31 st January 2026 produced plenty of geese (but of the ‘wrong’ kind) and two very nice Grey Partridge which posed for the camera close to the road. (It’s not often I find a confiding bird like these ones, so I felt I needed to make the most of the chance.) February and March were spent chasing round after scarce geese and a female Smew, and checking up on the status of Willow Tit. Russian White-fronted Geese continued to hit the headlines across the county with a late-win

There was nothing spectacular around in January in the local area other than a rarity with dodgy credentials, more of which later. On the 10th, I paid a visit to the local saltmarsh and accidentally flush a couple of Jack Snipe , one of which I caught on camera – no mean feat. I've recorded this species a number of times here , and it seems to be a regular haunt for them. Anyway, my main focus was geese in January, understandably, and I have to remind myself sometimes that I’

The lure of two mega rarities drew me south. I began well: arriving at Ludham Bridge on the 30 th December an hour before dusk would enable me at least to check out the main site even if the bird wasn’t showing. Initially, I prepared myself for disappointment as the mega had gone AWOL, but only 15 minutes later, one of my fellow twitchers (this time, I reluctantly counted myself amongst them!) casually pointed out to the small gathering that the bird had just landed in a tr

There was nothing of great note locally in the months of August and September, and to be honest, after the Madagascar extravaganza, everything paled into insignificance for a while. A fair few Curlew Sandpipers turned up at various locations, and I had fun trying to get my best shots of this photogenic species. Work took over from the start of the academic year, and it wasn’t until late September than I took up my binoculars again. The 28th of the month proved to be good fo

Madagascar was always on my bucket list, and with the additional attraction of ‘monkey-type things’, the girls were also on board and keen to accompany me, at least for some of the time. It was effectively a three-week tour, with the others joining me for the last two. It was an amazing trip. Sure, I only saw 109 bird species, but 81 of these were new and an astonishing 78 of these were endemics. And let’s not forget the 20 lemur species, the whales, the 9 gecko species, th