Every dog …

Some years are better than others for some migrants. Every species has its moment. This year so far I’ve hardly seen any winter thrushes. Reports inland have been of decent numbers but any that arrived probably went over the coast here quite high up. Last year we were knee deep in them.

Early in the autumn we had a glut of Whinchat here on the Hill; seven and eight at a time in a small area. In previous years during our time at Falcon Cottage they have been quite scarce.

I wonder what will turn up to delight us this winter. There appears to be an influx of Hawk Owls on the continent. In fact there’s one in Holland less than 200 miles, as the Owl flies, from Northrepps. Now one of those would be something worth seeing. The last one was in 1986 on Shetland. One in Norfolk would really cause a stir. Maybe I could try a well worded tweet to Santa or maybe ones already loitering within a clearing in the Brecks somewhere