Golden moment

The following text pinged onto my mobile yesterday morning:

"12 goldies w over the track now"

... so that's Golden Plover finally OTL (assuming Dawn hadn't just seen a flock of eagles, diving ducks, orioles or pheasants). If only I hadn't been trying to make things happen on the N Norfolk coast I'd have probably got them on my garden list too... but that can wait. 135 and after a lengthy absence from top spot, the Nuns retake the lead!

Well done to Dawn's husband Pete who first picked them up - having expressed his amazement to me that they weren't already on the list exactly one month ago!

A four tick day

Four species have fallen to Lodge birders today: first, a Bullfinch in Sandy Heath Quarry, then Great Crested Grebe on Warren Villas NR, a Brambling was seen in front of the hide and finally, a flock of c.100 Golden Plover wheeling over the Ivel Valley (which incidentally, was my 14,000th BirdTrack record). All birds outside the reserve boundary were observed from within it.

The Lodge year list moves steadily forward to a respectable 75.