HenryFrost

@theamelia__ And a woman’s face

@theamelia__ HOPE

@DLangstonBirder @Lincsbirding Daniel can you contact me seawatcheruk@icloud.com to discuss heinei/canus ID

Distinctive 1w Russian Common Gull (heinei) candidate at Frieston Res this aft, seemed to tick all the boxes. @Lincsbirding

@salvagaviotas @LouthBirdNews Hi - can you email me at seawatcheruk@icloud.com. Your Gull is Baltic and I need to tell you why.

@daxie_birder I had to read this twice. That Bird Ringing should be used to entice/attract paying punters to Mannington Hall is truly abhorrent. I wonder what the BTO think of it? A new chapter needed in the Ringers Manual - “reasons to ring birds other than scientific ones” Oh dear😤

Extra date added don’t miss out!

@Vaasetter @LinnetinCley A pair of 2nd summer Meds bred at RSPB Lodmoor (2021) in the middle of an island crammed with breeding Common Terns and B-h Gulls, and hatched 2 chicks 1 of which successfully fledged.

An alternate take or two of the noisy 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull on the Brackish Pool tonight.

@NWTCleyCentre A Bittern boomed to the west of East Bank this evening. 1 was also seen in flight earlier in the day. Fingers crossed for breeding again.

@CleyBirds They’ve been pretty impressive on the Reserve as well this week. Well it is March!

Well, it wouldn't be March without a dashing Hare - a species that's allowed to do well on the farmland around here.

@Vaasetter There were about 1200 to go through yesterday in the Eye Field and on North Pool. I noticed several “palish” individuals but as I don’t do plumage variations/hybrids I just enjoyed the proper Pale-bellied.

Post Storky entertainment, attention switched to the reserve & the large flock of Brents in the Eye Field. This family group stood out ~ a ♂️ DBB paired with a dingy ♀️PBB or PBB x DBB. At least three accompanying youngsters, one at definitely at the hrota end of the scale.

@Vaasetter Whereas this is undoubtedly a sinensis ( female from bill size) a caveat should be put in that P. carbo carbo can be equally as “white headed” as this individual.

As the rain continued to fall, this striking sinesis Cormorant was chillin' out on the wreck... Underrated.

@walseywarden Hi Emma - the feeders were almost running on empty this morning so I filled them all up to their brims. Not much left in the sunflower seed bin either. Few Blackbirds around. Merry Christmas.

I love them 🥰

@Vaasetter I’ve been counting a lot of Brent’s and have Juv % in excess of 20% with many families with 4 Juvs. Best year for a long time.

A whizz around the reserve in the brisk easterly was followed by a search in the valley for yesterday's sizeable Brent flock. Kind of knew the field to check first & there they were, 700 DBBs (lovely number of youngsters) & a lone Pale-bellied Brant, hiding itself in the flock.

@sean_nixon Are you viewing from the Hide Sean?

Adult Caspian gulls and a 3cy bird with ad YLG, Minsmere

@Vaasetter @saloplarus Great collage. Not too sure about the bottom LBBG type or the top bird with a Common Gull head shape. The middle 2 are more like it but the right hand bird has remarkably advanced scap and covert moult. Both with black bills still. Thanks for posting.

A compare & contrast with four 1w Caspian Gull (types) from the last couple of weeks at Cley, all out on Pat's Pool. A fascianting quartet (if you like that sort of thing 🙂). At least one of these is the real deal 👌🏻 Maybe they all are 🤔 @saloplarus

@Vaasetter Agree. Looks like some YLG in there to me.

As an addendum to Gullgate ~ here are the two most striking gulls from a couple of nights ago. Knowing how gulls are ringed in Germany, I still find it a struggle to see how the top bird is a pure cachinnans. The bottom individual however, now that's the real deal. #corkerofacach

@Vaasetter We used to hang around with RAR on the East Bank quite a bit. He was always free with ID advice and help plus we got to know what was about😊😊It was usually myself and the, now famous, Prof Stuart Pimm. How time flies and long ago memories become clearer.

@HenryFfrost What a fortuitous post ~ very happy it gave you a walk down memory lane too. Must have been a terrific sight & sound, I've never come anywhere close to a flock that size in Norfolk in my near 33 years living here.

Another magical trip down memory lane thanks to the kindness & generous spirit of @Yarmouthbirder. Peter has kindly leant me another RAR diary, this one from 1965. I'll post some of the famous fall pages soon (they are amazing!), but here's an excerpt for this time 57 years ago.

@Vaasetter I remember those Waxwings so well. My first encounter with the species as a 17 year old. We always hitched over to Cley and had to walk everywhere - how many steps did we do😲Every time I go through Wiveton I think of the Waxwings😊😊. Thanks for the memory jolt.

I was particularly struck by the reference to the mega flock of Bramblings at Barsham ~ 10,000 strong! That came with an arrival of Waxwing locally (300 in Wiveton must have been quite the spectacle) & I'd love to have seen an RAR sketch of the possible exilpes Arctic Redpoll...

@CleyBirds I did what I could to improve the situation on Wednesday moving it all off to the side and covering with twigs😤 Didn’t have gloves or plastic bag.

Walsey Hills Toilet, again. FFS People!

@Vaasetter @LinnetinCley That brings back the memories and drifts away the cobwebs. As a 15yr old I went with Barrie and Andy Sykes ( R.I.P) to see it at Butlins Ingoldmells. My first Twitch😊.

...in 1989, I worked for the Lincs. Wildlife Trust & Barrie Wilkinson was their head of reserves. Barrie was the person at Gibraltar Point that a holidaying Fred contacted when he found the Rufous Warbler nearly 60 years ago. Barrie went along to see it ~ his photo is below. 3/

After our wander to the heath, we headed out from home to Weybourne to see a quite superb Striped Hawk-moth, thanks to long-time birdwatching stalwart of the Camp & surrounding area, Fred Lambert. It didn't take long for our conversation to turn from moths to bird history... 1/