Christmas and New Year break

Finished work at lunchtime Christmas eve and decided to have a look to see if i could find the reported Lesser Yellowlegs seen the day before at Martlesham Wilds/creak. It was my first time here so all was new but i did find a vantage point that i could check may birds in the creek.  The first decent bird i spotted was an unseasonal Juvenile Garganey, not something i was expecting for sure. 

A firecrest was my next good find calling and showing well from the trees next to me. I couldn't find the Yellowlegs however in the 100 or so Redshank. Other birds were Goldeneye, Bar tailed godwit many Grey plover hundreds of Teal and thousands of Dunlin.  A nice spot for my first visit

December 25th

Extremely cold and windy at Hollesley making it extremely difficult to look through the scope and keeping it steady also all Gulls were facing away, the wind was blowing straight at the screen giving no shelter. However i did just about pick out 6 Caspian Gull 2 1 winters and 4 adults also 2 adult yellow legged gull. The 2 cattle egret were still in fields as were 4 whitefronts. Back on the scrape 3 Ruff, a Dunlin and 5 Ringed plover. I gave up fairly sharply after. Back in my garden though after filling up the feeders with my Christmas presents a female Brambling and male Blackcap.

December 26th 

Visited Hollesley mid afternoon today but the Gulls all came in quite late so lights wasn't great but 11 Caspian gulls of all ages were great the weather must have been forcing the birds to move onto the scrape. 3 Yellow legged Gulls also with a 3rd winter and 2 adults. Not all were on the scrape with some on the shingle ridge. 2 Cattle egret still and a Ruff. The Barn owl was hunting towards the farm and 14 Barnacle geese dropped in late.

December 27th

The Geese were on top form today did a circular to Boyton and back, the fields halfway between Boyton and Hollesley ended up with hundreds of geese. Originally 3 Bean Geese dropped in with 300 Russian White fronted Geese, these soon took off and i was disappointed not to get a pic but not to worry as 22 more Tundra Bean Geese dropped in, most id seen in Suffolk. Geese were dropping in all the time mostly more Whitefronts. Barnacles geese 16 and 11 Brent Geese.

Finally 2 Pink footed geese just wandered into view and a male Peregrine sat watching the geese.

Finished with 2 Yellow legged gulls and an Adult Caspian gull on Hollesley scrape and a 3rd winter Caspian Gull on Boyton pools. 2 Cattle Egret still and 1 Red Kite. 

December 28th

Nipped to Martlesham Creek and walked the Deben to Woodbridge again. Nothing special but a Ruff and Bar tailed godwit were photographic highlights. Still no sign of Yellowlegs and i couldn't locate the Garganey again. 

December 31st

Last day of the year so just had a walk along the beach at Sizewell, 2 big male Grey Seals were loafing on the beach and then up on the South levels all the geese and ducks were asleep but the 2 Common crane were feeding at distance. Nothing else of note. 

Happy New Year

1st January, i had half day at work but visited Levington Creek afterwards, again a new site for me but nothing really of note, lots of birds but nowt to right home about, a female Red breasted merganser and a Great crested grebe was it. 

2nd January

Another half day at work and managed to get to Hollesley an hour before dark. flocks of 28 and 5 Bean Geese came into roost at Boyton hall farm, a Peregrine was playing havoc with the 300 Whitefronts and a Red kite distantly. Lastly an Adult Caspian gull on scrape.

3rd January

Up early to do a circular of Hollesley to Boyton and back, a Peregrine dive bombing ducks on a pond behind Boyton hall farm and then in fields 4 Bean Geese again. I waited a while here and eventually had 40+ Bean Geese, 300 Whitefronts, 24 Barnacle geese, 2 Pink-footed geese and the usual feral stuff. The Snow blizzard was spectacular but led to nothing settling for long.  

On the walk back a Merlin carrying prey towards the ness and now 4 Cattle Egret in fields viewed from the carpark area.  The super moon was bright.

 

January 4th 

Another morning at work so nipped to Felixstowe and the Falkenham Marshes where the Black Brant was distant as were 2 Tundra Bean Geese and a White-fronted Goose, it was blowing of gale and very cold making the eyes water so we saw what we needed to and then nipped to the ferry inn for a hot chocolate.  A nice break over the festive period with some nice birds but that mega is still alluding me.

Colour ringed Black headed gull Hollesley 2LTF rung in 2016 in the Thames area and first time its been seen since.

2025 finished my Hollelsey10km square was a respectable 189 species. 

Geese

 Last weekend 14th December i was out on patch early morning (Hollesley) as i was gonna nip out to look at the Bean Geese on Gedgrave marsh, after searching through all the geese and gulls here i picked out a few good gulls, Caspian and Yellow legged. 2 Ruff and the 2 Cattle egret still. Then i spotted 5 Geese coming in from the North Orange legs, small and dark, bingo it was the 5 Bean Geese, they then landed out of sight in the long grass but after getting a better look they were the 5 Tundra Bean Geese from Gedgrave marsh. I told myself they would probably visit Hollesley at some point over the winter just not so soon.  They did however just stay for the day before probably heading back to Gedgrave marsh. 

20th on Hollesley just a Yellow legged gull of note, although the 2 Cattle Egret were still on site.

