Anne's Journal

  Wednesday February 11 Our garden is a regular fly-through for local Sparrowhawks. On a wet and pretty miserable day, one of them decided to take shelter in our trees. Its favourite look-out was the 5x5 post from which we hang some feeders.We didn't see it catch anything on this occasion. I felt sorry for it. Enough to consider taking some chicken out of the freezer.   Eventually, it seemed settled enough for Pam to open the utility room door so that she could take some photos without the double glazing of the kitchen window. Pam thren used my Canon SX70 to take some photos for me. She did rather well, thank you Pam.Very dishevilled looking, but the eyes are bright and fierce.    

 Sunday February 8 We'd have been bang on time picking up Pauline from Fakenham Morrison's if we hadn't stopped for fuel. At Morrison's. Which, to Pam's delight, was a very competitive price. Leaving home in sun and blue sky, by North Walsham we had a bank of fog looming ahead. This lasted most of the journey west, a weak sun orb appearing once. Not as cold though, there were compensations. It was a very pleasant day without any obvious highlights until near the end. Snettisham was an hour past high tide; that was only 2.2, very low indeed, so it hardly came in. Once more, the birds were very distant, as was the shoreline. It's always a pleasure to see Goldeneye and Little Grebe. The islands on the reserve pit were covered in Lapwing, the far one as always, held flasher Cormorants, wings out to dry. No Rock Pipits at Thornham, just this Common Gull, still in most of its winter plumage, surveying the scenery.   Needing to use the facilities, we called in to Titch...

 Monday February 2  We didn't go out yesterday because Man U were playing Fulham at 2 p.m. We won 3-2. Today was cold, damp, low overcast. with fog producing poor visibility. Ideal birding weather - not. However frustrating, it was still good to be out and about. Having decided to look at as many spots as possible, we made the short detour to Selbrigg. Here we picked up Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen. Robin, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and several Nuthatches. Pam thought she'd heard a Treecreeper, none seen. Then, Sculthorpe Mill, Valley Farm, Harpley Cottages, Abbey Farm, Sandringham and Snettisham. We'd inched our way to 20+ species by the time we arrived at the latter. My heart sank. Miles of mud, scattered Shelduck and thousands of duck, all too distant to identify species. Probably Wigeon and Teal. A lone Redshank and a single Curlew were the only waders in view. A few Tufted Duck and one female Goldeneye plus a Little Grebe on the pits, we didn't linger. Oystercatchers and a ...

 Saturday January 31 I've always tried to see all the winter geese in January, a solid start to the year's birding. As suspected, Taiga Bean Geese no longer fly across the channel to the Yare Valley, their numbers have been diminishing for years. When I first moved to Norfolk, in 1974, a flock of over two hundred spent their winters here. Luckily, a random bird had attached itslf to a flock of Pinks and Barnacles, spending a few days at Wells North Point pools. We were still missing Tundra Bean Goose. At least four birds had been reported with a Pinks flock off Stone Lane. Buckenham. Pam found the flock - I couldn't even see them - at the far end of an enormous field. In addition, there was nowhere to park and scope. We moved on to Buckenham Marsh.  Now that the level crossing is no longer gated and manned, many more people seem to have found their way down here. Still not in  big numbers though, it's an open and shelterless place where the wind really cuts through one....

 Monday January 19 Startled to be leaving in rain - they don't always get the forecast right - it soon stopped. The rest of the day was a patchwork quilt of sun, heavy cloud, grey overcast, thick mist and the odd spot of rain. Warmer too, the temperature went up to 10C, which made having an open window much more comfortable. I used a tide app. to help decide where to go today. I read that the high tide at Snettisham was at midday and at a height of 6 metres. Well worth a visit; we drove directly there, picking up our first Mistle Thrush on wires over the weed field near to the beach. Seeing a group of twenty people march across the causeway entrance, we hastened to park - to find the tide well out, acres of mud with very few obvious birds. Pam then looked at her printed timetable - the writing is too small for me to read in a moving car. Oh dear, high tide was during the night. A quick look at dozens of Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck and Mallard before we left. There were still a few Gold...

Friday December 16 Thurne is a dead end village off the Clippesby road, we're fond of it. It's the home of the windmills which can be seen across the marsh from St Benet's and a good place to look for cranes. We saw two Marsh Harriers, one down on prey in the same field as last year, but no Cranes. On to St Benet's, hoping that the Black-winged Kite's move to the Horsey area meant fewer visitors. We took the last place in the front row of the car park. Two Cattle Egrets pootling about on the grass in front of us kept us amused.   Luckily, Pam was wide awake, and called, 'Cranes'. A group of four, followed by a group of five, Common Cranes,  flew over Thurne and away.  Next up was a Barn Owl , my first of the year, flying fast across in front of us before disappearing over the Cross embankment. A lovely, pale, biscuit-coloured, bird. I settled for another wait, whilst keeping an eye on the other birder/photographer standing behind his massive lens. The lens s...