A Tale of Three Pipits - Rock, Meadow and Water.

 I have to be honest, and say that, even as a "birder", I don't often look that closely at pipits. They are, after all, the very definition of an LBJ (Little Brown Job). For the last couple of years, however, I've been trying to find a lifer, in the form of a Water Pipit, so, whilst in Northumberland this week, I had to take notice of the various pipits at St Mary's Island, in order to see this particular species.

We started off on 30th December and spent an hour and a half looking at each and every bird!! Despite taking a lot of pictures, we only managed to find Rock and Meadow Pipit (photos below).

Rock Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Not to be beaten, I returned on New Year's Day, and after spotting several Rock Pipits, I managed to find, and photograph my first "lifer" of 2026, in the form of a Water Pipit.

Water Pipit

Rufford Gulls - 21st and 23rd December 2025

 This last week, whilst off school for the holidays, I had a couple of visits to Rufford to see the Black-headed Gulls. The first visit was on 21st December, when I recorded 21 green-ringed and the Lithuanian-ringed bird P519. A quick, 1 hour visit on 23rd had 12 green-ringed birds, P519 and, best of all, an adult Caspian Gull (thanks Luke!).

The green-ringed birds seen on 21st were: 206A, 273A, 284A, 208B, 272B, 202C, 207C, 269C, 270C, 273C, 298C, 2V10, 2V16, 221F, 227F, 241F, 292F, 200H, 207H, 208H and 225H.

284A - my first sighting since March 2023!

Birds seen on 23rd were: 258A, 208B, 202C, 207C, 273C, 298C, 234F, 292F, 2V16, 200H, 208H, 225H. P519 was also seen again.

208H