Anne's Journal

 Thursday January 1 2026 Early for us these days, soon after 8.40, on a very cold, ice-covered puddles morning. Clearng the car windows of overnight frost and ice, delayed us by at least ten minutes. Better than last year when my birding journal tells me that gales and rain prevented us from going out. Neither of us remembered that.  Although it was dull and overcast in a biting northerly wind, our garden birds were already active. I missed the Long-tailed Tit but started with a small number of common birds we often miss on our trips out. Blue and Great Tits for example. We'd hit 20 species by the time we left Selbrigg , Nuthatch, Coal Tit and two Marsh Tits the highlights. Marsh Tits have disappeared from our garden and these were the first we'd  seen for many months.   Tha eagerly anticipated mixed finch flock on the Harpley quinoa crop, was totally missing. They can't have finished all the seed available. There was a car in front of us, maybe they'd gone off...

  Wednesday Decemner 24 We've never birded on Christmas Eve, always too busy with visitors or /and preparations for tomorrow. Our first surprise was how empty of traffic the north Norfolk roads were. Fields and hedgerows empty of birds is no longer a surprise. It stayed dry for most of the day, with occasional bursts of low winter sun. Cocooned in the snug warmth of the car, we were impervious to the biting north easterly wind - until it was time to get the scope out. Selbrigg quickly produced a hungry pair of Nuthatches, one much brighter than the other, a Coal Tit, maybe two, a Robin and a Blackbird. The pond was full of water - no birds, not even a Mute Swan. The day's highlight was finding a very large flock if mixed finches feeding on the abandoned quinoa crop along the back road to Flitcham. Mostly Chaffinches, with Yellowhammers, Reed Bunting and our first Brambling of the winter. There was constant movement of varying flocks in and out of the hedgerow and down into the ...

 Friday December 19 The icy wind which met me as I turned the corner by the garage, nearly sent me indoors again. The sun was shining from a largely blue sky, and everywhere looked lovely. It was already early afternoon, the sun low in the sky, blinding as we drove east. Not many of Ludham's homes had outside Christmas lights, those that did had decorated their trees and bushes. Best were the trunks which had been covered in chokers. The track out to St Benet's does not improve, it's pot-holes were full of water after heavy rain yesterday, even the main road still had large wayside pools. Four cars already in the car park, their owners stood outside brandishing large lensed cameras. For the next hour, we watched, a Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, small flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare and, to our delight, a Barn Owl. The first we've seen since February. As the sun set, long flights of Cormorants flew to their night roost.  Shortly after leaving, an onco...

  Saturday December 13 Another calm, sunny day after the rain.  First stop was Selbrigg, with positive signs that the birds are being fed again - and not just by us. A short length of new fencing on the right of the entry gate, had been used as a deposit for seed. We added to it, one Blue Tit actually helped itself as Pam turned from the first post. I didn't see it again. But I did see and enjoy, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Robin and Coal Tit in the ten minutes we spent there.   For you P Three Moorhens were fossicking below the gate near to the pond, Mute Swans and Mallard on the water.  Our luck was in at Brancaster Staithe, the tide was an hour away from full, we could watch it slowly covering the mud, small groups of birds adjusting to the mud made available to them by the changing water level. Black-tailed Godwits, Teal, Curlew and Turnstone fed near the car park.   Four Grey Plover, Wigeon, a few Dunlin, Redshank, and a solitary Little Egret, chose the far golf c...

 Wednesday December 10 Welcome sunshine prompted a visit to Buckenham Marshes. At first scan, the area looked birdless. We have favoured watching places along the approach path to the fishermen's car park and the bird hide, from which it is possible to scan the vast area without too many dead reeds and brambles getting in the way. It's a very deceptive place. There were thousands of birds feeding and resting on the rough pasture with occasional water filled dykes.Most of them were nearer to the Cantley Beet Factory than they were to us. The ducks were mainly Wigeon with a good smattering of Teal, several Shovellers, Shelduck and Mallard.   Hundreds of Rooks' cawing punctuated the whistling of the Wigeon. At intervals,  very large flock of Lapwing, an equal number of Starlings amongst them, rose restlessly into the air. We did find a few geese, most of them headless behind large clumps of sedge. A few Pinkfeet, one Canada and a flock of Greylag, no sign of any Whitefronts....

 Tuesday December 9 Between Pam's  visit to Specsavers and the predicted weekly shopping delivery, we took a chance and drove to Ludham Airfield, where a group of Whooper Swans and two Bewick's had been reported earlier in the day. It was getting on for sunset on a grey and dull December day. At least it had stopped raining. The airfield is a regular stopping off place for weary swans to recover after crossing the Channel, or a  long flight from the north.They rarely stay long, it's a transient flock. The airfield is extensive and not easily viewed. We drove to the west before finding the remains of an old concrete runway which takes one as near as possible. And that's a good 400 metres viewing distance. I counted 28 swans in all, mostly Whoopers. Two Bewick's had been reported, I only found one. The birds were all asleep, feeding avidly or drinking rainwater from the furrows. They were widely spread in a line too.