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markgolley.bsky.social
The White Falcon
@markgolley.bsky.social
1.2K followers 840 following 1.3K posts
Freelance TV sport producer || Limosa obsessive L3 ❤️ || BOURC voting member || Cley Moth Obs || TG04 = the Patch || ex-Norfolk Records Committee member || Gulls & Geese👌|| Music lover: give me as much Neil Young as you like ☮️🕊️ || Don't Spook The Horse.
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markgolley.bsky.social
Another bitterly cold morning & despite double gloves, my fingers were numb within moments of trying to get video of the East Bank Water Pipits. At least four seen (w/only a couple of Meadow Pipits) on the frosty ground. Harsh light but, w/patience, some v. nice views👌.
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
January 6, 2026 at 8:09 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Stepped out of the front door this morning into bright sunshine behind me but out to the northwest~ uh-oh! Within a few moments after this, the vast charcoal cloud was racing towards me on the cold wind & soon it all changed.

Here's a little thread from my very wintery 5 miles this morning...
1/6
January 5, 2026 at 6:54 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
New seawatcher-in-waiting at the Beach Hotel today...
Quite grumpy to be fair and with a look of disgust & disdain as it went into the north bay...
January 4, 2026 at 3:58 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Watched these for a good while ~ Russian White-front + Tundra Bean. They looked, for all the world, like a pair, feeding together, one roosting while the other fed & vice versa. I've seen photos of presumed hybrid RWFG x Bean Goose, so...🤷 Pair or not, lovely interaction.
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
Russian White-fronted Goose & Tundra Bean Goose, out on Cricket Marsh today ~ shame that the light was so fierce today (but I won't moan too much about wall to wall sunshine ☀️)
January 4, 2026 at 3:47 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Clear Cley sky today & still bitterly cold in the WNW'ly. Icy pools but still managed a nice mix of birds - a good goose selection, Water Pipit + Kingfisher. The highlight tho' was a Woodcock evading a double whammy of Marsh Harrier & Peregrine across North to East Bank.
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
A familiar view on a crystal clear morning ~ looking west from East Bank. There's a lot of Grey Seal pups around the beach at the moment... The breakers just kept rolling in...
January 4, 2026 at 3:30 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Pintail pair,
North Scrape, Cley
January 3 2026
...the drake absorbing a slushy splash as the cold wind whipped it's way across the scrape.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
January 3, 2026 at 7:37 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
The exquiste Pintails on the North seemed at home roosting on the icy slush around the scrape this afternoon. Such a sensational bird ~ of all the wildfowl we get here, this is the one ~ the beyond handsome drake & the beautifully subtle duck.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
January 3, 2026 at 7:35 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Bitterly cold at Cley today 🥶 A covering of snow early on, accompanied by a strong WNW'ly with sleet, more snow showers plus freezing rain to follow through the rest of the day (with some sunny spells too). But it really wasn't a nice day to be out...❄️💦🌬️
@linnetincley.bsky.social
January 3, 2026 at 7:31 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Headed home via a few goose fields ~ a huge cloud of flushed birds greeted us near Brancaster, so we carried on east. Came across one decent flock of 3-4000 birds ~ the only goose with a white cheek I could find was this smart Barnacle...
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
January 2, 2026 at 8:16 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
The eyes have it...
Long-eared Owl
Deeping Lakes, Lincolnshire
January 2 2026
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 7:56 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
The LWT Deeping Lakes reserve had a nice variety of wildfowl + bonus Bittern & Long-eared Owl too. There may be up to four LEOs present at the mo ~ we saw this super-furtive bird right beside the hide. I actually really enjoyed the peek-a-boo views.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 7:55 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Bittern
Deeping Lakes, Lincolnshire
January 2 2026
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 6:55 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
This Bittern flew right across in front of us as we supped our coffee in the car park at Deeping. Happily we could see where it landed, in a sunny spot on the edge of an icy pool, where it showed in wonderfully enigmatic Bittern fashion for a while.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 6:54 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Post the Snow Goose success we thawed out with a coffee at the LWT Deeping Lakes reserve, where the best birds were mainly trying to play hide & seek! Bittern & Long-eared Owl from a cracking morning over the border...
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 6:49 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Snow Goose
Deeping Lakes, Lincolnshire
January 2 2026
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 6:44 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
It must be close on 15 years since I've seen a pukka Snow Goose & I've no doubt the Deeping Goose is good. Whoopers as a carrier species is fine, it's just like the Welney bird of 1997. Transit w/Icelandic Pinks or Whoopers is OK by me for this forgotten rare...
