Old Year, New Year

(Sunday 4^th January, 2026)

Our journey to Burton Marsh this morning was somewhat curtailed by a huge smothering of snow that blew in from the mouth of the Dee estuary. It was a crisp 2°C when we set off, with a sharp north-westerly drifting in, and we saw flocks of Canada geese and Pink-footed geese out on the marsh. Nearby, we detected several Pheasant hens moving stealthily through the undergrowth and, as we scanned the ground with binoculars and cameras, we sensed the vast sky around us beginning to darken. Seconds later we were retreating towards the car, thoroughly covered in snow! At least it wasn’t snowing inside Ness Gardens café though!

Pheasant (female), Burton Marsh, 4th January 2026

As a consequence of our brief outing, there wasn’t a great deal to report. This weekend doesn’t look a great deal better: the birds are out, but not the birders! However, we’ve been inspired to post this selection of photographs from 2025, after receiving an e-mail notification from fellow blogger Bob Ramsak who posted his favourite bird photographs of 2025 https://bobramsak.com/my-25-best-bird-photos-of-2025/ Please take a look at Bob’s site – you won’t be disappointed.

Anyway, back to The Dee and Thereabouts and we hope you enjoy this week’s post, which is really a selection of photographs of our 2025 discoveries. We only started the blog in June but even in this short space of time we’ve encountered quite a variety of fauna and flora (and fungi) on our travels, as well as the variety in terrain that our area holds. We’ll continue to try and entertain you with our ramblings (in both senses of the word) throughout 2026!