Author's posts
Jun 21 2022
Birding Group Marbury Park 21 June 2022
The last day of the birding group terms was, as it often is, at Marbury Park. It was a pleasant enough day and it was interesting to note the improvements to the path running along the edge of the mere. There were still a few Sand Martins and Swallows flying around and lots of Coots on the water as well as a few Great Crested Grebe. Nothing special but a nice walk and we headed off to the Spinner and Bergamot in Comberbach for lunch and our planning session for next term.
Jun 14 2022
Birding Group 2 Day Visit to Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs 13-14 June 2022
The overnighter for the birding group this term was to North Yorkshire taking in Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs. THis trip is always a good chance to get a few year ticks and this trip we managed to get sixty-three species including seven year ticks.
Continue readingJun 07 2022
Burton Mere Wetlands 7th June 2022
The first birding group outing of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands. It was a reasonable morning but with only a few notable birds. The first was an adult Mediterranean Gull with a juvenile, a year tick. The second was a single Pintail, both of these from the bridge screen and then, from Inner Marsh Farm hide, a single Wigeon. Other than that it was a quiet morning at BMW.
Continue readingMay 31 2022
May 2022 Summary
New “Year Ticks” in May 2022: 29
New “Life Ticks” in May 2022: 3
Total Species for 2022 so far: 142
May 24 2022
Goyt Valley and Danebower Quarry 24th May 2022
The first birding group morning out after our two-week holiday was one of my personal favourites – to the Goyt Valley and Danebower Quarry. We usually hope to get Redstart, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit and Ring Ouzel. Well, we didn’t get all of these but we did get some.
Continue readingMay 23 2022
Norfolk Birding Holiday Summary May 2022
Our last visit to Norfolk in 2019 had perhaps spoiled us as the round trip gave us so many of those species that we love including Dotterel and Turtle Dove. This trip gave us fewer species and not all of the most desirable birds but the weather was so much better than in 2019 which was quite cold and windy. This time it was a different sort of holiday; there was a bit of a mini heatwave with hot sun every day except one. Because we had been at home so much since Covid, it was so much more appreciated and perhaps we spent more time sitting around enjoying the good weather, particularly at Thornham, than we did the previous time. This time we took nothing for granted and enjoyed every minute of it.
Continue readingMay 20 2022
Frampton Marsh RSPB 20th May 2022
The 20th was the last day of our holiday and we drove from our cottage in Thornham to the village of Woolsthorpe by Belvoir where we stayed at the Chequers Inn. En route, though, we stopped at Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve. Here was our last chance to see Turtle Doves we thought, since we had had such good views the last time we visited there. Unfortunately they have stopped visiting there as well so this was our third and last idea of where me might see them. There were some compensations though.
Continue readingMay 19 2022
Titchwell Marsh RSPB and Hunstanton Cliffs
This was our last day at the cottage before heading homewards so we decided to have a last look at Titchwell RSPB where we, at last, managed to get a year tick Little Gull. After that we went to the beach at Hunstantion and then returned home to pack our bags.
Continue readingMay 18 2022
Thornham 18th May 2022
On the 18th we had another lazy day in the sun. We drove around the immediate area a bit and up to Chosely but didn’t see a lot except an entirely accidental Yellowhammer who we flushed from the roas as we were driving along. We ate at home that evening and then walked through the reedbed down to Thornham Harbour to watch the tide come in at around 7:30pm. It was a nice night and it was amazing watching the gradual ingress of the sea into the channels and marsh. We got fantastic views of a Marsh Harrier quartering the field nearby and a single Spoonbill – presumably returning to the roost at Holkham.
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