Little and Large

In the blue corner, with a wing length of 54mm and weighing in at 5.6g - the goldcrest

In the red corner, with a wing length of 367mm and weighing in at 345g - the common gull

The joys of garden ringing, one minute you are extracting a delicate little bird with tiny legs that you are scared you might squash and the next you have a pecking brute that thinks your fingers are left-over sausages!

Perfect conditions this morning meant that opening the nets in the garden was a 'no brainer' although it did take me 30mins to defrost them! It was a decent morning (they could always be better) with 18 new (8 greenfinch, 4 blackbird, 2 chaffinch, 1 dunnock, 1 goldcrest) and 3 re-traps. 3 garden yearticks were added with a tawny owl (30) calling as I opened, 4 fly-over bullfinches (31) and the ringed goldcrest (32).

Spent the afternoon at the coast with a walk around Brancaster West Marsh/Gypsy Lane producing 3 woodcock, 86 brent geese, sparrowhawk and 8 white-fronted geese. They flew west before I could get any shots and we later found them feeding just outside Thornham in a beet field with pinks and greylags (including green neck-collar SXX).

A quick look from Thornham harbour for SEO's was successful with 2 birds hunting and interacting over the fields. It was a good 15mins for raptors with 3 barn owl, 4 marsh harrier and a kestrel in the area.