Well I suppose I should keep the blog/diary going even with the tough times I currently face at home.
My father in law spent time in hospital before Christmas following a couple of falls and although we managed a decent enough Christmas with family he took another tumble and we decided respite care was the best for him. After a week in care he went backwards and today needed hospital time again. I've spent the day with him and he remains quite poorly and will remain in hospital for a while now.
Aside of the time being consumed caring for both my wife and the father in law and desperately trying to balance life by seeing as much of the grandchildren as possible I have also decided to keep a year list again in 2025 in another desperate attempt to get me out birding as much as time allows to fuel my own well being if I possibly can and to that end I'll break down the first week of 2025 and try to update as I can going forward.
January 1st was really wet and very windy so new years birding was from the kitchen window for a change. I bagged just eighteen ticks with nothing out of the ordinary apart from Little Egret whilst dropping food at the father in laws.
January 2nd saw me head up to Abberton with the Jims. We had a good day despite the really cold wind blowing across the reservoir. We found the Canvasback amongst the Pochard flock and added Scaup from Lodge Lane, Bewick's Swan, Black-necked and Slav Grebe from LDLH causeway along with a wintering Green Sandpiper. We also visited Copt Hall for the first time. It's just up the road from Abberton and I added Short-eared Owl and Merlin amongst others to the year list which now totalled 85.
January 3rd saw me take an enthusiastic walk over the KGV reservoir before my usual routine for the day. I added Black-throated and Great Northern Diver along with a couple more expected ticks on the way taking the total for the year to 90.
January 4th and my renewed enthusiasm continued with an hour at Bramfield to add the annual Hawfinch tick and along with Greenfinch, Song Thrush, Water Rail, Redpoll, Siskin and Bullfinch at Watercress LNR.
I didn't find any time on 5th but a quick visit to Rainham on 6th in pouring rain saw just Water Pipit added in the fifteen minutes I gave it after dropping George off at school
On 7th January I gave Rainham another hour of my valuable time and added Dartford Warbler, Avocet, and Cetti's Warbler.
The 8th saw my first real full day out for the year as I headed into Norfolk with Dad and Jim. We started the day at Old Hunstanton, parking in the road leading to the golf course we walked out onto the beach and along to the shingle ridge were we found Turnstone, Glaucous Gull, Shore Larks, Oystercatcher, Knot, Sanderling, Fulmar, Red-breasted Merganser, Pink footed Goose, Bar-tailed Godwit and Peregrine.
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| Glaucous Gull |
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| Peregrine |
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| The seal carcase that the Glaucous gull is feeding on |
At Stiffkey we year ticked Glossy Ibis before dropping in to Lady Annes drive at Holkham to add Long-billed Dowitcher, Snipe and White-fronted Goose before finishing the day at Titchwell adding Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter and Tawny Owl amongst others to bring the year list to 126 or 127 if I include the ringed escapee Black-winged Stilt.
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| Long-billed Dowitcher |
Move forward to today and I've spent the whole day at my father in laws bedside in the majors unit but that's life I guess.
Anyway the pointless year list is now 126 and I've had a taste of the good life and will do my best to enjoy more of that this year if I can with all my family commitments still needing time.
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| A Pintail showing why we call them Pintail |
