The year list...

Great White Egret - Lackford

I am in an extremely elite WhatsApp birding group. A small membership, but the very best Scottish and English birders are on there. Mainly northerners, but there is an outlier in Norfolk and I am the southernmost member - residing in dirty Suffolk. As well as the crème de la crème of bird finders, Jonny Holliday is a member of the group too.

The premise of the group is birding 25km from your home, with motorised and non-motorised lists as well as a house year list. Those residing on Shetland have already had some pretty punchy species and the 100 barrier has well and truly been smashed by a few members.

Despite having eclipsed the big 100 on a New Years Day list locally in the past - the big 100 has been hard-won in 2025, taking until today! I haven't been slouching either, it is just an odd year locally. For example, there are no Goldeneye around and just a single Goosander! At the other end of the spectrum there are Great White Egrets absolutely everywhere, bordering on as common as Little Egret.   

Because presumably everyone will be utterly gripped by it, I have decided to put together some words and photos of my journey to one hundred, in the 25km from home radius, in 2025...

I started the new year at our coastal haunt of Blythburgh, which was of no use whatsoever to my 25km from the house list. The assault on 25km commenced on the morning of the 02nd January, starting as I intended to go on with a drake Mandarin at Brandon Country Park:

Mandarin - Brandon Country Park

Annoyingly, whilst I was trying to enjoy the drake Mandarin and look at the Mallards a Firecrest was calling and feeding at head height, just a few metres away:

Firecrest - Brandon Country Park

My local Little Owl was extremely obliging the first week of the year, warming itself in the afternoon sun: 

Little Owl - Bury St Edmunds

Winter thrushes fell on the 03rd with Fieldfare flaunting themselves amongst Redwing and commoner cousins:

Fieldfare - Ampton

 

Song Thrush - Hall Farm, Fornham

Wild swans were in the fields in extreme north west of my 25km near Lakenheath. As in Lakenheath village, not the RSPB reserve north of the railway line. If the Lakenheath reserve was within my 25km it wouldn't really be a challenge. I'd just waltz about the place and bathe in Crane, Bittern, Bearded Tit and all the other species that will be nigh on impossible in my 25km radius.

Whooper Swan - Lakenheath

Pursuit of new year ticks has also led me to enjoy commoner species, like the humble Wren and taken-for-granted Meadow Pipit. Class birds:

Wren - Lakenheath

Meadow Pipit - Hall Farm, Fornham

Somehow House Sparrow took until the 05th of the month to fall, they're usually outside the house and my office. Year listing makes no sense. Total chaos. 

On the 09th I was asked to assist the BTO with their bird watching and graciously attended the Nunnery Lakes reserve, ticking the absolute crap out of a Goosander. The only Goosander within my 25km! 

Goosander - Nunnery Lakes

Kingfisher - Nunnery Lakes

Whilst I was attending the reserve I noticed a neck-ringed Canada Goose:

Canada Goose - Nunnery Lakes

The bird was ringed as an adult male in July 2014, with subsequent records all in or around Thetford. However, no one had reported it for a calendar year - since 15th January 2024! No one is suggesting that I am more observant than the entire staff of the BTO. That would be ridiculous. The average life span of a Canada Goose is 6 years, so this bird going strong for well over a decade is something to celebrate. 

The 10th of the month was a bit of a red letter day with Hen Harrier, White-fronted Goose and Tree Sparrow all making it onto the year list. The harrier and goose could easily have evaded my list all year - so it it is gratifying to get them secured in this first winter period. The Tree Sparrows were a worry - as before the 10th I couldn't find any of my local colony. Just three birds came out of a communal roost with Goldfinch on the morning of the 10th:

Tree Sparrow - Hall Farm, Fornham

Green Sandpiper - Hall Farm, Fornham

Hen Harrier - Livermere

White-fronted Goose - Micklemere

White-fronted Goose - Micklemere

Grey Wagtail is usually easy work, hanging around outside my office or generally just flying about the place, almost anywhere! Not sure why it took till the 13th to materialise! 

Grey Wagtail - Livermere

The local Parakeets didn't show in the freezing fog on an earlier visit, but six of the lurid green beauts were flaunting themselves on the 16th: 

Ring-necked Parakeet - Fornham Golf Course

The 99th species was Redshank, added in a visit to the extreme west of my 25km. A bird I would expect at some point, but good to get it on so early: 

Redshank - Islesham Washes

This meant that the honour of the big 100 went to... drumroll... Lesser Redpoll! 

Lesser Redpoll - Cavenham

Lesser Redpoll - Cavenham

Notable records in pursuit of glory so far this year include:

• Firecrest - Brandon Country Park on 02nd;
• Great Crested Grebe - Lackford Lakes on 02nd - the only bird seen so far - which disappeared in the cold snap;
• Green Sandpiper - Hall Farm, Fornham on the 03rd. One of two wintering birds;
• Bullfinch - a single female at Lackford on 07th and none seen since, anywhere! 
• Raven - a flock of 4 on a deer corpse up at Puttocks Hill on 07th;
• Brambling - a single female in with Chaffinch also at Puttocks on 07th. Thin on the ground this year!
• Tree Sparrow - just the 3 birds remaining in the Hall Farm colony;
• White-fronted Goose - single bird at Micklemere on 08th;
• Goshawk - Livermere 08th January;
• Hen Harrier - ring-tail Livermere on 08th and the same or possibly a sperate bird at Puttocks Hill on 14th;
• Goosander - single red head at Nunnery Lakes on 09th;
• Woodcock - singles at Nunnery Lakes on 09th and Cavenham on 18th;
• Grey Wagtail - just a single bird so far, at Livermere on 13th January; and
• Ring-necked Parakeet - 6 birds, Fornham Gold Course on 16th.

