Great White Egret at Bowthorpe Marsh

The beautiful adult GWE is back yet again for another 'Spring' holiday in the mid-Yare valley at Bowthorpe Marsh. As ever, the bird was quite wary this morning (probably because of the numbers of off-lead dogs) but a bit of stealth and patience resulted in excellent views for Linda and me.

Other birds included a close fly-by Woodcock, several Snipe, a Redshank, lots of Fieldfares and a very obliging Heron.

Whitlingham Broad: Coues's Redpoll and Smew

Since Linda needed more bird seed (!) and I was becoming stir-crazy, we decided on a walk around Whitlingham Broad on the off chance we might catch up with some of the recently-present interesting visitors.

After a trudge along the southern shore, we bumped into Dave Holman coming the other way: he hadn't seen the redhead Smew, but confirmed that the Redpoll flock was back by the car park. We decided to look for those, but had only walked a hundred metres when Dave kindly whistled us back: the Smew had appeared on the opposite side. After a look through Dave's 'scope, I managed one quick shot before this cute sawbill flew east.

After a bit of a walk around (enlivened by a well-marked Cormorant and a Kingfisher) we connected with the Redpoll flock: Dave Holman and Chris Lansdell soon pinned down the bright little Coues's Redpoll, allowing me to grab a few shots into the branches! (Nice to meet Dave Russell and 'Hethersett  Tim', too!)

Guarding!

Interesting observation: the Fieldfares (and, to a lesser extent, the Blackbirds) came out of roost well before dawn to guard their pieces of apple! They were very aggressive towards anything that came near... Several Jays fell foul of the Fieldfares' territoriality and resorted to the suet and mealworms on the feeders.

Our little pond and cascade are proving very popular, since there's fresh running water 24/7.

Looking for victims!

As soon as we have a bit of sunshine, the local Buzzards are out looking for their lunch! One nearly landed in the garden! Still 20+ Fieldfares and lots of the usual suspects: who knew Black-headed Gulls enjoy a few raisins?

Still bleak!

As the cold spell continues, more and more birds of a wider range of species are coming into the garden to feed: Greenfinches are not that common normally, but - with Goldfinches - they've been coming to the feeders and water every day. Still lots of Fieldfares!

Fieldfare City!

As dawn broke this morning, we could see yesterday's flock of 20+ Fieldfares roosting in our beech hedge and magnolia: they quickly swooped down onto the raisins and apples that Linda put out. They were joined by lots of Starlings and Blackbirds, while the Wagtails seemed to prefer the suet blocks!