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| 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:
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| 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:
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| Firecrest - Brandon Country Park |
My local Little Owl was extremely obliging the first week of the year, warming itself in the afternoon sun:
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| Little Owl - Bury St Edmunds |
Winter thrushes fell on the 03rd with Fieldfare flaunting themselves amongst Redwing and commoner cousins:
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| Fieldfare - Ampton |
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| Wren - Lakenheath |
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| 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!
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| Goosander - Nunnery Lakes |
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| Kingfisher - Nunnery Lakes |
Whilst I was attending the reserve I noticed a neck-ringed Canada Goose:
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| 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:
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| Tree Sparrow - Hall Farm, Fornham |
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| Green Sandpiper - Hall Farm, Fornham |
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| Hen Harrier - Livermere |
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| White-fronted Goose - Micklemere |
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| 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!
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| 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:
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| 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:
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| Redshank - Islesham Washes |
This meant that the honour of the big 100 went to... drumroll... Lesser Redpoll!
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| Lesser Redpoll - Cavenham |
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Lesser Redpoll - Cavenham
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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.
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