Definitely the highlight of today- bird number 197 on the year list- 3 bearded tits seen by Emma from Fen Hide. It's a bird we're both very familiar with after each spending the summer at Titchwell Marsh but they're a barely annual visitor this far north. One of our regulars has mentioned seeing possible bearded tits last weekend as well, so it's possible they could be hanging around for a while. They're quite hard to spot on a windy day but the best way is to keep an eye out for small buff-y brown birds with obviously long tails dashing across the cut gap of reeds.
From the centre the juvenile Hen Harrier has been showing off, looking especially good close in this afternoon. Goose numbers seem to have settled down now, with just over 8,700 recorded this morning. We think the light, bright moonlit night and the ever present fireworks may have thrown the numbers off slightly (certainly the ones flying over our house at 8.30pm last night seemed a bit confused) but it seems likely that we're now seeing our regular winter population with the majority of our migrating birds having headed south.
We're still picking up a few numbered goose collars in the flock, along with a colour-ringed Whooper Swan today. We'll send these numbers off to WWT and we'll let you know their life stories as soon as we get the information back.
Emma, It's not fair!! I wanted to see a bearded tit. I bet you they were waiting for me to leave before they made an appearance. Perhaps you can send them down this way?