Mike Edgecombe

Travellers have brazenly started turning a protected 4-acre wildlife haven into a caravan site in Willows Green near Felsted, Essex, an army of around 30 vehicles and diggers descended under cover of darkness on Friday night using floodlights and generators, they ripped up vegetation, bulldozed protected habitats for great-crested newts, destroyed an ancient hedgerow and filled in a ditch with rubble to create a new access road, all of this happened just hours after Uttlesford District Council closed its doors for the entire three-day Bank Holiday weekend, locals woke up to the shocking devastation and say the council had been warned but took no pre-emptive action, by the time offices reopen on Tuesday the field could already be a fully fledged caravan park, residents are furious at the total failure to protect the pristine countryside and rare wildlife including albino fallow deer,

Ross’s Gull are globally very difficult to see. A high Arctic species that just occasionally visits our shores and this the first I’ve seen in Norfolk for 42 years. A lovely Ist winter bird at Thornham today

@andysbutler Often seen them higher up but never before at Samoëns 1600. Clearly this late winter spell having an influence

Heavy snow yesterday brought 3 Alpine Accentor in to the Samöens 1600 resort 🇫🇷

@LewisStuff Forgotten about that one!! Slightly before my time

@EdgecombeM RECORD 1). 1859 Devon Exmouth, adult, shot, late May or early June, now at Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter

A dash this morning to Lowestoft for what would have been Britains first ever Pallas's Gull. Alas it wasn't one but nice to catch up with the overwintering Hume's Warbler.

Managed to catch up with this nice Red-flanked Bluetail that had been found only a few miles from home. Once an extremely rare vagrant to the UK but over the last few decades a more regular bird due to westward expansion of its breeding range. Still a crowd pleasing bird

After a 2 year absence it was nice to record this Little Owl in the garden staking out our feeders. Perched like this reminded me of another yellow eyed beauty in Shetland a few years back!!

What a beauty at Sheringham beach. Not the normal Christmas redbreast but a lovely Eastern Black Redstart

@keelebirder I had a 4 hour snowshoe trek to see mine but worth all the effort. Such a stunning bird.

Our last full day in Patagonia, which we had set aside to hike up Mount Tarn. It did not disappoint (although my left knee would disagree), with stunning views of White-bellied Seedsnipe, by far the hardest Seedsnipe to see and which completes the family (of 4) for us.

@latterash @RupertLowe10 @JulianFerrier I’m not surprised you feel like that Ashley. A man who has supported the business of dentistry so well for decades, helping many thousands of small dental businesses become more successful. Small businesses that are the linchpin of our economy-and this is how she thanks you!!

@RupertLowe10 @JulianFerrier love this post brilliant. I have been a business owner for 33 years I have never been so pissed off.

Reeves dumps the big pile of shite on the doorstep of every small business in Britain, then just forgets about it and moves on with her life. Salary safe, job safe. No concerns about paying the bills in the Reeves household, or indeed any of the civil servants who devised this skip fire of a budget. They don’t care. They don’t understand, but more important they just don’t care. Straight out of university, work for some anonymous Labour MP, maybe a think tank or a charity if we’re feeling adventurous. Then straight into life as a backbench MP or some random civil servant in the Treasury. How many have run a business? Created wealth? Generated jobs? Done anything?! SOD ALL. It’s easy looking at the spreadsheets. Thinking oh a dividend rate rise here, or freezing that threshold - that’ll cover the numbers needed to hike up welfare. There are VERY real world consequences to all of these decisions. Businesses are still reeling from the NI changes last year. And I mean reeling. Not enormous businesses had to find £300k? Possibly more to cover these rises? What happens then, Rachel? Costs get passed on. Contracts stall. Hiring cancelled. Investment paused. It grinds the economy to a halt. Businesses stop spending money. Redundancies. OBVIOUSLY. How can they not understand this? Honestly? I cannot fathom the sheer vastness of their incompetence. All of this to fund those who choose not to work. Leaves a real sour taste in the mouth, doesn’t it? Running a business is hard work, bloody hard work. It doesn’t just happen, and it doesn’t just work. It takes years of long days and sleepless nights. All that, with lots and lots of risk. There is no backup or a safety net. It works, or it doesn’t work. It’s brutal. I’m sorry to say that the vast majority of my MP colleagues simply do not understand that. It is overwhelmingly depressing. The ONLY way to get the economy firing is to reduce tax, reduce the size of the state and let businesses do what they do best - make money. And actually, if you let them keep more of it? They’ll do more. Work more. Pay more tax. THAT is how you grow the economy. That is the ONLY way.

@MikeSmi06339415 Exactly!

@EdgecombeM Hard to think back to the days of film when we pushed Fuji Sensia slide film 1 stop from ISO 200 to ISO 300 thinking this was fast…….

I’ve heard lots of complaints about the noisy images taken by the Canon R5ii but I certainly find it incredible in low light. This Firecrest at Titchwell is a perfectly usable image despite 51,200ISO

@wildnorfolk Never used canon’s DPP. Do you recommend? Found it quite clunky to use. Be interested in your thoughts on editing

@EdgecombeM And processing with Canons own software will make it pop!

@LewisStuff DXO pure raw and then edited in Lightroom but not much

@EdgecombeM Hi Mike, have you applied De-noise software to that? Cheers

A rewarding visit to Holme where this Hume’s Warbler showed low enough in the brambles to enable me to capture the subtle plumage of yet another Asian vagrant from the east.

The diminutive Pallas’s Warbler is a classic November delight and thanks to ⁦@Oriole_Ashley⁩ for finding this one at Wells woods this afternoon

The north east Norfolk coast has attracted a few Pallid Swifts over the years and it was good to catch up with this superbly fresh individual with @Vaasetter

Despite the debacle of road closures delaying our arrival at Hollesley heath Ginnie and I enjoyed lovely views of this vagrant 1st winter Brown Shrike in Suffolk today

@DEBALMER Just shows that the most evocative and story telling photo does not have to have the bird fully in the frame! Beautiful indeed!

Two superb Sabine's Gulls at Pendeen today, an adult and juvenile, both passed through inside the rocks. Stunning views and such a thrill to watch.

@AllanConlin Nice on Al. Love a bit of luck like that- always nice!

Wow !!! EYE BROWED THRUSH.🤩 Lucky to be stood in right spot with the original finder when this cracker dropped down in front of us. 32 years of EBT pain vanished in an instant. #Scillymagic get in.!!!!💥💥💥