Plans had changed somewhat in the autumn so travel was somewhat different.The first place that I spent an enjoyable couple of mornings was Snettisham in Norfolk. I have been there a couple of times in the pastto witness the amazing spectacle of the masses of waders flying in at high tide.This year the tide times were quite late so combined with good weather and newly built hides, I got to see the spectacle at its best!

The numbers of knot and other waders like black tailed godwits and oystercatchers is astonishing .

They fly in and roost in the scrapes.

It is great fun as there are so many photo opportunities with massed numbers of birds as well as individuals.

A knot above and a small group of oystercatchers flying in.

I also got to spend a little time on some of our more local birds, just like during lockdown! It was pretty good as the first of them was a bird that I have struggled to get any pictures of in the last few years, the short eared owl. I always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! Not this year. As soon as I got word that there were birds locally I managed to go and get some shots. It was great fun having a good subject with good light to work with.

There were seven birds hunting in a fairly small area.

Watching glide over the marsh was great.

They would hover, then dive down onto their prey.

Not much chance if you are a vole!

A great few days.

The next group were the waxwings. These Scandinavian residents fly in to the UK during the winter to spend time away from the more severe climate. They can pop up anywhere ,usually where there are lots of berries to eat. I was in the surgery early one morning when the practice manager phoned me to say that there were a group of strange looking men with big cameras outside! I knew there must be something interesting about so popped out to see 6 waxwings in the tree no more that 50m away! It was great and ove rthe next few days, I certainly ‘filled my boots’ with waxwing pictures.

They are such attractive birds and looked very festive with the berries in shot

I put this shot on the Surrey birding site and it got over 1100 likes!!

I did get to do a little travelling. Lisbon for a few days was nice and I had a day out at Evoa where I chased a hen harrier around without ever getting close enough for good pictures. A marsh herrier obliged though.

As did some surprisingly colourful glosssy ibis

There were some odd birds such as the common waxbills that must originally have been captive but have clearly succeeded in settling

There were a few lovely black shouldered kites around. I have chased these guys in the past!!

The highlight though was a beautiful small falcon, a merlin, that landed just near the road

A real poser!