Happy New Year (2025)! Best RBG, Harrier and bonus Twite

The new year started well. After quite a bit of toing and froing, I eventually managed to pin down the elusive Red-breasted Goose and re-found it myself on 3rd, on 6th and then on 12th. Indeed, this last visit proved to be the best in terms of proximity and photographic opportunities. But on this same day, I also started with cracking views of a male Hen Harrier and also stumbled across a flock of 200+ Twite at the very edge of the marsh. (I’d seen 2 male Hen Harriers the day before here, but I stupidly left my camera in the car initially, expecting to just use bins to check for geese, and then the freezing cold weather played havoc with my camera’s electronics. By the time I’d warmed them up with my new lens warmer, the birds had vanished.) Anyway, by returning to this same location the following day, I came prepared and hid in a ditch, lens already warmed and ready, and got some very pleasing low-down images of one of the Harriers flying towards me. As it approached, it rose up and presented me with some very different shooting opportunities. All very satisfying. The Barnacle Goose flock (including the Red-breasted Goose) that I’d seen here previously was nowhere to be seen, but I anticipated that the birds had moved further west, and this indeed proved to be the case. I found them first at at the next marsh (where I got the best views) and then watched the flock fly west again onto the adjacent one where I relocated it again, albeit more distantly. I’d spent all day out on the marshes and walked miles, but it had all been worth it in the end, with some of my best images of Hen Harrier, Twite and Barnacle Goose. I was a bit disappointed with the Twite images (the birds didn't hang around for a decent pose); but apart from this, I couldn't have asked for better images.