Tundra Negative

 Friday January 10

Pam spent the morning working with Adrian. He worked, Pam oversaw and instructed, that's how it happens - and it works very well for both of them.

We set off for Martham early afternoon. The heavily frosted roads and surrounds had thawed in the sun, making driving a safe option. Passing Boundary farm near Waxham, we saw two groups of swans in the usual fields. The near group were all Whooper Swans, against the light and at distance, the far group could not be identified using binoculars. We drove on, using the Birdguides route app. for directions. The fields were empty of any geese, let alone a lone Tundra Bean Goose amongst Pinks. Pam later met Sreve Smith in Tesco (as you do), he'd been this morning and there were none there then either. It came through on Birdguides as being present. Some you win,,,,.

Returning via West Somerton, Pam saw a flash of blue as we passed the staithe. She thought she'd seen it land on a post so stopped in a gateway. Nothing on the posts. Then, a Kingfisher rose from the staithe end water, perching in a branch above. Its unmistakeable silhouette gave us our first sighting of this bird for several years. It's a bogey bird for us with our carbound birding.

A much more familiar sight but still a year tick, was the Grey Heron which appeared from a dyke, marching across the back of a field near Horsey Mill.

Passing Boundary Farm again, the near group of Whoopers were still present. Now armed with my scope, to no avail, the distant group had gone, I bet there were a few Bewicks amongst them, there usually are. Another day. Appalling light conditions, but one for the folder, hoping for an improvement.




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