Tuesday, 21 October 2025

20251021 Black-faced Bunting, Spurn

 

20251021 Spurn Point
As Filey Brigg haven't made to the end as yet...

20251021 Black-faced Bunting
Initially skulking in verge of track.

20251021 Black-faced Bunting
470th British Isles Lifer.
Does skull ossification effect feather zones and therefore be seen in the field?

20251021 Black-faced Bunting
The bird walked out onto the road but then a couple of Bate Diggers on electric bikes came along
and flushed the twitch and the bird...






Saturday, 18 October 2025

20251018 Yellow-browed Warbler, Stiffkey Fen

20251018 Yellow-browed Warbler
Possibly the Xmas card...

 
20251018 Yellow-browed Warbler

20251014 Long-eared Owl
Warham Greens.
Had it crash landed in the Salt Marsh or even the sea...?
Only just made it.


20251014 Tawny Owl
The finest example of a rufous bird.
Warham Greens.


Wednesday, 15 October 2025

20251015 Yellow-legged Gull & Caspian Gull to roost, Cley Marshes

 

20251015 Yellow-legged Gull
Classic adult but not the largest, a compact bird.
Cley is surely the top British site for Gull roost shots...

20251015 Caspian Gull
Classic 1st winter, rangy and large.

20251015 Caspian Gull
1st winter in fading light.
Big Blacks 95mm objective gathers light as an F4...
here at 1680mm F10.

20241015 Herring Gull
Aberrant form...?
Ticker's tweet of the day: 'Big Gulls a nightmare really.
RGM taught me long ago that the more you know the less you know.
If they're not aberrants they're hybrids.'



Monday, 13 October 2025

20251013 Barred Warbler & Blackbird, Friary Hills

 

20251013 Blackbird
Neighbours and Notables have noticed the loss of birds in their gardens.
Many have been scraggy about the head as here.
Blackbird disease, Usutu Virus?

20251013 Barred Warbler
Bottom hedge Friary Hills.

20251013 Barred Warbler



20251013 Garden Warbler
A species that often puts in an appearance in the same hedge as Barred...

20251013 Eurasian Curlew
Brackish Lagoon, Cley.


Thursday, 9 October 2025

20251009 White-throated Needletail, Filey Brigg

 

20251009 White-throated Needletail
Over Filey Bay from Filey Brigg....!!
ISO 12800.
Interesting to note the bird was re-located at Bempton Cliffs yesterday by a tour group,
as is often the case..,
due to the excessive amount of time they spend standing around in the field...

20251009 Sunset Filey Bay
'The day had been retrieved Jump Start Eric'.
Thanks to a top British twitcher who galloped by at Bempton Cliffs shouting out 'Needletail off Filey Brigg'...!!
10mins latter the bird was in the bag....
Said Twitcher also galloped up onto the Brigg..!
following 4 dips of this species. What a grip back?!

20251010 White-throated Needletail
Over Scarborough Castle from Royal Albert Park.


20251010 Wt Needletail
Translucent inner webs of remiges and rectrices.

20251009 White-throated Needletail
Way out over Bay and zooming back to Filey.
Evening sunlight catching the off white back patch here.

20251010 Wt Needletail
Upperwings shows as iridescent bluish-green.
At almost all flight angles the large white throat patch could be seen.


Tuesday, 7 October 2025

20251007 Whinchat & Whooper swan, Cley Marshes

 

20251007 Whinchat
1st winter with closed left foot, Whatling Water.

20251007 M Harrier
Yellow FL over Popes to Harrier Man...

20251007 Whooper Swan 
3 in Pats roost this even.

20251007 Peregrine
Large juvenile female frequenting the Marshes.

2025107 Whinchat
Shot supplied by GRGS and his FF Nikon.
Note weight of bird on rt leg.


Monday, 6 October 2025

Saturday, 4 October 2025

20251004 Turkestan Shrike, Dunwich Heath

 

20251004 Turkestan Shrike
Bird first seen in the roosting clump with agitated Blue Tits.
Flew out to coastguard cottages garden.  

20251004 T Shrike
Adult male.
Big black & 1.4x tele at F10, the sweet spot....
All shots at 1680mm.

20251004 T Shrike
Orangish Burnt Sienna to forehead, rump and tail, not red...
A bird of semi-deserts with tones to match.

20251004 Turkestan Shrike
Breeding range lies between the Caspian Sea and the Gobi Desert.
An area known as Turkestan...

20251004 T Shrike

20251002 Red-throated Diver
Walcott Gap.

20251002 Red-throated Diver
Walcott Gap.
The first image to really pop with the Big Black & 1.4x, at F10 1/3 of a stop from F9,
the max aperture with this converter.