Anne's Journal

 Sunday March 1 Apart fom January 1st, which is always special, today was the pleasantest day's birding yet. Having set off in mizzle - and returned home in the same, in between was dry, mostly overcast, but with a period of sun at midday. Tha latter coincided with our visit to Snettisham, which is the absolute pits. The sun on the reserve pit makes bird identification almost impossible, the glare is blinding.  We began in earnest at Selbrigg, where we can add birds not seen elsewhere. It only takes a few minutes from the placing of food for the first birds to arrive. That was a Coal Tit today, closely followed by two Great Tits and a Blue Tit. A Nuthatch was later, then a Robin,  two Goldcrests flew into the trees above. In the end, I saw four Coal Tits at once - there were probably more. Delightful little birds. The light was too poor for photography.  I used Merlin here and at Sculthorpe Mill. It told me that we had been in the presence of : Redwing, Siskin, Great...

 Thursday February 19 We didn't go to Cley to meet the moth group this morning. Negotiating the Centre's crowded tables and chairs is bad enough  at normal times, at half term, it's even worse. We had a Sparrowhawk with us most of the morning. In the end, Pam chased it off as no birds were able to feed. Not before she'd taken a load of photos using my Canon SX70. It's favoured perch is the 6x6 post Adrian put in to hold the big feeder. All photos were taken through the kitchen window.   It also used the top of Icarus's head ( a bird which drops its beak and srays water when switched on), in the small pond near the bottom of the garden.    And the reindeer antlers Pam purchased from the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. They were dropped by Pam's now dead, adopted animal, Strudel.   Then the bird table.   The Water Rail is more difficult, it skulks in the snowdrop swathe, before dashing out for a few minutes, to feed below the feeders.  

 Wednesday February 18 There's been an influx of Tundra Bean Geese this winter - we still haven't seen one. None had been reported today, we thought we'd go and have a search. Starting at Selbrigg, some scattered food soon brought two Nuthatches, Coal Tit and Blue Tit. A near meadow had two feeding Muntjacs. On to Beach Road, Cley where we found  a sizeable flock of Brent Geese east of the road, soon after turning. There's a gateway which can be used for scoping. The flock was well spread and always on the move. I spent some time scanning, finding nothing unusual, apart from one bird with a spotted head. We'd already seen another flock near Babcocks, and then another at the far end of the Eye Field. Neither of them viewable for us. Surprisingly for half term, Morston had very few cars, probably because it was low tide so there were no seal trips running. That and the icy wind. Oystercatchers, and Redshank were the only birds in the creek, until a Greenshank appeared...

 Monday February 16 When Pam suggested a ride out, Winterton was the immediate chosen destination. Not ideal weather, but I've been longing to return to the car park with a loaded camera battery. The dunes are extremely popular venues for dog walkers, late afternoon on a weekday seemed like a good choice. As we were driving past Walnut Farm, Pam noticed a biggish group of flying birds. Cranes. Fifteen of them; the most I've ever seen in flight in Nofolk. I managed a few shots past Pam, out of her open window. A small number had already gone in a different direction.   Their grey elegance never ceases to  thrill. A good start. Winterton car park was pretty empty, we drove to the far end, as near to the sheds as is possible. Again, almost as soon as we'd stopped, a group of Snow Buntings appeared from below the cliff edge. landing on top of a far shed's roof. Instantly, they were off again, landing on a grassy clifftop verge in the shadow of the sheds, where they seemed t...

  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...