Smoke and Sunshine

Sunday January 10 2016

After all the rain, the glorious sunshine was too good to miss. Delayed by two long phone calls - ours to Bridget when Pam talked to her sister Janet and Sara's to both of us - it was mid-day by the time we left.

I'm enjoying this enforced driving, the car is great to drive.

Still some roadside puddles but most of the standing water had dissipated, apart from the lane to Strumpshaw which had its usual small lake across the road. Not idly named Low Road.

As I rounded the corner onto the real Buckenham Marshes, hundreds of birds startle - jumped into the sky. Lapwing, Golden Plover and Starlings. 

Golden Plover at the very top, Lapwings and Geese below

The reason showed itself. A female Peregrine landing on one of the gates which dot the marsh, soon flying down to perch on the ground.

Cantley Beet Factory looked in full production, very photogenic joined bubble-snakes of smoke forming a horizontal line against the faded winter-blue sky. 

Scanning the marsh brought hundreds of geese quietly grazing or just resting. I identified Pink-feet before driving on to where I could safely stop and set up my scope. Pam called a Little Egret before I found a number of White-fronted Geese and the flock of feral Barnacles and Canada Geese. The white-headed Barnacle still survives.

Thousands of Wigeon slept, waddled and grazed in large groups, most of them asleep. A Chinese Water Deer grazed amongst them. The geese were much too distant to even attempt identifying the TWO Tundra Bean geese reported to be present.  I did think that a goose with its landing gear down had orange legs..... 

All the photos are Pam's.
 In the past week, we have also added :
Male Siskin on the garden feeders
A pair of Bullfinches along Bachelor's Lane
Lesser Black-backed Gull near Martham