Brambling

A massive flock of finches on one of our local walks gave us at least 30 brambling among the linnets, chaffinches and goldfinches. Just shows what birds are attracted when farming methods are correct.

This week's bits and bobs

A blackbird that fancies it's chances at a ring ouzel ! 

A 'sitting on the fence' heron, just like all my old work colleagues ! 

A lovely Christmas robin x 

Great Tit 

 Lip licking Roe Deer - how pink is that tongue !

And on one of our local woodland edges there is a massive flock of redpoll. Definitely worth another visit when health improves and we are not surviving on Lemsips. How can a common cold totally floor you, and over the Christmas period it seems twice as bad. We have champagne, vintage whisky, flaggons of Baileys and Malbec wine to slurp through not to mention the extra special chocolates and Christmas treat frivolities. I am sure nothing will go to waste !

Buzzard

Stunning !

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Snow Buntings, Mablethorpe

A few hours on Mablethorpe beach to try and see the snow buntings. After about an hour we finally found them, only to have them flushed and flushed again by walkers. We stayed and looked for another couple of hours but failed to re-find them. Pity, as there was a good 30 in the group. Will just have to go again !

Union of South Africa 60009, Babworth Sidings, Retford

It takes on this much water !

We have seen this steam train before at The Great Gathering at York Railway Museum but this is the first time we have seen her in steam. She was massive !  She was running 90 minutes late due to a Hull Train breaking down near Grantham, and it was well worth the wait despite the freezing cold, biting wind that chilled us to the bone. Hope you like our pics and videos. 

White-crowned Black Wheatear, Scunthorpe

Friday tea-time came and it was time to head to Asda for my usual weekly big shop. And then my phone started to ring, bleep and vibrate. First one was John...."Have you seen your pager?  Its in Scunthorpe and I just can't believe it" was how the conversation went "and its now dark and the pager doesn't have the location but its in Scunthorpe and its a second for Britain". So I continued with my shop and headed home to Simon with the pager in hand !  

Our first thoughts were hoax, and then we thought what if......We had seen some mega birds in the strangest locations, the Blue Rock Thrush springs to mind and this was no different. So Karen spent the next hour texting round until she got the address from Lee Evans. All night we talked about it and was up with dawns crack the following morning. It was 2 streets away from our house, so even though we doubted it, we were still heading down to Bollingbroke Road, Bottesford to see for ourselves. 

There were plenty of birders there, all walking round the estate, looking. The bird had been in the vicars garden the previous day but wasn't in there today. It seemed to be the talk of the neighbourhood as everyone had photos of it. Some told us where it roosted, where it fed, where it liked to sit they even told us where the bloke lived who had lost it out of his aviary !!  It had been out a week, infact he had lost two from his aviary. So, what could have been a mega bird turned out to be an escapee. But many had come far and just wanted to see it before they headed back home, so the locals all told us we could trespass in their back gardens which was a very kind gesture. It was eventually found in the next street, huddled on a windowsill, certainly not well and in desperate need of food and warmth. A birder soon had it caught and it was returned to its owners aviary. It could only happen in Scunthorpe !