Today's highlight at Cley this morning: Sand-tailed Digger Wasp at Walsey Hills; a new one for me; apparently they feed on weevils!

Good to be passing Musselburgh on Monday - just at the right time to see the American White-winged Scoter nice and close. (More pics as usual on my cleybirds.com.)

And the Western Sandpiper at Maidens also showed nice and close yesterday - another bird where good close views help you to appreciate its subtleties. (More pics as usual on my cleybirds.com.)

Great to be able to enjoy Cley's first-ever lingering Caspian Tern today (more pics on cleybirds.com probably tomorrow). Thanks Chris! You wait 54 years for one and then two come along in successive years!

So they are Bee Wolves at Walsey Hills. Here's one dragging its Honey Bee prey into its lair. Many thanks Chris Mills.

The Caspian Tern has again been popular and spent most of the day resting on Cley NWT Simmonds Scrape. It flew off southwest again at 3.45pm. I wonder where it has been fishing and if it will return again... (More pics at cleybirds.com.)

Sandwich Terns are having an exceptionally good year at Minsmere, Suffolk, with large numbers of young now fledging on the South Scrape (5th July 2025) RSPB Minsmere 🌍 RSPB England RSPB

Juvenile Sandwich Tern at East Hide, RSPBMinsmere this morning. This has been the best year since 1977 with at least 175 SandwichTerns fledged on the scrape. RSPB Minsmere 🌍 RSPB ⁦RSPB England⁩ ⁦Suffolk Bird Group⁩ ⁦BTO Suffolk⁩

Terrific views of the Night Heron for 20 minutes this morning, close in front of Cley NWT Daukes Hide – until it flew off to Stiffkey. Many thanks for the shouts Andrew & Mike Buckland. (More pics at cleybirds.com.)

1/ A recent Country Squire article defends trophy hunting as "saving giraffes." Here’s why that’s nonsense — and what the science really says. 🧵🦒

This is DEVASTATING news for Maasai, elephants, real conservation. 😡 The U.S. just lifted a 10+ year ban on importing Tanzanian elephant trophies. #BanTrophyHunting RT

'Brazil passes ‘devastation bill’ that drastically weakens environmental law' Disastrous day in the war on nature as Brazilian agriculture and logging interests get their way, again. We have one home. We're destroying it. We must be mad. theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…

Our two surviving swiftlets looking out and almost ready to go.... Follow their story on cleyswifts.blogspot.com.

Lovely to see a Queen of Spain at Sidestrand. It seems we were very lucky: today it was only seen for 20 minutes at midday. I've only seen this rare visitor once before, at Minsmere back in August 1996. As always, many thanks to the finders. More pics on cleybirds.com.

Nice to find this Clouded Yellow lingering between Salthouse and Kelling this morning – the first I've seen in the Cley square for seven years.

If you like your birds rare, big, spectacular and close, the Boyton Marshes Black Stork is for you. This afternoon it was feeding completely unconcernedly at down to 6ft range! (More pics on cleybirds.com tomorrow.)

The juvenile Black Stork gracing Boyton Marshes currently is rather confiding, and this was the entire peak crowd watching it yesterday afternoon! (More pics at cleybirds.com.)

This Osprey overhead at Cley NWT this morning was a nice surprise and my first for the year – apart from the Norfolk breeding ones!

Only my third since Dorset in 1977 & 2000, it was always distant but still worth waiting for this morning's nice calm conditions at Walberswick. A super little bird – and still a Fan-tailed Warbler in my book: see 2nd pic! More pics at cleybirds.com.

A record 3 #WhiteTailedEagle chicks have fledged in the wild in England this summer including the first in Dorset for over 240 years! The chicks were reared by eagles released by Forestry England & Roy Dennis Foundation in our project to return this lost species🦅 bit.ly/4mwTz53