Royston Wildlife Blog: UK Wildlife Sightings, January 2025

Despite a very wet start to the year, with snowfall and flooding elsewhere in the country, the first half of the month brought some welcome sunshine as high pressure with northerly winds brought several cold, crisp, sunny days - particularly between the 6th and the 11th. Wearing my thickest fleecy jacket and having to scrape ice off the car was a small price to pay for the chance to start my 2025 bird lists in bright weather, ideal (with the sun low in the sky) for photography. My first trip of any distance was to Welney WWT (Norfolk), where I was lucky to see Short-eared Owl, all three UK egrets, Tree Sparrows, Whooper Swans and all the common dabbling ducks. The only disappointment was to miss out on a flight of five Common Cranes, which apparently flew overhead whilst I was in one of the hides. Everybody else saw them.....

Whooper Swans, WWT Welney, 7 January

Cattle Egret, WWT Welney, 7 January

Tree Sparrow, WWT Welney, 7 January

Roe Deer, WWT Welney, 7 January

The following day saw me on the North Norfolk coast, enjoying the (somewhat hazy) sunshine at RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Thornham Harbour. Sightings at Titchwell included Spotted Redshank, a roosting Tawny Owl and Common Scoters on the sea. I also had close views of Red-breasted Merganser (males and females) on the Tidal Marsh, but the star birds for me were a pair of Bearded Tits, which provided stunning views from time to time as they fed on Reed Mace about 30 feet away. Fortunately, I was eventually able to get a couple of decent photos of the male (see image below). Brent and Pink-footed Geese, a Barn Owl and a wintering Greenshank were seen in failing light at Thornham Harbour.

Female Red-breasted Merganser, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 8 January

Male Red-breasted Merganser, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 8 January

Male Bearded Tit, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 8 January

The weather stayed dry, but more cloudy from the 12th onwards. Reports from Abberton Reservoir (near Colchester) had suggested that several semi-rare birds were to be seen there, so I visited on the 14th, viewing from five separate points (Lodge Lane viewpoint Peldon, both causeways, the visitor centre hides and the Billets Farm viewpoint). I was lucky to see three Bewick's Swans and a couple of Ruff from Lodge Lane, whilst two Slavonian Grebes, at least eight Black-necked Grebes and several Goosander showed well from the Layer De La Haye causeway (some images below). The visitor centre hides (eventually) yielded a first winter Caspian Gull and my first Stonechat of the year, as well as more Black-necked Grebes, whilst probably my best sighting of the visit, a Black-throated Diver, was seen from the Billets Farm viewpoint. Birds that I didn't see included Smew, Scaup, the Canvasback and Great Northern Diver. If I had seen all of those, it would have really been a day to remember!

Black-necked Grebe (back left) and two Slavonian Grebes, Abberton Reservoir, 14 January

Two Slavonian Grebes, Abberton Reservoir, 14 January

Male Goosander, Abberton Reservoir, 14 January

I went back to Norfolk on the 21st, visiting four locations: Old Hunstanton, where I again saw the wintering Glaucous Gull, Thornham Harbour (Rock Pipit), Holkham Bay (Shorelarks) and finally Warham Greens, where I saw Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl and a 'ringtail' Hen Harrier, but there was no sign here of the wintering Pallid Harrier. For once, I missed out RSPB Titchwell!

Glaucous Gull, Old Hunstanton, 21 January

Shorelark, Holkham Bay, 21 January

Rock Pipit, Holkham Bay, 21 January

Pink-footed Geese flying in to Roost at Sunset, Warham Greens, 21 January

A glorious day was forecast for the 30th, so it was back to North Norfolk for another full day visiting five sites. I started at Lynford Arboretum, which was rather disappointing and surprisingly failed to yield any Marsh Tits, Bramblings or Hawfinches. I went on to the coast at Sheringham (lots of Turnstones but no sign of Purple Sandpipers). Things improved up the coast at Weybourne, where a very large flock of Pink-footed Geese incorporated at least four Russian White-fronted Geese and two Tundra Bean Geese (the latter a species that I didn't see at all in 2024). As a bonus, I had two sightings of a Merlin in flight here. I stopped briefly at Stiffkey, but failed to see the reported Glossy Ibis despite searching for half an hour, before moving on to (you guessed it!) RSPB Titchwell, where I spent the rest of the day photographing birds on the beach and Tidal Marsh in beautiful light. Some of my photos from the day are below.