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#ukbirding
Whooper Swan dwarfing the Snow Goose a few hundred yards along the road from Deeping Lakes this morning. The Snow Goose was clearly being very vocal, marching from one end of the mixed swan flock to the other, often seen to be barking at every Mute or Whooper it passed (too far away and too gusty to hear it honk!).
January 2, 2026 at 6:44 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Sometimes you get an itch & you can't help but scratch it...
...three days ago, we spent hours in the Fenland cold admiring grey geese & Whooper Swans but the star prize eluded us. Today? "Ta-Da"! Snow Goose by Deeping Lakes on a raw-edged Friday.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#LincsBirding
#ukbirding
January 2, 2026 at 6:26 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Pale-bellied Brant with Dark-bellieds at the back of the Hangs earlier today.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
January 1, 2026 at 8:38 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
...as well as the plants, we did record some January 1st birds 😎 The highlight was a surprise Green Sandpiper on a pungent puddle + 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Pale-bellied Brants, 4 Barnacle Geese out the back with Pinks & our garden Barn Owl first thing.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
#cleybirds
January 1, 2026 at 8:06 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
For me, the prettiest flower of our New Year Plant Hunt had to be the exquisite soft indigo & snow white of the Ivy-leaved Toadflax. I mean, this is just wow!
@linnetincley.bsky.social
@bsbibotany.bsky.social
#cleyplants
January 1, 2026 at 8:02 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
A nice break from the norm for us today, heading out for the New Year Plant Hunt, organised by @bsbibotany.bsky.social. We'd done a recce or two & came up with 60 species of flowering plant in the alloted three hours ~ very happy with that. See ALT for plants👍
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#cleyplants
One of my very favourite views here, heading east along Barn Drift. The gorgeous & striking female flowers of Hazel. We've looked at a lot of Ivy in the last couple of weeks and hadn't seen a single hint of any flowers. Today, success! The tiny, delicate flowers of (what we think is...) Broad-leaved Dock. Very hard to see the blossom until under the phone-camera.
January 1, 2026 at 7:55 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
One last one...
St Benet's Taiga Beans at the top & bottom (from February 2023, the last Taigas in Norfolk until today) with the North Point bird sandwiched in between.
Overall vibe, including favoured feeding areas, pretty much the same...
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
Happy New Year 🎉
December 31, 2025 at 11:09 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Taiga Bean Goose
North Point, Wells
December 31 2025
I love birds like this, I really do. A genuinely educational bird, this atypically small goose has been much discussed during the day. Perhaps some images don't convey the in-field Taiga-ness of it.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
1/7
December 31, 2025 at 10:58 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
Black-throated Diver
Brancaster Staithe
December 31 2025
I think these must be the nicest views I've ever had of a Black-throated Diver in the county (still a description species here). This stunning juvenile is quite the performer. A wonderful bird.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
1/2
December 31, 2025 at 8:57 PM
markgolley.bsky.social
A dazzling Christmas week of Norfolk birdwatching closed w/the most educational Bean Goose I've encountered (more on that to come), the superb juvenile Black-throated Diver at Brancaster Staithe & at least 12k Pink-feet (across two flocks) + Tundra Bean...
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
Taiga Bean Goose at North Point, near Wells at lunchtime today. There's been a good deal of informed debate and conversation through the morning. The bird was so striking in the field (there's no substitute for that...) and my initial feeling that it might be a Tundra Bean Goose eased away when the bird was quietly feeding alone in the sedges. The head shape, bill shape, pattern of the orange, the shape of the grinning patch & (occasional) longish-looking neck all suggested Taiga Bean Goose. The most curious feature is the small (tiny even) size of the bird, barely much bigger than a small a Pink-foot when it was flying around with the Greylags. Could a runt female Tundra Bean Goose (as has been suggested) then look like a Taiga in many of the ways mentioned above? Bean Geese identification is often relatively straightforward. Tundras look like Tundras and vice versa. And that's has been the case this week ~ the small sample of 15 to 20 Tundras have all looked just like Tundras. This bird didn't look overly like Tundra in the field. And then there's the sideways slant of habitat. The North Point bird is in identical habitat as the Broadland Taigas. Does this mean anything as a soft, secondary "feature"?
December 31, 2025 at 8:49 PM