We had had such poor weather earlier in the year, when we had had been in Lanzarote, and I had been ill after that, that we decided we needed another break – but this time sunny! It was a bit last minute, but we arranged to stay in a serviced apartment at the Illa D’Or hotel in Puerto Pollenca for 10 days. It was very, very hot so we didn’t actually do much birding for a number of reasons including the heat, the lateness in the season, the fact that Anne did not want to hire a car and also that we could not make contact with our usual guide in Mallorca.
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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 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 12 2022
Hickling Broad NWT 12th May 2022
We tried our boat trip again on the 12th May and it was totally different weather to the previous afternoon when it had rained heavily. On this day it was wide blue skies and sunshine so we were happt to do out boat trip. Unfortunatelty the boat did not stop at the tower which affords fantastic views of the surrounding landscape because a Tawny Owl had decided to nest in a tree right next to it so that made it off limits. One of the other hides (where there is usually a big scrape) was also not visitable which was a real shame. So this left with a single hide in the middle of the Broad. Be that as it may, we still had a great trip and managed a few year ticks.
Continue readingMay 10 2022
Birding Day of and visit to Norwich Cathedral 10th May 2022
On the 10th we moved from out hotel in Mundford and on to The Weyford Bridge Hotel at Wayford Bridge in the Broads. As we finished our breakfast the chef started speaking to us and it turned out that he was a keen raptor man with his own business, Norfolk Hawk Walks. He was very knowledgable about general birding and it might be worth checking him out next time we are in Mundford.
We visited Norwich Cathedral and had a walk around the town. Unfortunately the Peregrine at the top of the cathedral was on eggs so not much chance of seeing her.
May 09 2022
Nunnery Lakes and Weeting Heath 9th May 2022
If Santon Downham and the other sites around Thetford were a little disappointing the previous day, our visit to BTO Nunnery Lakes made up for it this day. We parked at the side of the river, crossed the bridge and and walked along the side of the Little Ouse River until we reached the next bridge. From there we got good views of a Kingfisher – a good year tick but not the only one
Continue readingDec 31 2021
December 2021 Summary
UK Species Year List to December 2021: 138
Total UK Species in December 2021: xx
New “Year Ticks” in December 2021: 1
New “Life Ticks” in December2 021: 0
Dec 14 2021
Birding Group Marbury Park 14th December 2021
A mixture of bad weather and Covid worries limited our birding in early December so we only got out for one birding group outing and that was to Marbury Park on 14th December. Unfortunately there was a heavy mist all the way there so visibility on the water was poor and limited to just the nearside of the water. Still, we managed to get a good year tick in the woods later in the day.
Continue readingNov 30 2021
November 2021 Summary
UK Species Year List to November 2021: 137
Total UK Species in November 2021: 64
New “Year Ticks” in November 2021: 7
New “Life Ticks” in November 2021: 0
Nov 22 2021
RSPB Marshside 23rd November 2021
The birding group were going to be visiting Burton but a last minute change of heart tookus to RSPB Marshside where we had hoped to see any of the Snow Buntings, Twite, Greater Scaup or Glossy Ibis which has been seen in recent days. We saw none of these! However, we had a good morning there and managed to get a couple of year ticks including a ringtail Hen Harrier over the marsh near the sea and four Red-legged Partridge from the screen near the car park, the latter being a bit of a surprise.
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