A cracking ringing tick and Brent Geese in the mist.

Boom.

Spotted Flycatcher

The first Spotted Flycatcher ever caught at our ringing site and I was lucky enough to stick a ring on its leg! They aren't summer residents on our site, although they can be found in more suitable habitat about ten minutes drive away, but this was a youngster moving through in mid September.

We also did well for 2 members of the Tit family in the past few months that are fairly unusual for us to catch. Marsh Tits, the one on the right, are the species that we more commonly come across whilst Willow Tits, on the left, are more of a rarity. Having the two of them on the same day was allowed for us to compare the defining features of the two species when trying to identify them in the hand.

The Willow Tit can be identified by the presence of a white panel on the secondary feathers once the wing is closed, whilst the easiest feature to pick out on a Marsh Tit is the presence of white on the base of the bill. For more information, this website provides a good breakdown:
http://birdingfrontiers.com/2012/03/23/marsh-or-willow-tit/

Brent Geese out on the sea through the morning fog.

About a month after that glorious day of ringing I visited Spurn Point on a trip with my local bird group. I'd not visited Spurn for about 10 years, and my last memories were of getting a Red Backed Shrike on someone's garden fence, being drowned in Yellow Browed Warblers and then staking out a bush for a couple of hours to get sight of a Radde's Warbler. Unfortunately there was nothing even remotely on the same level upon this visit. After scanning the vegetation in the pub car park to try and find a reported Yellow Browed Warbler and only coming up with a Chiffchaff, we headed along the sea edge to see what we could find.

It was then that the most biblical fog I have ever seen in my life rolled in off the sea and completely blanketed the entire area for a good hour or so. This, as you can imagine, made birding near impossible unless the birds were within about 20 metres of us. Luckily, a few thoughtful birds abliged and we managed to see Brent Geese (to my knowledge a lifer for me), Wheatear and a selection of waders. Then as the mist cleared we picked up Stonechat and Whinchat sat next to each other in the fields as well as my first Fieldfare of the year.

Once the fog cleared up it was a glorious day.

Unfortunately though that was about it for the whole day. We searched for a Firecrest in vain before giving up hope and deciding to head back. It wasn't until I got home and checked Twitter that I saw reports of a Radde's Warbler sighted at Spurn only an hour after we had left.

Typical.