Starting Slowly

 Thursday January 2 2025

For only the second time ever, the weather prevented New Year's Day listing. On the previous occasion, we'd driven as far as Felbrigg before deciding that thick fog was not good for driving nor birding. Pam kept a garden list. At first she thought that 14 was the final number of species before re-calibrating and ending with 16. My first bird of 2025 was a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the garden feeders. This morning, Pam counted 18 Blackbirds around the feeders, almost all black-beaked, meaning birds from the Continent, or first winters.

Having booked an early afternoon grocery delivery for today, the only slot available, we couldn't go too far. Via Walcott, with its seawall-top Turnstones, Herring and Black-headed Gulls, we  drove to Winterton, with a short stop at Cart Gap. 

What were we doing out? We left home in hailstones, which soon became splodges of wet snow on the windscreen. By the time we got to Winterton Beach car park, the sun was shining in the distance, the clouds beginning to thin out and brighten. Still a few seals on the beach, they looked like large males rather than females and their young. A Cormorant spread its wings out to dry, looking more like a pterodactyl than usual, one Great Black-backed Gull loafed by looking for some food, nothing at all on the sea. Every bird is excitingly new for the list of 2025.

We both love Thurne, this diversion added Mistle Thrush to the list, always a good bird to see these days. So far, the only raptor seen was a Buzzard. One can get reasonable view of the Ludham Marshes from Thurne, looking across the river towards St Benets. No big grey birds anywhere.

Maybe St Benets wouldn't be too busy. Where the concrete track starts, a tree full of Long-tailed Tits brought us to a stop. Flying in and out of the nearby trees and down onto the meadows to feed was a flock of Redwing and Fieldfare.

Approaching the car park, Pam noticed three Cattle Egrets feeding amongst the cattle.



As we sat in the car park, me eating my first meal, Pam scanning, the sun appeared overhead, a very welcome lift from the gloom of the past week. A cry of 'Cranes',  made me quickly down my bowl in time to see a pair fly past the righthand Thurne mill and out of view. A brief view, better than nothing. The next call, as we were discussing leaving, was Short-eared Owl. One was sat on top of a fencepost near to the old barns. Although it was partly obscured by dead stalks and busy preening, I took a few photos.




 Mid-preen, it looks like a malevolent little goblin bird

A road-side field had a pair of Egyptian Geese. Eagle-eyed Pam again.


Home before 2 p.m. having seen 33 species, with some desirable goodies amongst them.

Full day list, random order

Herring Gull             Starling                    Mute Swan                            Collared Dove

Turnstone                Common Gull         Buzzard                                  Egyptian Geese

Robin                       Lapwing                  Shelduck                                Kestrel         

Magpie                    Wigeon                    Canada Goose

Black-headed Gull    Cormorant              Blackbird

Carrion C                 House Sparrow        Great Black-backed Gull

Common Gull          Mistle Thrush            Chaffinch

Wood Pigeon           Redwing                  Fieldfare

Pheasant                Long-tailed Tit           Crane

Jackdaw                Cattle Egret                Short-eared Owl

We saw two mammal species. Atlantic Grey Seals and Chinese Water Deer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moth Migration

Image
 Wednesday October 9 Like birds, moths migrate when the season and weather conditions are right. Recently, we have had easterly winds with a mouth watering fall of birds which we have been unable to walk and see. Many Yellow-browed Warblers, Eastern Crowned Warbler in Shetland, a possible Amur Stonechat and an Asian Desert Warbler in Norfolk. Our moth traps have had a reasonable sprinkling of the migrant moths - although some could be breeding here by now. Palpita Vitrialis Scarce Bordered Straw Delicate   and Rusty Dot Pearl
Read more

Day 12

Image
 Monday May 6 Most of the morning was occupied getting in touch with the car insurance people and then Autoglass - then waiting for Autoglass to get back to us.  A  stone chipped our windscreen on the way through Skye, since then its become a one foot plus horizontal crack on Pam's side. End result. We take the car to Lewis or Skye or wait until we get home. The garage here 'doesn't have the equipment to deal with the sensor in the front screen'. Ian, Heather's husband, says he does them all the time! Ah well, live with it.  Almost the first bird we saw as we drove north was a lovely male Hen Harrier. It was distant but I had to try, one of these days I'll get a decent photo. Original photo before editing, taken with 500mm lens    Edited     As we drove down to Loch Paible, a flock of fifteen Whimbrel dropped in to the near corner.We needed to turn the car, by which time the birds had gone, this Wheatear posed nicely for me.    A short d...
Read more

Spring-like

Image
 Sunday March 2 Winter Aconites, Daffodils, Snowdrops, and Acacia Tree in full flower in the garden, blue sky and sun, Alexanders appearing in roadside verges, it looks like Spring. It is meteorological spring. Awaking to frosty lawns and a temperature of 1C says that we have a way to go yet. On such a day it is easy to eagerly anticipate the first Wheatears, my Spring harbinger. So many Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps now overwinter that it's increasingly difficult to separate the latter from migrants. We made our way west, picking up many of the passerines we missed yesterday and at the end of February. Song Thrush is always a treat. It's hard to recall their tameness and sheer numbers on the Isles of Scilly. Even longer ago, a garden bird using our path as an anvil.  The finch flock at Flitcham is decreasing, we managed one Brambling flitting along the hedgerow. Our garden visitor hasn't been for about a week.Still no Little Owl visible at Abbey Farm nor in West Newton. The fi...
Read more