Happy New Year

I'm writing this on New year's day, and my year list currently stands at about five. Happily the first bird on my list was Greenfinch (it's usually Wood Pigeon or Black-headed Gull seen in flight), followed by Blue Tit, Robin and Great Tit. Things are quiet in the garden, but the birds are around, just not using the feeders much. There could be a number of reasons, the local Sparrowhawks, a cat which I haven't yet been able to dissuade from entering our garden (poor shot with the half-brick)* or the likely reason being there are still insects around. Despite the cold nights I have been seeing bees (or hover-flies?) recently on the winter honeysuckle outside my window. The inside of the shrubs behind the feeder must be warmer and still providing food, why would birds come to the feeders?


 I rarely do a New Year's Day list, for various reasons, but good luck to those who are, especially if connected to charity. To me it's a bit like playing football on New Year's Day - if  you've celebrated seeing the New Year you will likely be feeling crap. The worst scenario is if you're a twitcher and still over the limit for driving. I know someone who gave up drinking for that reason, but many aren't that sensible. But this isn't a warning or me being holier-than-thou, the fact is there is often nothing to twitch on the 1st. This year is different, in terms of birds it's the best for a long time, but all the birds on offer have been here a while. If they stay I shall go to see some in the coming days, when things will be quieter, as none is a tick I'm not bothered if the crowds today frighten them off. A long-staying Ivory Gull at Aldeburgh was always thought to have been frightened off by fireworks celebrating the milennium, many people going to "year-tick" it were disappointed.


 Over the years I have seen a few birds on NYD. Possibly, no definitely, the best was a Ross's Gull at Cley in 2006. It had been seen the previous afternoon on Blakeney Point, so the locals were out at the crack of dawn (not that early on the 1st Jan) walking down the point. We lived in Mildenhall at the time, so turned up later in the morning. When we arrived several friends were coming back from the Point. We enquired as to whether the gull was still there, and were told "It's behind you!" It was the pantomime season after all. But birders don't joke about these things, it was around the pool behind the car park, where we were able to take some good photos.

A far less enjoyable twitch (sorry foray to pass the time at New Year- I don't twitch any more.) was one I undertook with Mike (RIP) in 2015. A Little Bustard had been found the previous day at Fraisthorpe in Yorkshire, hunkered down in a crop field sheltering from the wind. When we arrived it was still sheltering, and as a female, it didn't provide the most wonderful photos nor views, especially as it was still blowing a hoolie. Both these birds were gone by the 2nd, but there are usually some that are long stayers still with us the following year, Black-winged Kite and two Eastern Black Redstarts currently, and the most famous of all, Red-breasted Nuthatch. The only other interesting bird that I recall seeing was a 1st winter Laughing Gull at Walcott  in 1991, that was a first for Norfolk.


 *For those of a sensitive disposition, that was a joke, but I still don't like other people's cats in my garden. Perhaps I'll get an Eagle Owl as a pet. 

 Stop Press- I saw the Black-winged Kite after publishing on my blog-very distant, no photo, on the 2nd.

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