanders flying north, a close-in first-winter Kittiwake and a distant skua which was presumably most likely a Pom, although I couldn't rule Arctic out on the views obtained.

Friday 23rd - my final chance at a walk at the Nunnery Lakes this year. No sign of any hoped-for Smew or Waxwing, but I did finally see the young male Goldeneye that had been around a while. A Buzzard with some pale-based uppertail feathers caused only momentary excitement.

Thursday 22nd - after a period of grotty cold weather, the warm sunshine today inspired Mistle Thrush and Goldcrest to start singing at the Nunnery.

Always nice to see a "real" duck at the Nunnery Lakes

Studies in relaxation, Horsey

GBB and Grey Seal, Horsey

12th-18th December 2011

Sunday 18th - Did the WeBS count at Whitlingham in the morning. Counts included Water Rail, 46 Pochard, 126 Teal, 54 Cormorants and a female Red-crested Pochard on Thorpe Broad. In the afternoon, went to do the harrier roost survey again at Sutton Fen; rather cold today, with driving snow at times. At least five Marsh Harriers seen, with at least two of them roosting in the reedbeds here. Also Water Rails, Snipe, Cetti's, Tawny Owl but no Hen Harriers again and still a lack of Bittern sightings, which is becoming a little surprising.

Saturday 17th - no birding today, but a notable sighting at the ski slope where Gimli (aka Duncan) was spotted coming down the slope...

Wednesday 14th - No time to go out at lunch, but a welcome office tick as two Little Egrets flew past the window at dusk, my 57th species from the window!

Tuesday 13th - Quick walk down the lakes revealed three Goosanders on D lake.

The one and only skiing dwarf

5th-11th December 2011

Rather a quiet week, daily highlights now given in reverse order (to go with the flow of the blog posts):

Sunday 11th - seeing as we hadn't been out much recently, we had a family walk today. Drove to Thetford station and then got the train (or bus, as it turned out) to Brandon. We then walked back through the forest. Bit rainy at first, and felt like we were getting a bit lost towards the end, but a good hike all the same. Nothing outstanding seen but a few Crossbills over at Santon. Someone else had reported a Great Grey Shrike during the day, but we didn't chance upon it unfortunately.

Wednesday 7th - Nunnery Lakes at lunchtime, with Water Rail and Little Grebe of note

Monday 5th - another blank in my monthly search for the Stoke Holy Cross puffballs in the morning.

28th November - 4th December 2011

Monday 28th - A flock of about 200 Lapwings over the A11 at Roudham in the morning - used to be regular in winter here but rather scarce recently. Two Crossbills heard (and seen) flying over from the office window.

Tuesday 29th - I'd taken the day off to go Christmas (and birthday, in fact) shopping, but my usual hopeless shopping skills were honed to a fine level of efficiency with news of a Semipalmated Sandpiper showing at Cley. A few hours later, I was peering out of the Daukes Hide. I quickly found an obvious stint amongst the Dunlin flock on Simmonds scrape, but Phil Heath exclaimed that it couldn't be the Semi-p, given the length of the bill, and that it must be the Little Stint that had been reported earlier. I kept looking therefore, and soon found a wader, smaller than the Dunlin (if not massively so) and with a notably short bill and dumpy back end (v short primary projection). Thinking this must be the bird, I then watched it carefully for over an hour, with the other stint occasionally wandering through my scope. Later on, I moved to the right-hand hide and watched both birds on Pat's Pool (where a Green-winged Teal was also present), but as the evening drew in, another birder explained my mistake, which was then confirmed by Richard Millington. In fact, the stint was the "Semipalmated", albeit unusually long-billed, and the bird I'd been watching was in fact still not identified by Richard or others. Options revolved around hybrids and "runt Dunlin"; John Marchant later suggested arctica Dunlin? So, I returned home, with a tick under my belt, but a lingering sense of annoyance about the afternoon.

Wednesday 30th - Nunnery Lakes at lunchtime was enlivened by a photogenic Little Egret by the hide, and one of those orange-winged flies on the kissing gate, showing how mild it had remained. During the day, however, doubts were beginning to spread that the Cley Semi-p might in fact be a Western. Hmm.

Thursday 1st - I woke early, and as I felt quite awake, decided to take the alternative route from home to work, i.e. the one that went through Cley. I was in the hide at first light, and over the next two hours saw the Western Sandpiper (as seems to be the popular opinion at time of writing!) reasonably well at times, although mostly asleep and distant. The "other wader" was only seen briefly and distantly, and other birds included the Green-winged Teal and two Water Pipits. I'm also pretty sure I heard a Sandwich Tern early on, as a load of gulls left Simmonds Scrape at dawn, but I couldn't get onto it. I couldn't add much to the Semi-p/Western debate with the views I was getting however, so at 9 am I headed off to Thetford (making up my hours in the evening - for any colleagues reading!)

Friday 2nd - no sightings of note, but the drive to Swanwick in the afternoon was notable for the lack of kites along the A14 in Northants.

Saturday 3rd - all day at BTO conference in Swanwick.

Sunday 4th - one Red Kite seen near Kettering on the way home.

The "other wader" at Cley - the one off to the left. Still to be identified.

One of those orange-winged flies, Nunnery Lakes

Little Egret, making the Nunnery Lakes look almost exciting

21st-27th November 2011

Wednesday 23rd - Nunnery Lakes lunchtime walk produced a "seen" Water Rail by the confluence of the river and the cut channel, our regular Aythya hybrid of New Zealand Scaup like appearance, three Wigeon, a Little Egret and my first pair of Goosander here this winter.

Friday 25th - No Cranes from the train across the fens again, but several hundred wild swans at the Ouse Washes as usual too far to differentiate.

Saturday 26th - With my parents down for the weekend, I took Dad to Buckenham and Cantley on a wild goose chase. Only literally though, as we did (after some searching) eventually convince ourselves of a small flock of very distant Bean Geese, as well as about 70 White-fronts and 300 Pinks. As well as the other usual species here, the highlight was a fantastic female or immature Merlin, which was amazingly my first since 2008 - I really must get out more. Good views of it perched on the fence posts, at a safe distance from the Peregrines, and chasing Linnets. Not close enough really for photography unfortunately. In the afternoon, after the boys had done their skiing we walked around Whitlingham where a single adult Yellow-legged Gull was present.

Sunday 27th - Taxiing in the morning, and a walk around the village in the afternoon was notable only for a pair of Egyptian Geese in the field by Rogers Lane.

New Zealand Scaup type hybrid at the Nunnery Lakes with Tufties.

Merlin at Buckenham, wishing it was a larger predator...