Other interesting birds were a couple of Buzzards, a Swallow building inside Fen Hide and a brace of RLPs on the office roof! Oh! The Golden Plover flock is still in the ploughed field to the east of Ranworth Road, as is the Yellow Wagtail!
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Word to the unwary!
Walking around Strumpshaw (bumping into Brian, Mark, Clive & Adrian) I came across some very strangely marked Marsh Harriers: having been told by Ben that there had been a couple of unchecked reports of Montie's, I couldn't help wonder about this very pale male Marshie..... and as for this female!!!
Other interesting birds were a couple of Buzzards, a Swallow building inside Fen Hide and a brace of RLPs on the office roof! Oh! The Golden Plover flock is still in the ploughed field to the east of Ranworth Road, as is the Yellow Wagtail!
Other interesting birds were a couple of Buzzards, a Swallow building inside Fen Hide and a brace of RLPs on the office roof! Oh! The Golden Plover flock is still in the ploughed field to the east of Ranworth Road, as is the Yellow Wagtail!
Monday, 29 April 2013
Blue Monday!
This being the title of one of the favourite songs in my current set: it also describes the emotions associated with a return to blocking northerlies and a drop in air temperature!
A circuit around the Fen was not without interest: a Hobby, a Peregrine, more Swifts, lots of Hirundines, over a dozen Marsh Harriers, a reeling Gropper and perky Wrens and Nuthatches at the feeder. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our resident Stock Dove pair are daily visitors to the seed....
Patch list: 128
A circuit around the Fen was not without interest: a Hobby, a Peregrine, more Swifts, lots of Hirundines, over a dozen Marsh Harriers, a reeling Gropper and perky Wrens and Nuthatches at the feeder. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our resident Stock Dove pair are daily visitors to the seed....
Patch list: 128
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Two ticks!
A brisk flog of the patch this afternoon added two overdue year ticks: Swift & Wheatear at Buckenham. Other interesting species were Buzzard, Hobby (x2), Yellow Wagtail and all the Hirundines
Garden Harrier!
This male Marsh Harrier was nearly forced down into our tiny garden by the attentions of the local crows!
Hard to get decent pictures through my office window, but you get the idea!
Hard to get decent pictures through my office window, but you get the idea!
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| The dark 'horizon' is our kitchen roof! |
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Let's go spy a Kite!
A snatched couple of hours at the Fen was spectacularly productive! Three lovely Common Terns, a single Arctic, lots of Sedge, Garden & Reed Warblers and a Cuckoo! Best of all: a fine (moulting!) Red Kite over Tower Hide Scrape. Great that 'Postman Kim' was there to enjoy this Strumpshaw tick!
My unofficial patch list is now 125
On the way home, better views of the Golden Plover flock, as well as the Yellow Wag again...
My unofficial patch list is now 125
On the way home, better views of the Golden Plover flock, as well as the Yellow Wag again...
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Falcon day!
Funny old day, really: a Peregrine over Blofield Heath this morning and afternoon and a Hobby at Strumpshaw. Walking around the Fen I came across a crowd with cameras snapping away at a calling Common Whitethroat (see photo!) which their 'knowledgable leader' was telling them in a loud voice was a Lesser! Ironically, there was a Lesser there too, but it wasn't sitting on top of a sallow bush! They didn't even notice the three Common Terns that flew over calling!
On the way home from Norwich with Linda, we stopped to photograph a nice flock of summer-plumaged Golden Plovers and added a patch tick in the form of a Yellow Wagtail!
On the way home from Norwich with Linda, we stopped to photograph a nice flock of summer-plumaged Golden Plovers and added a patch tick in the form of a Yellow Wagtail!
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Warblers everywhere!
What a difference a southerly wind makes! There were newly-arrived warblers and hirundines everywhere in the Yare Valley today: Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps & Garden Warblers, all singing their heads off around Strump & Buck. Lots of Cetti's and a White Wagtail too....
So three new patch ticks for the year, but no worthwhile photos, despite good views of Sparrowhawk, Nuthatch, Reed & Sedge Warbler and Bullfinch.
So three new patch ticks for the year, but no worthwhile photos, despite good views of Sparrowhawk, Nuthatch, Reed & Sedge Warbler and Bullfinch.
Monday, 22 April 2013
Mötley Crüe
It was good to bump into the usual suspects at Strumpshaw and catch up with the news: Brian and Norman were planning a trip with Mark to Filey Brigg: they're turning into real twitchers! LOL!
On the bird front: warblers everywhere and the usual rear-end only views of a Kingfisher (Although Norman got a terrific hovering photo before he mentioned the bird to the rest of us!)
Got possibly my best picture of a Cetti's....
On the bird front: warblers everywhere and the usual rear-end only views of a Kingfisher (Although Norman got a terrific hovering photo before he mentioned the bird to the rest of us!)
Got possibly my best picture of a Cetti's....
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Lovely day for it!
A snatched six-miler around the Fen this afternoon was not immensely productive, but thoroughly enjoyable! There were Peacocks & Small Torts everywhere, while every bush seemed to hold a newly-arrived warbler: Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Willow Warblers & Chiffchaffs were singing lustilly in the sunshine!
Tower Hide produced distant but welcome views of a somewhat dusky Bittern feeding along the reed margins, while the riverside walk was enlivened by a 'kettle' of four Buzzards.
Tower Hide produced distant but welcome views of a somewhat dusky Bittern feeding along the reed margins, while the riverside walk was enlivened by a 'kettle' of four Buzzards.
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