New Month

 Wednesday February 1

Selbrigg is always a good list starter. Nowhere else on our route can we see woodland birds. Pam did see a Sparrowhawk in the garden before we left, it didn't wait around for me though. The birds were hungry this morning. Numbers of Blue, Great and Coal Tits, two Nuthatches, a Blackbird, four Robins and a Chaffinch soon clustering the nearby tree, waiting their turn to dash in. 

 

Mute Swans and Mallard on the lake, five Moorhens on the shore, plenty to write on the list. Pam also saw our second Buzzard, silently watchful, from its perch in the deep shadow of a forest tree.

The only other sighting of note en route, was two groups of Partridges together near Abbey Farm. Red-legged in one, Grey the other. Whilst watching them, a Red Kite flew silently by, only a silhouette against what light there was in a dark sky.

 

A dark sky until.......Snettisham approached, when the sun appeared. We had to laugh. The pits are completely useless to view from the car when the sun is out, the glare from a low winter sun is blinding. But, should we really hope that the sun was hidden? 

The Goldeneye were never near enough, their active diving also making photography difficult. Tufted Duck were more obliging, still warily keeping to the centre of the water. Now for a photo where the eye shows brightly. 

 

The tide was on its way back in, still miles of mud on show, thousands of birds scattered widely, most of them too distant for accurate identification. Often the case here. A flock of over five hundred Golden Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Curlew and a clustered mass of monochrome Oystercatchers. I watched a programme about the Weddensee on Sky Nature this week, my go-to channel 124, where it was said that Knot swallow small crustaceans whole, 'their strong stomach muscles cracking the shells during digestion'. That's a new piece of information for me, amazing.

Thornham was worth the diversion for the male Peregrine which sped past, first appearing viewed through Pam's window, then arrowing away in front of us. Awesome. 

Coffee at Brancaster Staithe, where the tide was high and the light appalling. I still had a go at some ducks and waders. The best = and a surprise when I edited - was the Wigeon-photo bombing Ringed Plover.

 

Yet another diversion at Burnham Norton, took us inland via Burnham Market to Holkham. Parking in an empty gateway, I scanned a relatively empty marsh, eventually finding, with Pam's assistance, one Marsh Harrier, Four Great Egrets and a Grey Heron.  We'd passed a field full of Pink-feet earlier and had seen vast skeins flying inland.

Last stop was North Point where I nodded over my scope, trying to concentrate on searching the tightly packed hordes of gulls and ducks. The mass of Lapwing still present were in ranks, all facing forward, their uniform, brightly marked, breasts and heads made them look like a lithograph. I'd have loved a photo for hanging on the wall.

Home to watch Man U make their laboured at times, way into the Carabao Cup Final against Newcastle. Newc will be up for that, their first final in over twenty years.