Gulls Hollesley

So before i go away to Spain for a week and as there is water in the pools at Hollesley Ive been going through the gulls, plenty of Yellow legged gulls of all ages.

Caspian gulls of all ages too. 

Other bits were the Common (Harbour seals) 

Finally lots of Marsh harrier activity inc several young ones and the now adult male KS

Malaga area Species list 8th-12th December 2025

	Species	Scientific Name
1	Common Shelduck	Tadorna tadorna
2	Muscovy Duck	Cairina moschata
3	Northern Shoveler	Spatula clypeata
4	Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
5	Marbled Duck	Marmaronetta angustirostris
6	Common Pochard	Aythya ferina
7	White-headed Duck	Oxyura leucocephala
8	Red-legged Partridge	Alectoris rufa
9	Rock Dove	Columba livia
10	Common Wood Pigeon	Columba palumbus
11	Eurasian Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto
12	Common Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
13	Eurasian Coot	Fulica atra
14	Little Grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis
15	Black-necked Grebe	Podiceps nigricollis
16	Greater Flamingo	Phoenicopterus roseus
17	Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus
18	Pied Avocet	Recurvirostra avosetta
19	Grey Plover	Pluvialis squatarola
20	Common Ringed Plover	Charadrius hiaticula
21	Little Ringed Plover	Charadrius dubius
22	Sanderling	Calidris alba
23	Common Snipe	Gallinago gallinago
24	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
25	Common Redshank	Tringa totanus
26	Common Greenshank	Tringa nebularia
27	Slender-billed Gull	Chroicocephalus genei
28	Black-headed Gull	Chroicocephalus ridibundus
29	Mediterranean Gull	Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
30	Yellow-legged Gull	Larus michahellis
31	Lesser Black-backed Gull	Larus fuscus
32	Sandwich Tern	Thalasseus sandvicensis
33	Razorbill	Alca torda
34	Red-throated Loon	Gavia stellata
35	Balearic Shearwater	Puffinus mauretanicus
36	White Stork	Ciconia ciconia
37	Northern Gannet	Morus bassanus
38	Great Cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo
39	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
40	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
41	Osprey	Pandion haliaetus
42	Griffon Vulture	Gyps fulvus
43	Cinereous Vulture	Aegypius monachus
44	Booted Eagle	Hieraaetus pennatus
45	Eurasian Sparrowhawk	Accipiter nisus
46	Western Marsh Harrier	Circus aeruginosus
47	Common Buzzard	Buteo buteo
48	Eurasian Hoopoe	Upupa epops
49	Common Kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
50	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Dendrocopos major
51	Common Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
52	Monk Parakeet	Myiopsitta monachus
53	Rose-ringed Parakeet	Psittacula krameri
54	Iberian Grey Shrike	Lanius meridionalis
55	Eurasian Jay	Garrulus glandarius
56	Red-billed Chough	Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
57	Northern Raven	Corvus corax
58	Coal Tit	Periparus ater
59	European Crested Tit	Lophophanes cristatus
60	Eurasian Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
61	Great Tit	Parus major
62	Crested Lark	Galerida cristata
63	Eurasian Crag Martin	Ptyonoprogne rupestris
64	Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica
65	Cetti's Warbler	Cettia cetti
66	Long-tailed Tit	Aegithalos caudatus
67	Yellow-browed Warbler	Phylloscopus inornatus
68	Common Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita
69	Zitting Cisticola	Cisticola juncidis
70	Eurasian Blackcap	Sylvia atricapilla
71	Sardinian Warbler	Curruca melanocephala
72	Dartford Warbler	Curruca undata
73	Common Firecrest	Regulus ignicapilla
74	Eurasian Wren	Troglodytes troglodytes
75	Short-toed Treecreeper	Certhia brachydactyla
76	Spotless Starling	Sturnus unicolor
77	Mistle Thrush	Turdus viscivorus
78	Common Blackbird	Turdus merula
79	European Robin	Erithacus rubecula
80	Black Redstart	Phoenicurus ochruros
81	European Stonechat	Saxicola rubicola
82	House Sparrow	Passer domesticus
83	Grey Wagtail	Motacilla cinerea
84	White Wagtail	Motacilla alba
85	Meadow Pipit	Anthus pratensis
86	Common Chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs
87	European Greenfinch	Chloris chloris
88	Common Linnet	Linaria cannabina
89	Red Crossbill	Loxia curvirostra
90	European Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
91	European Serin	Serinus serinus
92	Rock Bunting	Emberiza cia
93	Cirl Bunting	Emberiza cirlus

Patching in November and a trip to North Norfolk

 Better say before i start the Norfolk Blog, Some local and Suffolk stuff. A 1st winter Isabelline/red tailed shrike turned up at North Warren, only the probable 6th species of shrike this year in Suffolk, and as i was in the area the Sunday this one turned up i took a look, nice scope views although a bit distant. You cant assign 1st winters to race so this one will go down as a nothing bird and shows what a waste of time it is splitting some species, the people making these decisions need to give there heads a wobble, trying to look clever but just look dumb when it comes to separating birds like this. Good job its just a hobby eh.......

Anyway end of October a fall of Firecrests was happening, another in the garden was great.

