It is the start of Ryburgh Wildlife Week. Fifty-two bird species before breakfast, but the star of the show this reeling Grasshopper Warbler. A village first for me.

Summer Solstice and the end of Ryburgh Wildlife Week today. A Barn Owl at dawn and then watching the sun set at dusk. In between an inspiring talk to our village group by ⁦@themarshtit⁩ about how folk can make a real difference for nature. Uplifting stuff. Thanks Nick 👏

Well, I never thought I would see a flock of Avocets in Parliament Square!! Proud to march today with ⁦Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust⁩ and 60,000 others, at the #RestoreNatureNow rally. It’s time for our voices to be heard.

Two ducks that are not seen together very often; a female Garganey and a Mandarin both preening ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ this afternoon.

A cracking start to our ⁦Oriole Birding⁩ Shetland trip. Lanceolated and Paddyfield Warblers on Unst this morning, then this showy Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler this afternoon on Mainland. Time for a lie down and then a stiff drink! ⁦Jonathan Farooqi⁩

It has been a desperately poor season so far for wild geese in North Norfolk and so I was pleased to spot this family group of Russian White-fronted Geese ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ today. They dropped in for a quick drink and then were on their way north again.

A huge flock of Pinks feeding on beet tops near Docking this afternoon. A few scarce congeners with them including this feisty Barnacle Goose….1/3

….a Russian White-fronted Goose and….2/3

….a Tundra Bean Goose. Good stuff! 3/3

A rare event today with all 3 Whitefronts in a single field; Russian and Greenland Greater plus this dinky Lesser White-fronted Goose. Eight thousand Pinks to sift through yielded a Tundra Bean and a Barnacle too. Cracking New Year’s Day birding in the goose fields of NW Norfolk!

A great start to our ⁦Oriole Birding⁩ trip to Islay with this diminutive Cackling Goose on the Mull of Oa at last light.

Another day, another Cackling Goose!This is a different bird from the one at Oa yesterday. It is as large as the Barnacles and really pale,very much at the other end of the Hutchinsii range compared with the dark and small Oa bird.

A mooch around ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ today in fabulous weather. Spring is certainly on its way with the first Med Gulls of the year,returning Avocets on site and several singing Chiffchaffs too.

A great end to our ⁦Oriole Birding⁩ trip to the Outer Hebrides. Late afternoon we found this Bee-eater over the Cruachain woods. It tried to feed over the adjacent hillside but gave up when harried by Mipits. It flew to Castlebay and fortunately was refound on wires.

It was hot and humid ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ this afternoon when I came across a long hoped for nugget of #patchgold This box-fresh juvenile Spotted Redshank was on the Wader scrape. Most likely a Norwegian bird making a welcome stopover on the long migration south.

Very wet ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ today but late on good views of a group of six Bearded Tits, usually very elusive here.

A box fresh juvenile Wood Sandpiper ⁦Pensthorpe⁩ today, with a bonus Common Sandpiper. Later a brace of juvenile male Ruff dropped in, proving that wader migration is not quite finished in the Wensum Valley.