First Hawfinch of the Winter at Bramfield Churchyard

10th January 2026

I photographed my first Hawfinch at Bramfield Churchyard in 2013. It had always been assumed the Hawfinches that over-wintered here were continental birds, but one of the first birds I photographed was wearing a colour ring which was traced to a ringing scheme in the Forest of Dean!!!

Today the weather was very dull, so rather than having a days photography at the coast I thought I would check out the churchyard for Hawfinches. In my experience, although they have on occasions been recorded there before Christmas, they tend to arrive in mid-January so my timing was ideal.

As I walked into the churchyard I could see a suitable candidate sitting near the top of their favourite Ash tree behind the church and a quick look through the bins confirmed that this was indeed a Hawfinch, the first record of the winter at Bramfield.

Not ideal for a photograph as the light was very poor and the bird was partially obscured by twigs, but with a little tender love and care didn't turn out too bad.

It flew to the central Lime trees that line the path but again partially obscured, and then flew off.

This was at 12.00pm and I saw it again at 12.30pm, but no more before I left at 2.30pm.

There seem to be relatively few Yew berries this winter compared with the bumper crops of Hawthorn and Holly berries, so we will have to see if it decides to stay or move on.

Also good to meet Dean Ballard.

A Water Rail at Lakenheath Fen

31st December 2025

After a most successful morning at Lackford Lakes time to explore Lakenheath Fen. The Fen is likely to be very quiet at this time of year so the plan today was to hopefully photograph the Siskins that have been feeding in the Alders by the visitor centre and visit the photography hide. In the event the Siskins had obviously moved on so I went straight to the hide. The hide overlooks some feeders, but has the advantage that the backdrop is a reed bed with small trees so it is quite easy to photograph the birds away from the feeders.

Of course, despite being located in the middle of nowhere, the feeders still attract garden birds such as Blue Tits, Great Tits and Goldfinches, although I never thought I would see the day when I called Goldfinches a garden bird.

But being in a wetland habitat they also attract more unusual birds such as Marsh Tits and Reed Buntings.

Here is the female Reed Bunting..................

                            .....................and here is the male.

But the star of the show today was the appearance of a Water Rail, which I know from my experiences at Amwell are quite happy to feed on seed, in this case sunflower hearts dropped from the feeders.

Well, that was most enjoyable and I will be back in a few months for the Hobbys.

A Winter's Morning at Lackford Lakes

31st December 2025

A cold winter's morning at Lackford Lakes and highly appropriate I should be welcomed by a Robin.

I headed straight for Bernard's Hide hoping for some action on or around the Kingfisher Pool, although Kingfishers have be absent from here for a couple of years now. Because of the mild winter we have been experiencing up to now, the last thing I was expecting was for ther Kingfisher Pool to be frozen over, so no action here!!!

Luckily the Slough was still ice-free and held a good number of wildfowl, particularly Shoveler and Teal.

Also good number of Lapwings which were roosting inbetween feeds.

There was also a drake Shelduck feeding fairly close in, looking rather immaculate in its breeding plumage.

And although there were no Snipe around the icy Kingfisher Pool, I did manage to find just one out on the Lapwing island.

Now on to the "Magic Log" where seed is put down to attract the woodland birds. Unfortunately since my last visit a large tree has fallen down and is now lying across the log, restricting the view slightly. Apart from the usual Blue and Great Tits, a Coal Tit was making the most of the free food.

And then a most welcome guest was this Nuthatch which I could photograph all day.

But the biggest surprise today, and nothing to do with the log, was this Tree Creeper which suddenly appeared in the trees above my head, and is the first Tree Creeper I have photographed for several years.

Well, what a great way to end the morning.

Now off to Lakenheath Fen, so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

A Couple of Hours with the Hertford Kingfisher

30th December 2025

Last year during the winter months the Hertford Kingfisher was hardly seen at all as the heavy rains caused the river to be very muddy and fast, meaning the Kingfisher could not fish there so went elsewhere looking for a calm pond.

However this winter, especially the last few weeks, there has hardly been any rain and the river is flowing at a slow pace and fairly clear so perfect conditions for the Kingfisher to sit in its favourite tree and stare down at the water.

When I got there the forecast sun had not materialised, but after half an hour the clouds rolled back and conditions were absolutely perfect so all that was needed now was the Kingfisher. It arrived about five minutes later so I started clicking away.

It sits in the same perfectly motionless position for several minutes at a time, so takes a long while to get a collection of shots in different poses. Here are the results.

And it was all worthwhile as he eventually caught a Bullhead which seems to be the commonest fish in the river.

The heavy spring rains followed by the hot summer have produced a bumper crop of  Hawthorn berries which provide a great back-drop, but considering the time of year I can only apologise for them not being Holly.

A couple of hours well spent.