Today 21 December 

Started in Rendlesham forest, Firecrest and Crossbill of note and back at Hollesley for the afternoon, 6 Russian White Fronted Geese, the 2 Cattle Egret still and an Adult Caspian gull, Many ducks now but i couldnt pick anything unusual out. Waders were 3 Ruff, 5 Ringed Plover and 3 Dunlin, 8 Turnstone and 6 Grey Plover on the Shingle.

Malaga December 2025 8th to12th

Monday 8th 

Technically not a birding holiday but i brought my scope anyway😉 So what was the first thing we did.. yes birding. So arrived at Malaga airport by 1300 hours and we always like to stop at the Parque Del Guadlhorce as its an excellent reserve. Unfortunately today was a blasted Spanish bank holiday so it was packed full of people, not birding either. Birding could have been better but it was still better than anything we have in the UK. Noticeable increase in Chiffchaffs and Black Redstart, a Desert Orange tip Butterfly was new to me. 

At the first hide the excellent White Headed ducks were visible 1 Juvenile, 1 Female and a more distant male. 

Pochards were here and plenty of Little Grebe, 3 Black winged stilts and 3 LRP with a Greenshank were pick of the waders. A swallow was hawking the pool and then a huge kettle of 150 White Storks appeared in the distance. Monk Parakeets everywhere. 

4 Booted Eagles were a bonus as was a Common Buzzard. Zitters were calling everywhere as were the Kingfishers. 2 young Flamingo looked like they will be staying for the winter. 

Moved onto the mound overlooking some different pools, Marble Ducks were the pick of the birds here with probably 8 birds seen. 4 Kingfishers chasing each other too. 

Onto the main lagoon which had loads of birds on it, the usual Black necked grebes 12 at least, an Osprey perched up with the mass of Cormorants, Common ducks and waders with a few Sanderling and Grey Plover. A Showy Greenshank, 2 More Flamingo. Gulls were mainly LBBG, Some YLG and Black headed and a couple of Slender billed. The Monk Parakeets were being extremely noisy. Cormorants of the race Sinensis

A walk towards the sea brought our first and only Hoopoe of the trip, 2 very close Monk Parakeets and our only Crested larks too. 

The Sea was excellent a Red Throated Diver must be rare here. Razorbills wintering and a Black necked grebe flew west. The spectacle was the 10s thousands of gulls mainly LBBG huge numbers, along with great views of 400 Balearic Shearwaters and a few Gannet.

When looking through the Balearic Shearwaters I found what looked like 2-3 Yelkouan Shearwater and after taking some pics others agreed. I ended up in a tavaner on the beach where i could watch the Balearics flopping onto the sea presumably feeding on something.  Yelkouan and Balearics below. 

Balearics only below. All pictures taken from the land.

From others Yelkouan and Balearic may be lumped again due to cross breeding especially from the Majorcan population which is what these could be. 

Time to get to the hotel and check in Mijas Pueblo before dark. 

Tuesday 9th 

Started from the balcony of the hotel with Black Redstart, Crossbills, Firecrest and Crested Tits, not bad for hotel garden. Then headed for a day around Setenil de las Bodegas, a small village built into the rocky mountain, but birding was limited to a Sparrowhawk, 5 Grey Wagtail and many Spotless Starlings then a large group of 50 Griffon Vultures. I was hoping for some more mountain species but they didn't appear. So after spending most of the day here i got the option of nipping up a track along the Sierra de las Nieves, It was getting late so i didn't expect too much, first great bird though was a cracking Iberian Grey Shrike, it was camera shy however. Then at least 130 Griffons with some very close was great, 2 Black Vultures was a very nice surprise. 

Ravens everywhere and further up the track where we stopped due to a large volume of birds i had my first target bird, a Rock Bunting, 2 infact along with Cirl buntings and a Mistle Thrush.  Not seen Rock Bunting for many years.  At the top of the track to a picnic spot Chough were flying over constantly and Firecrest and Crested tits showed nicely.  This took us till dark so had to give in and head back to the Hotel.

Wednesday 10th 

The weather wasn't nice today very rainy, so it was a case of doing the touristy stuff in Mijas, the only birding was with bins but it started excellently with a calling YELLOW BROWED WARBLER, probably my rarest bird to date that i have found in Spain. It didn't hang around unfortunately as the hordes of coach trips and school trips arrived making a great noise.  Other bits were the Rock doves, more Firecrest and better views of Crested tit. 

The afternoon again i didn't have long birding as the nights soon draw in here too but looking at the map an upland quarry could be good to look around. Sendero Cerro de la Medialuna, a spectacular looking quarry that had been planted with pines on the hand made terraces all around. Rock Bunting was common here with at least 8 birds seen and showed much better than previously at Nieves. Serin were  common but never easy to photograph. I was still hoping for a couple more target species the Black Wheatear and Alpine Accentor but i failed on both counts.  The Rock Buntings made up for it though. Again stayed till dark but nothing new found. 

Thursday 11th

Thursday was just a tourist day in Malaga so that was the end of my birding, as we were due to fly next morning home. Malaga birds however ring necked parakeet with the Monk parakeet, YLG was the most prominent gull, Black redstarts and a Buzzard sp was about it. 

Still in the short time we were in Spain i managed a respectable 94 Species.... Here.