The 27th April saw us visit an ununsual combination of reserves – unusual because all three were run by different ornithological conservation groups, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Weeting Heath, the RSPB reserve at nearby Lakenheath Fen and also the only reserve run by the British Trust for Ornithology, Nunnery Lakes. The weather was very poor, however, with high winds that rather spoiled our chances of seeing much. We still managed a few year ticks though.

We started the day by driving from Oakham where we had stayed at the Brook Whipper Inn to NWT Weeting Heath. En route from Oakham to Mundford we saw a Red Kite, a year tick.

NWT Weeting Heath

We joined the NWT which is worthwhile since we will be visiting so many of their reserves over the next ten days. It was even more of a bargain because we got fifteen months membership for the price of twelve. Our target bird here was, of course, Stone Curlew but perhaps also Woodlark. We headed off to the East Hide hide where there wa supposedly a pair, but we could not see any Stone Curlews – or Woodlark)  and neither could most other people. The West hide was similarly devoid of birds. The weather was just not conducive to the birds showing well with a strong wind and rain. We have seen Stone Curlew here in the rain before but not this time so we decided to head off for our next site

RSPB Lakenheath Fen

We had really hoped to have a good few hours at Lakenheath as previously we have always seemed to a be a bit short of time, but we had only been out for about fifteen minutes before we abandoned our plans as a result of the high winds. It was not so much the wind that was the problem but the dust that was lifting up off the fields resulting in clouds of dust which got in my eyes so badly that I couldn’t see anything. On the plus side, we did at least hear our first Cuckoo of the year.

We had a look at the books to try to find an alternative that might not be so windy and we came across BTO nunnery Lakes, the only BTO in the country!

Lakenheath Fen Site Map

BTO Nunnery Lakes, Thetford

We had a bit of a problem finding this site at first. We parked in the grounds of the BTO but, as the map below shows, we should have parked at Nun’s Bridge where there is also a car park. From there you can walk the river in either direction.

We had a very nice walk along river with muntjac deer in the surrounding woods and Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail on the water, the latter a year tick. This had, in fact, been one of the places we went with our guide the very first time we went to the Thetford area. On that occasion it was actually snowing heavily so I suppose it could have been worse.

Nunnery Lakes BTO

After a while we decided we needed a drink so we set off for the The Crown Inn at Mundford – on the edge of Thetford Forest – where we were to stay for two nights giving us further chances to visit the sites we had not done well at today as well as other sited

Year Ticks

1. Red Kite
2. Grey Wagtail
3. Cuckoo

Bird Sightings NWT Weeting Heath 27th April 2019

Bird Sightings RSPB Lakenheath Fen 27th April 2019

Bird Sightings BTO Nunnery Lakes 27th April 2019