A pleasure to be setting off at 6.15 a.m. on such a beautiful morning. Cloudless sky and warm sun - it never got too hot to-day. Shame about the birds, still hadn't hit double figures of species by the time we got to Valley Farm Lane. This visit was notable for seeing 30+ Tree Sparrows in the hedge and lane, they must have had a good breeding season.
We met our gamekeeper friend near the barns, accompanied by his new dog which is a supposed Jack Russell with overtones of Dachsund ! He told us of finding many dead 'King Harry' - what he calls Goldfinches. Do they suffer from the same virus as Greenfinches?
Abbey Farm Hide added a moth to the list. Pam had her camera but is not happy with the result, the moth group think it's some form of Rustic........
Pam found a Sparrowhawk on its prey, roadside, immediately before Flitcham Village. She took a few shots through the windscreen. It was obscured for me, she was good enough to inch across the road so that I could manage a few before it took off.
Snettisham looked glorious. A real edge to the wind under clear skies. We trawled the footpath dividing the RSPB pits from the chalet pit, looking for insects. We found one Small/Essex Skipper
a few bees and nothing else. Such a lovely selection of wild flowers in wide swathes too, what's happened to everything. No inter-connecting habitat could be the reason.
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| View north over the Chalet Pit from the footpath |
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| West to the Wash from the footpath |
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| Some of the vegetation |
Despite the low tide-line, there was an excellent selection of both number and species of the 'usual' birds, on view.
Curlew, Bar and Black-tailed Godwit, Great Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, 1 Turnstone, hundreds of Dunlin, Common and Sandwich Terns, Shelduck, Avocets, Knot, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Lesser Black-backed Gull. All was good in our world.
Nothing flying at Holme either, apart from a single Red Darter patrolling the boardwalk to The NOA Broadwater Hide . In total, we saw, 1 Small Skipper, 1 Comma, 1 Red Admiral and a few Large and Small Whites.
Two Tufted Duck, a few Avocets and some Mallard on and from the Broadwater. Why do I disregard the dozens of Greylag we have seen to-day?
Usually only open at weekends, we saw that the Hunstanton Ice-cream kiosk at Drove Orchards was open .......school holidays. One Lemon Meringue cone later, I saw these well grown young Swallows above the shop entrance, looking longingly at every passing adult.
Added
I forgot to add 5 young Red-crested Pochard to our Titchwell day - previous entry
Curlew, Bar and Black-tailed Godwit, Great Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, 1 Turnstone, hundreds of Dunlin, Common and Sandwich Terns, Shelduck, Avocets, Knot, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Lesser Black-backed Gull. All was good in our world.
Nothing flying at Holme either, apart from a single Red Darter patrolling the boardwalk to The NOA Broadwater Hide . In total, we saw, 1 Small Skipper, 1 Comma, 1 Red Admiral and a few Large and Small Whites.
Two Tufted Duck, a few Avocets and some Mallard on and from the Broadwater. Why do I disregard the dozens of Greylag we have seen to-day?
Usually only open at weekends, we saw that the Hunstanton Ice-cream kiosk at Drove Orchards was open .......school holidays. One Lemon Meringue cone later, I saw these well grown young Swallows above the shop entrance, looking longingly at every passing adult.
Added
I forgot to add 5 young Red-crested Pochard to our Titchwell day - previous entry
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