Anne's Journal

 Sunday March 15 A lot has happened since Sunday, I'm writing this on Thursday the 19th. After an appalling Sunday night when I got very little sleep owing to constant coughing and inability to breathe, a visit to the very concerned doctor sent me straight to the hospital via ambulance. The latter picked me up at the surgery and arrived within a few minutes. After the cold and very uncomfortable ride, I don't think they have springs, I spent the rest of the day in triage, a ward, having an xray, attached to a fluid drip and oxygen. Most of my stats were OK but trying to keep my oxygen levels up was a problem. No-one seemed to think I'd be going home that day. I did my acting best and got home soon after seven o.clock with a dose of Doxycycline antibiotics' Back to Sunday.  A lovely sunny day when we left. Not many birds around, Brancaster Staithe at low tide, without its usual large number of moored boats and row of beached tenders, looked like a vast sea of mud. Carefu...

Thursday March  We were late, the wind was strong and gusting - and the bird had not been reported today. We still went. Reading Sue Bryan's Blog yesterday had triggered the idea. Although she talked of walking half a mile along a very muddy river bank, there was an outside chance that the bird could be seen from Ludham Bridge. One report - although not recent - had it actually flying over the bridge itself.  We drove into the small car park looking to the north, going as far as we could along the river bank. A Scottish birder trudged towards us, no he hadn't seen the bird and had been there an hour. Several boats came and went, mostly manoevering in situ, only one disappearing along the river. Maybe a boat ride would be a good idea. One male, and a female Marsh Harrier brought bins to eyes in hope. I ate my lunch. Laughing Cow cream cheese on multi seed Ryvita. A cry of  'I've got it'  from Pam caused instant panic. The Black-winged Kite was flying towards us along...

 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...