Lunch with a Nightingale

 Monday April 27

Alerted by a friend, we drove to south west Norfolk, armed with a map and a rather sketchy verbal account based on three bushes. We were not confident. Added to this, we didn't arrive until midday. It was a lovely warm and sunny spring day, the temperature rising to 20C. The area was completely unknown to both of us.

After a drive through and several map consultations, we parked offroad near a bridge over a dyke. As soon as we stopped, I heard Whitethroat and a Garden Warbler, the latter a year tick. I put Merlin on and it heard a Nightingale as well as the birds mentioned and several other commoner species. The sound seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the road. We drove out and then in again to another good offroad area overlooking the dyke, the bridge and 'three bushes'. Were they THE three bushes? Yes they were. A Nightingale burst into full song soon after we'd stopped, somewhere in the dykeside bushes near the bridge. I ate my lunch with eyes glued on the bushes, mesmerised by the beauty of the avian symphony. A virtuoso performance, over half an hour in extent. 

We left and decided to drive straight home, without the hoped for photograph but very happy with the concert.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scotland

Image
 Friday May 2 The Scottish  border  is only about five minutes away from Berwick. The  Saltire was proudly flying below another blue sky. No photos today, we missed the lay-by.  We discovered St Abbs Head only a few years ago, it's been a favourite since. We can park near the water's edge looking across at the, admittedly distant, nesting cliffs of mainly Guillemots and a few Razorbills.      The sea below held groups of loafing, washing, diving, birds. Shags occasionally flew in and I saw one Black Guillemot. Our next stop is always Cove, a small gathering of cottages on the cliff edge, looking down on a rocky cliff and coast, Cove is a picturesque village situated 18 miles northwest of the Scottish border with England. Famously Cove was home to “The Glasgow Boys” artists’ colony between 1883-1888 due to its unique beauty. This informal group comprised several influential painters of the time including Sir James Guthrie. Cove harbour is en...
Read more

Old Favourites

Image
 Monday May 5 It's almost a mile to the main road from our cottage, carrot fields on one side, rough railway embankment on the other with patches of deciduous trees. With the ubiquitous patches of butter yellow gorse of course.This morning's journey was very slow owing to the number of birds we heard and saw. Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Stonechat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Linnet. Where were we going? It had to be.... Lochindorb, A twenty three mile drive through stunning Highland woods and moors on a fast but very winding road. Behind a tanker for much of the way too.  All in warm sunshine with virtually no wind.  The approach road takes one through a colony of Common Gulls, nesting amongst the clumps of rough grasses - or perched on any handy post.   Lochindorb (from the Scottish Gaelic : Loch nan Doirb meaning "loch of the minnows") is a freshwater loch north of Grantown on Spey in the Highland council area of Scotland . In the loch there ...
Read more

Last Day

 Friday May 23 As martin had offered to help pack the car, Pam spent the morning packing cases, organising the kitchen, packing foodstuffs etc. One moth in last night's trap, another new one for here, a Grey Dagger.  Burghead is not far, and a good place to sit and watch for passing seabirds.The birding area is dominated by the oldest Maltings in Scotland. It was here that we saw a first for Britain in November 1990. After school on Friiday, we drove to a Travelodge in Edinburgh, then on to Burghead on the Saturday. My coat had been forgotten, ( a fishtail parka, the trendy birding coat at the time), so we stopped in Aviemore without success. Early afternoon on an overcast November day when it looked like dusk, we set off in front of the Maltings. One birder was walking towards us and uttered the comforting words 'it's still there'. We found the Grey-tailed Tattler quickly, feeding amongst the rocks on the shore. Relief and jubilation - and we were the only people there...
Read more