2024 Top Ten

Hopefully some of you will have read my Mal tribute post. Anyone fortunate/ unfortunate enough to meet me in the field will also have seen Mal's camera - it's permanently slung over my shoulder. 

As a treat and because it is absolutely wetting down outside, I thought I would share my top ten photos from 2024. They might not be photographically perfect, but I delight in each of them for various reasons. Not least that they remind me of Mal and keep his camera in the field... 

Grey Phalarope - a storm blown bird luxuriating on a lido in southern Spain

Bearded Tit - taken on my much loved Blythburgh patch  

The humble Kestrel - a thing of beauty amidst a weekend at Frampton with the less beautiful Jonny Holliday and DDL

Griffon Vulture - another from Southern Spain. Possibly my favourite photo I've ever taken

Thekla Lark - Mallorca. On a family holiday with Jonny Holliday. It was the Holliday's holiday - not mine

White-fronted Geese - from Southwold in the first winter period

Scaup - a super confiding bird from Welney WWT 

Black-winged Stilts - another from the Mallorca trip 

Golden Eagle - taken on my way up to do the Loch Ness Marathon. The marathon went really well till mile 22 - then less well to mile 26

Little Swift - another from southern Spain. Just superbly cool birds. I mean just look at it.

Shrivelled Hands - the Wren

 

In a visit to Lakenheath Fen RSPB reserve we came across a congregation of Wrens. At least eight birds, feeding in a small patch of vegetation, presumably focussed by the cold snap and available food. It was an opportunity to study the subtle markings, the barring, the adorable tail, just absolutely cracking birds. 

This led to the usual chit chat, why are they called Jenny Wrens? How long does a Wren live? A few Googles later and all hell broke loose... 

Druids protected Wrens, considering them sacred and a bird of wisdom. They also believed that if you stole a Wren's egg your hand would shrivel up! 

Things took an even weirder turn in the seventeenth century, when in Ireland a Wren had apparently betrayed St Stephen (whoever he was), resulting in Wrens being stoned to death on St Stephens day. I mean, like WTF? Have you seen a Wren? They're tiny! More of a pebbling to death. To make matters even weirder the 'stoned' Wren was then paraded around by Wren Boys and collections made - as far as I can make out to be spent on booze? 

There are similar 'Wren Days' around Europe, all of which require a dead Wren to be paraded around on a pole. 

Seemingly linked to the Wren Day and St Stephen festivities is a story around the Wren becoming the 'King of Birds'. The Wren won an impromptu inter-species bird competition by hiding in the feathers of an eagle, hitching a ride then jumping out at the last minute and climbing higher. Indeed higher than any of the birds that tried to keep up with the eagle, and the eagle itself. I mean it's a valid claim. 

It seems insignificant now, but the Jenny Wren moniker comes from either the Middle English word 'wrenne' meaning little tail or a feminisation of the bird yester year. Perhaps owing to the insistent, loud song and demure appearance? According to the BTO, Wrens generally live for two years, with the longest lived bird making it to seven years. 

I have a new found love of the humble Wren, one of the most unassuming yet thoroughly metal birds ever. Like ever. You shrivelled handed, Wren Boy... 

Blackpool-headed Gulls...

With family up in Blackpool I make the pilgrimage to Lancashire and the Fylde Bird Club recording area annually, often at Christmas.

Walks through Stanley Park have become a post-pandemic tradition. The park provides great birding, with congregations of gulls and wintering wildfowl in particular. The bird feeders also attract a great selection of woodland birds, notably Nuthatch. Ring-necked Parakeet seem to have become increasingly common over the last few years too.

I take a lot of pleasure in reading colour rings, predominantly Black-headed Gulls, but I’ve also seen ringed Herring Gulls and Mute Swans there. The rings have been applied by the Waterbird colour-marking group, with some 2,450 birds ringed and over 16,300 resulting sightings. A proportion of which are mine from Stanley Park jaunts.

Most of the birds reported this year loaf about Stanley Park itself, with few if any reports from elsewhere.

One bird ‘219E’ has had annual forays down to Poole Park, Dorset the last three summers. Presumably joining a breeding colony there.

The star of the show, however, was ‘2J52’. This little beaut was ringed as an adult up in the Lake District back in 2008 and has since made forays down to Lincolnshire back in 2019 and most excitingly for me; Norfolk last year.

Norfolk sightings include Sheringham, Scolt Head and Blakeney Point. Blakeney Point is particularly hallowed ground, with many fond memories crunching the shingle with friends.

In writing this I also noticed the scientific name ‘ridibundus’ which is the Latin name for ‘laughing’ or ‘laughing a lot’ it's also used in the scientific name for Marsh Frog. Who knew!