Six species of raptor at Buckenham and a Yellow-browed at Strumpshaw!

I had to take a huge builder's sack full of tree and bamboo clippings to Strumpshaw Tip this morning, so I thought I might as well have a walk round before the rain arrived: in the event a few decent birds presented themselves - albeit mostly distantly!

Almost the first sound I heard as I walked through the wooded area past reception was the 'chewy...chewy' call of a Yellow-browed Warbler. It was travelling with a small tit flock, so although I'm pretty sure I glimpsed it a couple of times, I didn't manage a photo. Carrying on towards the river, I bumped into Ben: he'd not only heard the bird but seen it too: he reckoned it was a well-marked individual.

Tower Hide Scrape was rather deep, so the only waders were several Snipe: lots of elegant Shovelers and dapper little Teal, however. A KIngfisher perched briefly on the 'fish trap' in front of the hide: I obtained some reasonable images at the sluice on the way back to the car.

A brief stop in Fen Hide added Whinchat and Bearded Tit to the day list, but, again, the water levels are very high at the moment. Four Chinese Water Deer frisked about along the cut rides.

Having dumped the rubbish, I carried on to Buckenham. Although everything was a little far away, I managed to pick out Peregrine, Hobby, Merlin, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel hunting over the marshes and belt of woodland. No passerines to add to the tally, but some interesting hybrids among the Canadas and Barnacles. A couple of Snipe were in front of the hide (so about half a mile away!)