On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

Pure brilliance - a sketch sent over by John Steele capturing the moment

Snapping from Brownsman - Stone Curlew (honest!!) on South Wamses (Graeme Duncan)

Wardens in action, Jason and Steely taking shelter (Graeme Duncan)

Wednesday 1st December comments: We see some strange and wonderful things out on the Farnes, but today even made the most optimistic warden gasp in disbelief.

Picture the scene; a cold icy easterly wind blowing for the umpteenth day, snow blizzards coming and going, solid icy ground and marauding Grey Seals on Brownsman. Welcome to 1st December.

So why, oh why did we have a Stone Curlew arrive on the islands?

Stone Curlews breed in southern England in small numbers and usually migrate out of the country by late autumn. The species is a real rarity to Northumberland and the last Farnes record dates back to 1950 when an individual was killed against the Longstone Lighthouse.

This morning resident warden Jason flushed a bird from the vegetable garden on Brownsman, which flew over to the nearby South Wamses. There it remained, amongst Grey Seals on a shingle bank for the majority of the day, much to the delight of the island warden team. What a crazy bird. This bird should be nowhere near the Farnes, or Northumberland, or the North-east come to think about it. We’ll never know where this has come from, but the weird world of the Farnes continues to throw up surprises. Now how does that song go…on the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me….a Stone Curlew on a seal beach…