Short-eared Owl battling in

two Short-eared Owls in off yesterday during the gales -- so vulnerable in the weather and waves

Pintail

At Alkborough Pintail are mainly passage birds in October-November with few staying for long but this autumn seems to be different with a small flock regular for the last 4-5 weeks; usually only about 10 but 23 today - normally always the furthest birds from the hide the wind and the harriers today moved them closer and luckily the sun was out when they did a quick fly by -- not seeing Pintail well that often I had failed to appreciate the differences in upper wing pattern of 1cy males and females - fantastic ducks

a few from Alkborough

Teal starting to look stunning and plenty to look through; 3200 still present -- 275 Black-tails today and a good selection of other bods

2cy male Marsh Harrier

always thought birds like this were older but recent communication with the main man on the subject reveals that this bird could be just 16 months old

Wigeon

very smart birds time to check those axillaries

one from the archives

took this on April 22nd 2009 on the Humber -- good candidate?

more Pallid action

had to have another look at the Lincs Pallid Harrier today but conditions were testing; very strong winds and dull, dull, dull (3200 ISO for 640th sec) to mid afternoon when a burst of bright sun produced too much contrast! and I had somehow managed to switch off the image stabiliser for the first 100 shots! --   the bird was doing its usual circuit down to Wainfleet - Friskney and back every 90 minutes or so but being in the right spot when it passed by at 60mph was just pot luck so nothing to write home about but a cracker of course; male Hen Harrier, 2cy male Marsh Harrier, 2 Merlins,  19 Whoopers and 70 Fieldfares apparently struggling in off plus loads of Pinks -- a decent day given the weather

HH on the coast

spent many many hours crouching on wet cold sand dunes at Rimac in the 70's and 80's waiting for Hen Harriers to roost -- not as reliable now but nice to see three last weekend -- I even have notes in my old records on the putative juv Northern Harrier that was in the roost in late 1973 -- a very broad white rump, unstreaked rufous underparts, heavily barred underwing and tail are not really the sort of notes that are of any use now though!

when even rubbish images can be of use

in the fog and distant but a pretty distinctive Black Brant found by Chris Atkin at Donna Nook last week; features can possibly help to ascertain if it is the same bird as last autumn which you would expect -- always worth having a blast with the camera