David Stubbs

@Crane_Spotter Ditto. First ones here in West Raynham today. Mine were atop a larch tree. No crossbills here and redpolls very occasional. But did have a surprise in form of a female Goldeneye on Raynham Lake. Most likely a refugee from Pensthorpe

First Fieldfare of the Autumn this morning at misty Winterfold, chattering from top of a Scots Pine. Also 17 Crossbill and two Redpoll

@BirdingGardener @Crane_Spotter That's amazing Wes. Have we ever had anything else from the tower to top that?

Patch gold at Leith Hill Tower this morning with @Crane_Spotter when I picked up a fast moving flock of 8 GLOSSY IBIS flying in from East before turning WNW over Ranmore. Other notables 2 Ring Ousel 7 Hawfinch and 21 Crossbill.

@Crane_Spotter Still some active nests here in West Raynham but the screaming mob have largely moved on. Did have a group of 13 over yesterday evening. Overall seemed a good year and an excellent one for house martins here. Feeling a seasonal change in the air now

My local Swifts sadly mostly went nine days ago - around two weeks earlier than usual. Don’t know if that means they had a good breeding season or not

Frog spawn in our garden pond later than usual this year @PondDip. First batch seen on 12 March. West Raynham, near Fakenham, Norfolk

@philespin @BBCRadio4 I’m going with deaf 😊 but possibly garbled reporting too. I read that the report said overall people alone at Xmas more than doubled from 5% 50yrs ago to 11% now, but among young adults the figures have rocketed from 1% to 11%, which I make to be an 11-fold increase

Getting over a nasty dose of flu and popped out to do a VP. Listened to @BBCRadio4 11.00 News en route. I heard people alone at Xmas 50 years ago was 1 in 9. This year doubled to 1 in 20. Am I deaf? Mentally incompetent? or listening to new depths of imbecility being plumbed?

The Sunday bid list 📌 Create a centre of conservation excellence in Norfolk, or work on the regeneration of a County Durham harbourside. ➡️ Explore the latest architecture contracts and competitions from across the industry: ow.ly/tTXc50UqOcH

Done the migration thing! New beginnings at @stubbsy59.bsky.social. Find me there. Meanwhile, here's a nice pic of Raynham Lake at sunset recently

@philespin @Thewryneck @Natures_Voice If admins add value then proper pay rates ok. Doesn’t have to be vocational but helps if they care. If not, this is problematic. Either way, reserve staff should be better rewarded. Their knowledge and skills are always too undervalued

@Thewryneck Understandable if this pay was for top reserve managers who deliver for members but it isn’t. The admins should be paid no more than top reserve staff. @Natures_Voice is a charity ( which I support) the people at Sandy should be recruited for a vocational calling not high pay.

Loadsamoney! RSPB reveals huge increase in number of high-earning staff. thewryneck.blogspot.com

Got to see the comet this evening. Thought my chance had gone but a friend called and it was faintly visible, higher in the western sky than I had expected. Good view with binoculars. Then, this happened: The SpaceX Starling satellites passed right overhead. So weird...

@BirdingGardener Does look quite wheatear-like in pic. Nothing in it suggests flycatcher to me, but hard to say just from static image. Either way it seems like you had an amazing few hours even by Capel’s already high standards

Decent 4 hrs from garden today. Highlight WTE with 22 Buzzard that went SW. Mipits 145 swallow 30 House Martin 470. Passerine in photo flew through high with a group of mipits and through bins thought looked poss pied fly jizz -in only photo more wheatear like - any thoughts ??

@AatifNawaz Better still if gambling logo photoshopped out.

One of the best cricket photos you'll see all year...

One of those rarest of things this year; just seen a small tortoiseshell butterfly, West Raynham, Norfolk @BC_Norfolk @MatthewOates76 @themarshtit

@MatthewOates76 Plenty of whites in Norfolk too and saw painted lady today feeding on our asters. A few red admirals too

Large & Small Whites seem to be at peak around here now, 4 weeks late. And feeding on Red Valerian 2nd flush flowers (I saw no butts at all on the 1st flush in June). Odd year...

Lovely evening at Cley East Bank. Saw a sparrowhawk skimming low along the base of the bank and landing within a few feet of a couple of birders scanning the reedbeds. It then flew up, and hawked low across the reeds. Nobody else noticed it. How often must that happen to me?

Since its restoration, Raynham Lake has attracted a good variety of birds this year: garganey (not seen by me), dunlin and avocet the most unusual. Today was fairly quiet, but 4 shoveler, 2 wigeon, a green sandpiper and a passing flock of over 100 swallows and martins of note

As church bells finished striking 7 this morning, the greylag geese arrived at Raynham Lake from their overnight site, some 150+. But stars of today’s show were 2 greenshank, as you can hear and see on this video. Several common sandpipers present too

I've been envious of recent reports of swifts from Surrey birders (@BirdingGardener @Crane_Spotter) as our local ones left on 12 August. However, tonight, I was thrilled to see a single swift over West Raynham, among the high-flying house martins. Summer not quite extinguished

Having failed to get hold of a suitable baler, we now have a churchyard full of dry, cut hay. If anyone in Fakenham area or further afield in N Norfolk would like some free loose hay, come to St Margaret's, West Raynham and help yourself - it's good hay, no ragwort!

Unexpected delight: just flushed a TURTLE DOVE from edge of this field in West Raynham. It flew to the large ash tree on the roadside. First one locally for some while.

@archer_rs This is brilliant. As soon as you mentioned the Méhari, I was hooked. Brings back great memories of a dear friend in south of France and lots of great adventures...

So an interesting event here. I have been informed by one of my staff we have two men with metal detectors systematically working their way across one of our fields. I'm off to see what's happening.