Pam usually gets in first with 'pinch and a punch, 1st of the month'. I always succeed with the April Fool set-up. I got in early to-day, as we walked out to the car at 6.40 I acted listening and then hearing a non existent Tawny Owl. Not my best but it worked.
Very childish..............a lifelong habit which we both enjoy. Second childhood?
Such a beautiful morning - from the comfort of the car's heated seats. The biting north easterly was but a mention on the weather forecast. The thermometer stayed on 4C until late morning, whilst the spring sunshine from a cloudless sky, streaming through the windows and roof panel, warmed the soul.
An apparently slow start. No Tree Sparrow obvious at Valley Farm, the House Sparrows seem to have gazumped their nesting boxes. Pied Wagtails have done the same thing to the Grey Wagtails at Sculthorpe Mill, carrying nesting material into the very same ivy that the Greys were using last month.
Plenty of water at Abbey Farm for a change, all ponds and streams full. Tell the birds someone. It IS difficult to see into the distant Little Owl nestbox oak tree on sunny mornings, Pam looked hard. Even more galling to read 'excellent views of a pair near the nest box' on two separate occasions in the sightings record log for the previous two days. We've yet to see them there this year.
Our first Blackcap of the year sang its bright notes from the car park copse, lovely to hear them again. We heard another at Selbrigg - none at Titchwell where we expected at least one.
Around Flitcham is a good area for Grey Partridge. What were these two doing? A constant six metres apart, two males, black belly patch thrust to the fore, were performing an unrehearsed formation dance. Dashing firstly ten metres to the west before doing the same to the east for at least five minutes. We watched with fascination. How did they know when to change direction in unison at such speed, keeping to the same distance apart? Amazing. Eventually they met and squared up to each other, there was some wing fluttering and beak na na na nana and they walked off. A pacifist show of .........what? Damp squib thank goodness.
P had generously shared information regarding the location of breeding Ravens in Sandringham Park. Following the map on my phone, we found the Scenic Drive and enjoyed the winding one track and one way road through the woods. No sign of the wanted birds though. Thanks for the location P.
We saw many Jays to-day and I managed to photograph one for the year folder.
I don't think that a lower tide would be possible. The water's edge was so far away that only dark blobby shadows were visible in the extreme heat haze - magnified by the scope at 30x. Snettisham's fabled winter flocks were either missing or invisible. No Dunlin nor Golden /Grey Plover, a few Curlew, Ringed Plover and Oystercatchers with the expected hordes of well spread Shelduck. A short visit.
Holme was almost worth the rutted, pot-holed drive out. Wigeon, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and a surprise Wheatear on the way out. Surprise? It was perched on top of a tree, most unusual.
A slight improvement on the photo in my year photo file.
Avocet, Pochard, Black-tailed Godwit and Little Grebe on the Broadwater. Our first Little Grebe was at Ebridge Mill, a good addition to the local list.
Somewhere we heard our first Cetti's Warbler of the year. We're told that the Cley birds have been in good voice for a week or so.
Burnham Norton had an actively fishing Cormorant, Its blue eye a startling contrast to the black head. All it caught was tiddlers which is why it had to keep diving.
Whilst parked at Stiffkey Marsh, a superbly plumaged Red Kite swirled overhead. Would it fly so that it could be photographed from a passenger window? No !
I managed a shot through the dusty rain spotted roof panel but not one that did it justice.
Holkham added Ruff, Egyptian Geese and Spoonbill.
Hoping to add to what we thought was a depleted list of birds seen - all we could think about was the 'misses' - we called in at Selbrigg near Holt. Typical of the human race, the negatives are amplified and outweigh in the brain the much more numerous positives. I used to do an exercise with students which always proved this theory to be accurate. I read them a story where one student dropped marbles into a tin for bad things and another pieces of paper into a box for each positive. The whole class, without exception, always voted that the negative happenings were greater in number. They never were.
No additions at Selbrigg, just an entertaining fifteen minutes with three Grey Squirrels which kept the birds away.
Counting the day's list later, we'd totted up 80 species. So much for negative thinking.
Around Flitcham is a good area for Grey Partridge. What were these two doing? A constant six metres apart, two males, black belly patch thrust to the fore, were performing an unrehearsed formation dance. Dashing firstly ten metres to the west before doing the same to the east for at least five minutes. We watched with fascination. How did they know when to change direction in unison at such speed, keeping to the same distance apart? Amazing. Eventually they met and squared up to each other, there was some wing fluttering and beak na na na nana and they walked off. A pacifist show of .........what? Damp squib thank goodness.
P had generously shared information regarding the location of breeding Ravens in Sandringham Park. Following the map on my phone, we found the Scenic Drive and enjoyed the winding one track and one way road through the woods. No sign of the wanted birds though. Thanks for the location P.
We saw many Jays to-day and I managed to photograph one for the year folder.
I don't think that a lower tide would be possible. The water's edge was so far away that only dark blobby shadows were visible in the extreme heat haze - magnified by the scope at 30x. Snettisham's fabled winter flocks were either missing or invisible. No Dunlin nor Golden /Grey Plover, a few Curlew, Ringed Plover and Oystercatchers with the expected hordes of well spread Shelduck. A short visit.
 |
| Mexican stand-off |
A slight improvement on the photo in my year photo file.
Avocet, Pochard, Black-tailed Godwit and Little Grebe on the Broadwater. Our first Little Grebe was at Ebridge Mill, a good addition to the local list.
Somewhere we heard our first Cetti's Warbler of the year. We're told that the Cley birds have been in good voice for a week or so.
Burnham Norton had an actively fishing Cormorant, Its blue eye a startling contrast to the black head. All it caught was tiddlers which is why it had to keep diving.
Whilst parked at Stiffkey Marsh, a superbly plumaged Red Kite swirled overhead. Would it fly so that it could be photographed from a passenger window? No !
I managed a shot through the dusty rain spotted roof panel but not one that did it justice.
Holkham added Ruff, Egyptian Geese and Spoonbill.
Hoping to add to what we thought was a depleted list of birds seen - all we could think about was the 'misses' - we called in at Selbrigg near Holt. Typical of the human race, the negatives are amplified and outweigh in the brain the much more numerous positives. I used to do an exercise with students which always proved this theory to be accurate. I read them a story where one student dropped marbles into a tin for bad things and another pieces of paper into a box for each positive. The whole class, without exception, always voted that the negative happenings were greater in number. They never were.
No additions at Selbrigg, just an entertaining fifteen minutes with three Grey Squirrels which kept the birds away.
Counting the day's list later, we'd totted up 80 species. So much for negative thinking.
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