1st November meant the weather was turning and sea-watching should be good so as i had missed all the good sea birds due to being at work I gave East lane a try, it was good but not good enough for some scarce species. anyway totals as follows..

745 to 1245 1 little stint, 550 dunlin, 220 knot, goldeneye, 6 tufties, 18 common scoter, 1 red breasted merganser, 2 Great Crested grebe. Peregrine. 60 wigeon, 6 teal, 8 pintail. 1 grey wagtail, 4 skylark. 1 purple sand, 3 gannet and a Bar-tailed  Godwit.

Goldeneye pics below

8th November

I was feeling very demoralized now due to finding bugger all whilst birds were being found all around me, again its the time of year when only weekend birding was possible, however finally a good bird found on patch with a nice Nearctic Pallas's Warbler, on the road to the prison, a good quite lonning this with mature maples all the way along it, I often find good passerines here. A couple of Firecrests and Brambling too. still seemed hard work however especially as there is still very little water in the pools at Hollesley. 

North Norfolk 14th to 16th November.

Its Rachels birthday weekend and as I had booked the Thursford Christmas Spectacular I took the Friday off and headed for Norfolk. It absolutely poured it down all day with no let up so the only birding we did was a quick walk through the woods a Stiffkey. A Woodcock flushed from the undergrowth but very little in the trees or on the Marsh. 

The Saturday it still rained but not as hard so we headed for Titchwell, checking fields for Geese, not many seen probably 1000 but just a Barnacle of anything different. 

Did the track to Chosley barns and back knowing a Hoopoe had been seen heading in that direction from the roost site at Titchwell, I didn't really expect to see it but luckily the road was quiet enough that on the way back down the road towards Marsh barn farm I found it flying into fields. I waited in the rain when luckily it did return to the roadside verges. I gave it space and it enjoyed feeding along the side of the road and as there were no cars that came along the lane for a while the bird fed happily. 

I watched 50 Bramblings in the fields whilst waiting. 

Moved onto Titchwell itself where it was nice to find a Yellow Browed Warbler and a Pallas's Warbler although i later found out these had been around since early morning. I found a grey Chiffchaff which i called to a couple of other observers as a Siberian Chiffchaff, who were tentative in the ID at first but when it finally called i was proven right. Sometimes it feels like that if they didn't find it they don't want the bird to be right and it takes some people some real persuasion to believe what someone else has Identified for them. I shouldn't really care but something inside me pisses me off about it. 

Anyway at least 6 Firecrests in bush's around the carpark and VC, but on the main pools very little of note, it was still wet and miserable so didn't give it too much longer. Headed back down the coast but didn't find much of note. 

16th November time for home but did some birding anyway, back to Titchwell, it was so much busier, making the Yellow Browed and Pallas's Warblers much more illusive, I had 2 YBW calling at same time though, still several Firecrest but no sign of the Sib Chiffy. Left the Reserve to see if the Hoopoe was showing in better light but again too many birders and vehicles up and down the road for the bird to be out in the open. 

5000 Pinks at the end of the road were worth a look but it was hard to pick anything out due to distance. Many Red kites were seen, many more than I've ever seen the whole weekend. 

Found 2 Cattle Egret at Burnham Norton in the Morning on passing but when I checked on the way back there were now 6.

A Great White Egret was at Holkham from the A149 and a 15 Minute check of the Sea at Cley had a 1st Winter Little Gull and a female type Goldeneye. It was getting late now so headed the 2.5hour journey home. 

Brown Shrike

Well My patch is on fire lately, 3 patch ticks in close succession, Greenish Warbler, Pallas's Warbler and the Icing on the cake a Brown Shrike, which is actually a 1st for Suffolk. The Brown Shrike was found at Upper Hollesley Common and the same area as the Red backed shrike last year. 

I Felt lucky that the clocks only changed today, i may have had to wait to see the Shrike till the weekend rather than on the Wednesday when it was found, that would have been a total nightmare not knowing if it would stay till the weekend. I can't get after work now its dark when i leave The Wednesday i did see the Brown Shrike but only just, maybe 5 minutes of viewing before it went to roost. 

Thursday was a terrible day weather wise so we all thought it had gone but it just sheltered from the weather.

Friday it was still around so i had another look but again as it was getting late in the day it was only crappy views. Saturday was the day and i gave it the morning to see it well and eventually get some half decent shots. Accompanied with Crossbills, Dartford's and Woodlarks

Took some shots of the local Stonechats too.

A quick shot of a couple Crossbill and a Kestrel.

The afternoon was spent at Hollesley Marsh which was productive. The small amount of rain water on flash attracted a Knot, Greensand and several Redshank. Cattle egret dropped in with cattle again. I couldn't see it on deck. 28 Grey plover, a 2nd Knot, Dunlin, Sanderling and 8 Turnstone on the ness. 6 Marsh harrier inc Orange KC again, 3 Firecrest on the track to the carpark. Bearded tit in the reeds were nice.

Then today 26th i nipped down the marsh again but it was much quieter, 2 Firecrest too and 7 Goosander which i spotted as they flew south down the river out to sea. Shingle street was quiet.