I made visits to Fishers Green lakes in Essex, part of the Lee Valley complex of nature reserves, on the 11th and the 15th. The first visit was to do a reconnaissance visit for the trip that I was leading for the RSPB Local Group on the 15th, and was carried out in the ultimate of dull, gloomy weather. Highlights were sightings of a Water Rail and three Goosander, the latter having likely strayed over the Hertfordshire border from their usual site on Ashley Lake. Thankfully, the weather was better for the Local Group visit on the 15th and we saw Kingfisher, Peregrine and the 'Fishers Green Black Swan', as well as the ubiquitous Water Rail, which was seen from the rather splendid new hide that has been tagged on to the Bittern Hide (where I saw my first ever Bittern, but that's another story).
Blue Tit at the Bittern Hide Feeding Station, Fishers Green, 15 December
Male Goosander, Fishers Green, 11 December
Poor weather, the proximity of Christmas and much catching up to do after my recent holiday meant that I only made one more bird watching trip of any note in December - and that just an afternoon visit to Old Hunstanton in Norfolk on the 17th to see an immature Glaucous Gull, the 242nd and last addition to my 2024 UK list. The bird had been feeding on a dead seal for some days (and continued to do so for several more days afterwards), although it had been disturbed when I visited and landed quite close to me on the shingle bank, before taking off and allowing me some flight photographs on a very dull day (dullness having been a notable feature of the last three months of the year). I was lucky to also see and photograph five Shorelarks on the same stretch of shingle.
Immature (1st Winter) Glaucous Gull, Old Hunstanton, 17 December
Glaucous Gull in Flight, Old Hunstanton, 17 December
Shorelark, Old Hunstanton, 17 December
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