Should we try for the Sheringham birds or the one at Drove Orchards ? Reports suggested that Drove would be a reasonable choice.
Driving directly there, we parked overlooking the orchards west of the shop. Bare trees and a ground thickly layered by rotting apples. Gourmet spread. We sat scanning, a butch Mistle Thrush and six Blackbirds the only feeders
until a cloud of Fieldfare rose from the far trees. Waw. Some of the birds perched in a photogenic, if distant, tree. The light was good, I got out with my camera, to view from behind a hedge.
No sooner had I returned to the car than a Merlin caused havoc arrowing through the panicked birds. He had a fruitless chase, so many of them are. Don't know whether to feel sorry for the Merlin or pleased for the would-be prey. Both I think. A Sparrowhawk also had an abortive attempt to catch a meal.
Time to move on, the daylight time remaining very short. A lone Waxwing had been reported from Holme NOA, odds not good for us, Thornham Point the next stop.
So nearly excellent. The flock of Twite landed around a puddle in the car park - and disappeared into the distance before I could open the window, let alone aim my camera. We stayed a while, in hope, before driving Lady Anne's at Holkham.
There, we found two Russian White-fronted Geese, one of them neck-ringed. I tried my best to read the number but couldn't get the part at the back of the neck. It was hidden both when the bird stretched upwards and, when it bent to feed. I managed H 61 (numbers written vertically above a vertical line). Such handsome birds with their black-barred chest. The neck ring looks uncomfortable.........
Our fourth visit to Felbrigg, still no Little Owl.
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