Anne's Journal

 Saturday July 18 My alpine sinks have been neglected over the last few years. They should be re-planted or replenished every  two or three years. The first two sinks I covered in hypertufa have lost much of their top edging - vulnerable to wheelbarrow wheels etc.  I started with the three sinks I made last of all. They just needed emptying and re-planting.   It's very tempting to over fill with plants, these will soon grow to fill the space - or leave room for some bulbs later. The next job will be to make some hypertufa, a mixture of cement, sand and coir dolloped onto a surface covered with PVC glue. Sometime soon.    

 Wednesday July 8 Having a car with efficient aircon made a day out feasible.  With the sun roof and windows closed, and the temperature set to 20C, we were comfortable. With a single stop at Sculthorpe Mill in the vain hope that a Spotted Flycatcher had turned up, and another to check on the non-appearance of the Abbey Farm Little Owl, we arrived at Snettisham an hour before a not very high tide. It was good to see some water within sight, several groups of white birds scattered along the incoming shoreline. Closer inspection through my scope found many terns amongst the mainly Black-headed Gulls. Most of the terns were Common, but there were a few punk-headed Sandwich Terns to give us a year tick. Best were two summer plumaged Spotted Redshank. There were probably more, a group of waders flew just as I got to them. Two Redshank were the only other waders apart from the ubiquitous Oystercatchers.   Mediterranean Gulls are becoming more frequent here too, their jet b...

 Wednesday July 1 Our usual north coast run - with even fewer than usual birds. The first highlight was Selbrigg pond.  The surface was alive with shimmering, darting, very active odonata. As usual too, they were concentrated on the back half of the water. I find this species in flight difficult  enough  to identify. Distance makes it impossible.I still enjoy the spectacle.  The bracken beside the Selbrigg forest gate was also very active. Very small dark butterflies were zooming about, seldom landing. Probably Ringlets. Why bracken? We saw many Large White butterflies on our journey west, the number diminishing as we drove. There had been reports of hundreds coming in off the sea in the Cley area in the last few days. Only two caged off nests on the beach at Snettisham this year. One of them was occupied by a Ringed Plover, still very well camouflaged.   More Shelduck families on the pits. Baby ducks are quite delightful in the fluffy feather stage, most o...

  Monday June 15 Going out on Monday is getting to be a habit. One with reason behind it. It's not the weekend, and holiday crowds do not generally go to birding spots, apart from coastal places with food available.  Not as many en route stops as usual, as Snettisham high tide was soon after seven and we wanted to see some water for a change. That idea didn't work out. Sculthorpe Mill was alive with bird song, such a treat. In five minutes we heard/saw : Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Collared Dove, Chaffinch, Wren, and Blue Tit. No Spotted Flycatcher again, no Little Owl at Abbey farm and no waders all day. Not a single one - and that includes Lapwing. Driving back towards the entry slope at Snettisham, Pam noticed a Grey Heron at the other side of the pool. She took a few photos before I asked her if she would turn round so that I could do so. The bird was intent on lunch. It struck at lightning speed then flew off into ta...

 Sunday June 7 We did manage to get out on June 1, but the aim was moth traps at Weeting, birding always an intention. Weeting no longer opens as a reserve, the trapping had been arranged by Jane, one of the Titchwell moth-ers who have recently joined the Cley group. We were a few minutes late due to unforeseen traffic delays. The moth-ing looked chaotic. Everyone was milling around the trap with none of the semi organised passing around of egg boxes that we are used to. In the end, Mike, Roger and an unknown man wearing thin black gloves, were very good about making sure that we saw the better moths. We ended up with four lifers, three macros and one micro. Two of he macros were brought in from elsewhere. We'd missed David N's  Eastern Bordered Straw    (through a dirty plastic pot). which he took to Cley on Saturday and the Purple Marbled from the Titchwell group. A splendid Fox Moth   was the other new micro.    I'm out of the habit of taking a came...

 Friday May 29 Birds, Picnic, Ice-cream and Friend = one of our days out. We met up with Pauline at Fakenham Morrisons car park. Not as hot as the previous few days the temperature had risen to 28C, much too hot for us.  Today we had a mostly overcast sky with an occasional sharp shower. The latter never lasted long nor were they frequent.  We had to work hard for our birds today, there's a lot less song as they are nesting, many are sitting on eggs and migration is temporarily halted. Apart from the occasional anomaly, like the Gull-billed Tern which turned (accidental pun) up at Cley in the afternoon. One could have walked to Lincolnshire from Snettisham, the water was so far out that it could not be seen through my scope. Without sun, it was possible to scope the reserve pit from the causeway. Again, a megalopolis of Black-headed Gulls, but much quieter than last time. There were some brown youngsters amongst the sitting birds. Pauline thought she'd seen a tern species...