Anne's Journal

 Sunday December 22 We couldn't resist another look at Selbrigg. Four Mute Swans on the lake, where have the Mallards gone. After spreading a little seed, two Nuthatches, a Coal Tit, Robin and a Great Tit made brief appearances. There is no way I can now take a 'natural' looking photo here, all the small trees and bushes have been removed. The birds make short in, and quickly out, dashes to the spread food.  One soft focus Nuthatch. At Morston, the tide was well in and the cafe closed. A lone Curlew fed on the overflow pool, whilst a Little Egret had a bad hair day, sheltering in a small creek from the brisk, icy-edged northerly. A beautiful blue sky winter's day, when the wind was so strong that even the Brent Geese in the Eye Field area were hunkered down in a huddled group. All lovely to look at from a warm car, the birds were hiding too.

 Wednesday December 18 Very windy day, we drove directly to Snettisham, taking the faster and quieter route Google maps had sent us on last week. As is fast becoming a family joke, the sun appeared as we drove through Dersingham. Good for photos, not good for viewing the pits on the reserve. The first pit, viewed as we drove through the chalet park, was again full to overflowing, the wind whipping up the surface into rolling, white crested waves, racing across the surface.  The second pit was where the small flock of Tufted Duck was loitering, the males' crest teased into weird shapes by the buffeting breeze. Further on, the Goldeneye were having the same problems. A few of the males were beginning their head throwing back mating advance. It is the Winter Solstice on Saturday. Somehow the Goldeneye gave me the impression of being less robust than the Tufted. The receding water, recent enough to have left gleaming wet mud, was in the far distance. A flock of about a thousand Go...

  Tuesday December 17 No more Tuesday moth-ing until the spring, where should we go whilst Sam cleans the house? We haven't been to Halvergate Marshes since February, that's what we decided to do. Ever hopeful, we called in at Thurne, only a short detour en route. There's always the chance of seeing Cranes in this area. Not today, nor anything else either. We turn off the A47 at 'The Temple' - Buddhist I believe. A far cry from its previous life as the Pink Flamingo nightclub.The long, straight, approach road is also very undulating. Built on peat, there is a constant subsidence of the ground beneath the tarmac. At the end, there is a lane, Stone Lane I believe, which leads out to the middle of the marsh. As far as a small, muddy, parking area at the No Entry Authorised Vehicles only sign. I lunched here whilst watching out for anything flying. Starlings, distant Lapwings, a Grey Heron and Mute Swans plus a treetop Kestrel, perched  with its wings open. Weird.  On t...

 Wednesday December 11 Our best lane drive today, was the one near the Dogotel at Harpley. This old bit of bypassed road is edged with tall trees and very bushy bushes. An additional piece of good habitat is the seeded quinoa and wildflower edging to the adjacent fields. A 50- strong finch flock, including Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Linnets and Brambling, flitted the trees, bushes and seeds, never still for more than  a few seconds. I counted four male Brambling, but there were probably others. There wasn't much else around, we spent most of the time at Snettisham. The chalet pit was a smooth expanse of very high water, no edge for perching at all. The second pit held twenty Goldeneye, the first of the winter, brought south by the recent storm and cold weather. Such bad light and the birds were the opposite side of the pit, no photos. I'd been hoping for an improvement on my very ordinary 2024 folder bird. The tide was two hours away from its zenith, still very distant, even wh...

  Thursday December 5 We took a risk and it paid off, the Winterton beach car park was open. It's the pupping season for Grey Seals, Winterton beach has become an increasingly populat birthing ward. Over two thousand seals are using it this year. At the beginning of the season, high winds made it too rough for them to use Horsey and  Waxham, so they all came to Winterton, where there is more sandy beach available. One seal had climbed up the steep dune sides to have her pup near the sheds. A warden was almost permanently on duty nearby. Pam walked in that area and was able to get as close as was feasible, and desirable, for the animal's comfort. Pam parked so that I had a view of the main area through the marram and ropes.   There was a constant low level noise coming from the nursery, as adults came and went, greeting each other and their pups.  Offshore, heads kept appearing like crab pot marking buoys, occasionally, one came ashore. Their sinuous, muscular bodies...

 Sunday December 1 It began as I walked out to the car, only a small respite before we got to Snettisham - and then increasingly heavy by mid afternoon. Rain. It was lovely to be out and about, despite the apparent lack of any birds, flying or feeding. The roads were devoid of traffic too, although there were srill plenty of parked motorhomes and cars along the clifftop in not-Sunny Hunny.  How did we manage to tick off 51 species in half a day of rain? A mystery - and I was there. To add to the negatives, the tide was at its very lowest at Snettisham, I needed my telescope to see the water. The muddy expanse yielded a few Redshanlk, one Grey Plover, about fifteen Dunlin. two Curlew, a few hundred Wigeon, single figures of Teal and a polka dot of Shelduck which reached into the far distance. Even the reserve pit was empty. A few Greylag and a Moorhen was all I could see. If the reported Purple Sandpiper was there, it was hiding. The only geese we saw all the time we were out ,...