I love it when you jam in on a good bird!

Dave radioed back from the beach to say that a hand rail on the beach boardwalk had come loose that that there were some nails sticking out ready to stab someone in the leg. Rob decided that he would join me for some fresh air and we headed out. When we got to the beach several people were watching a shearwater just offshore. The bird was so close in that you could see the brown upperparts, dusky underwings, dusky vent and flanks and bright pink legs - it was a Balearic and a reserve tick (261) for me and a British tick for Rob. The bird was feeding up and down the beach so I walked down to the shoreline and had the bird down to 50m out.

Ringing this weekend produced the first redwings of the year (4 overhead) and this cracking immature tawny owl. Thankfully is was nice a calm but the local blackbirds were not impressed when we released it.

The biggest frustration of the weekend was the sandhill crane. Having tracked down the Lincs coast on Saturday the news that it had ended up in Suffolk had me in two minds but I decided it was too hot and the roads would be too busy and I didn't bother. A phonecall from Jim at Snettisham this morning informed us that some visitors had gone into the office with a mystery bird photo....the sandhill crane on the beach off the Coastal Park early on saturday afternoon. I was at work but I would have certainly spent the afternoon looking out for it had we known...oh well!!

Hummingbird hawkmoth in the garden this evening.