Brecks

On Tuesday, Dad and I visited the Brecks before my dentist appointment in Bury St. Edmunds. We started off at an undisclosed site where we got brief view of a Goshawk (what we came for), but it was distant and all of about 30 seconds. We also got Nuthatch here, but not much else. We then went to Lynford Arboretum. We didn't get any Hawfinches, but we got Crossbill, common passerines and more Nuthatches.

Happy Birding!

There Ticking Up!

The title is basically suggesting that my year list and life list are ticking up, with 214 this year, and 240 for my life. This is a fantastic year if you compare it, because I am only 26 species off my life list this year. That's incredible. My highest ever year count was last years 205, well, I have thrashed that this year, and were still in November!!!

Anyway, Dad and I went to Norfolk for a bit of birding on Friday. We started of at northern section of Yarmouth Cemetery. Our ambition was to track down the Yellow-browed warbler that was seen on Thursday, and to do this, we presumably had to find a tit flock. It wasn't long before my ears picked up the call of Long-tailed Tit's, and sure enough we found th flock. Of course, there were several Long-tailed Tits

And also 3 Chiffchaffs

Not great!

The, we spotted a tiny bird flitting about low in the ivy. Our hopes went up, but then down a little way, as it turned out to be a Firecrest. Still a cracking bird to see, as I haven't had good views of these birds for ages. The best I got was this shot...

We the headed to Caister to get the Rose-coloured Starling, a lifer for Dad and I.

It then cleared off onto the distant roof tops...

We then left for Winterton. Passing through the fields around the road, we saw thousands of Pink-footed Geese. It was incredible. The shots were taken while driving, so that's why they are so bad....

We didn't get much at Winterton Dunes, apart from some Gannets and Common Scoters. We didn't know where the Snow Buntings or Lapland Bunting were when we got there, and there were so many people here, so we didn't see them.

If you've got good eyes, you can see the scoters. Very distant.

Pretty Poor

We then finished off at the raptor roost at Stubb Mill, and got several Marsh Harriers, Pink-foots and 2 Crane. Not a bad day, but could have been better.

Happy Birding!

Garden Lifer

An incredible sighting in the garden today was in the presence of a Tree Sparrow, showing at 7:15am, and 5:30pm. This is the first ever for the garden, and for the year. Also in the garden today was a flock of 6 Long-tailed Tit, plus a Lapwing over this morning.

Dad's stunning digiscoped shot...

And my video...

Happy Birding

Thetford Area

Today we went round Thetford Area to see if we could see the Black-bellied Dipper at Thetford, and maybe a Hawfinch at Lynford Arboretum. After a bit of trouble trying to find the place, we got to the car park eventually. We saw a bloke with a massive camera lense pull up too, so we decided to follow him because we thought that he was looking for the Dipper too. We followed him over 2 footbridges, and then we saw it. We (Dad and I) couldn't believe how close it was......

Here are some digiscoped pics that Dad took....

I did take a video, but I took this from the first time we saw it on the day, and it was closer later on, but I didn't think of doing another video, so I'm a bit annoyed at myself, but here it is. It's a bit difficult to pick out, but it's there.

Other birds about in the area included about 200 Siskin's flying about, a Muntjac, a Goldcrest and a delightful Jay. 

We then moved on to Lynford Arboretum. We didn't get any Hawfinch's, but this is what we did get......

Swans and ducks. There was a Little Grebe there too but not photographed

Several Marsh Tits

And several Nuthatches

We got both Firecrest and Goldcrest, plus a Bullfinch. We moved on to Santon Downham, where we got even more Bullfinch...

That was it for that day, but yesterday - Saturday - We went down Rendall Lane, near Saxham Street in Stowupland to see the massive Skylark flock in the fields (for more details on how to get there, see "Daily Sightings" page). It was incredible.....

We did the Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday - all sighitngs on "Daily Sightings" page, but highlights included 8 Long-tailed Tits, plus a Goldfinch. Frustratingly, fly over birds don't count, because we could have had Fieldfare, Collard Dove, Black-headed and the resident Common Gull all added onto the list. 

Talking of Common Gull, we had 2 birds flying around the back garden together this morning, so that was nice to see. We were going to go out birding yesterday, but in the end we didn't. We were going to see the the Slavonian Grebe at Whitlingham, and the Great White Egret at Wymondham. There you go! Happy Birding!

Barton Broad and Stubb Mill

Another 7 species was added to the year list after Dad and I visited Barton Broad and Stubb Mill (Hickling Broad) making the list total 110. By the 7th January last year, I had only 64 species! Anyway, we started off the day going to Barton Broad, and going through Repps we saw a Whooper Swan fly across the road which was a bit of a surprise. We got to Barton Broad, and were greeted with a flock of Siskin with a few Lesser Redpoll amongst them. We got to the viewing platform, and got onto the juvenile Scaup that has been lingering here.

There were also plenty of other birds here, like Goldeneye....

Canada Geese....

A couple of Pochard

Great-crested Grebes....

And plenty of Tufted Ducks...

We then moved on to Hickling Broad, at the raptor roost where it is known as Stubb Mill. We were the first to get there, and arriving at 2:30pm gave us plenty of time to scan. These are all videos because it was too dark for photos!

A male Hen Harrier

4 Common Crane coming into roost

And a delightful Barn Owl

We also picked up Grey Partridge, 3 Merlin, 2 Stonechat, 10,00+ Pink-footed Geese with 2 White-fronts, 25+ Marsh Harrier, a brief Woodcock and an Egyptian Goose.

It has been an active week in the garden. We have had regular Long-tailed Tits, the Common Gull and a Fieldfare in the tree - a first that has landed in the garden. This morning in fact, we had another Fieldfare in the garden, incredible.

School was closed yesterday, so I was working with Mum, but we did get a look in at the patch for 5 minutes at Needham Lakes, and shocked to see 5 Wigeon there. I never knew they came there in the winter. Brilliant. Bosmere was frozen, so nothing on there. Also some Common Gulls at Needham Lakes too.

2 of 5 Wigeon

Happy Birding

Signs Of Winter

Sorry for not getting a blog post out, but here it is. I will make it sharp, so I better get on with it!

I was shell-shocked that my ears weren't being funny, but believe it or not, a Common Crossbill flew over the front yesterday, making its chip call. This is a first for the area in my times, so that's made me chuffed. Another regular visitor into the Garden this morning and yesterday has been 2 or 3 Coal Tits...

When I wrote this post, we had just came back from a long awaited Patch visit to Bosmere, and we had a very good session. I am going to show as many pictures of the stuff we saw as possible.

The Pair of Resident G C Grebes

One of about 60 Long-tailed Tits around the patch today

My first Tufted Ducks of the Winter

Plenty of Black-headed Gulls

An interesting fungus on the tree

The view of Bosmere Lake

Some of the really good sightings around Bosmere that weren't photographed was my first Grey Heron at Bosmere in the tree tops, then flew over mums and mines heads, and a Goldcrest amongst the Long-tailed Tits. Also, a Green Woodpecker was heard yaffling in the wood, and also my first few Fieldfares of Bosmere, but no Redwings yet. Now I didn't put on the blog about our very late nesting Collard Doves, that nested in September! I have a picture of when they were in the nest...

Well, here he is now!

Hopefully going out to the Norfolk Coast on Wednesday weather permitting, so we will hopefully catch some rares.

Happy Birding!