Natural highs and lows

We were fortunate, whilst on a trip to RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast, to meet up with an old friend and keen birder, JD. The nature reserve was a couple of hours' drive away, but so very worth it (despite the Cambridge rush hour, tailbacks from roadworks and getting lost a mile short of our destination). JD sent us very detailed instructions of where to meet up, which I expertly confused in that bit of my brain where I hold my map memory. Long story short, whilst pootling slowly along the wrong narrow lane with the car windows open, we scored a drive-by Nightingale in song. Eventually, we found the correct spot with even more detailed instructions... "park by the female Ring Ouzel, walk up the track to the male Redstart and look through my scope at the pair of Stone Curlews". This latter species is part of a family which is also known by the name of Thick-knees, which I'm sure in today's enlightened times would be considered body shaming. We'd barely beg...

It's been quite wild around here of late, at least weather-wise. As the archipelago braces itself for another severe gale tonight, I thought that I would post a few photos from a blustery day last weekend. News of a Little Egret at the Loch of Sabiston sent us Birsay-wards. Parking the car at the foot of Greeny Hill, we ambled up a track to a location which would give us a distant but all-encompassing view of the loch. En route, we had a rather close encounter with a Fieldfare. This was most pleasing, they're stunning thrushes, and the contrast between it and the view of the Little Egret a bit later was chack and white. We decamped to the RSPB hide at The Loons. Although the sunlight was fantastic, it felt as though the bracing wind was keeping birds hunkered down and out of sight. A few ducks dived or dabbled, and small groups of geese honked across the sky, some of which were Pink-footed, but were mainly Greylag, rather than the hoped-for White-fronted or even Snow. Whilst w...