Norfolk Day 3

Having done both of the 'main' reserves on the Norfolk coast I was keen to try birding somewhere where there were not many people and I might have a chance of finding something of my own. I decided to go to Stiffkey saltmarsh, as it was an area I knew a little bit from the red-flanked bluetail all those years ago.

It was fairly quiet on the bird front, although a couple of Blackcaps singing were my first of the year, although I could not see them despite trying. Three Goldcrests were a nice holiday tick, and there continued to be great views of Marsh Harrier and Red Kite to be had. Overall it was a nice walk through an area of fantastic saltmarsh. I managed to grab a few photos of a couple of Muntjac Deer sunning themselves along the edge of one of the fields, another species to add to the walk.

-Muntjac Deer

By lunchtime I decided to move on to Cley again on the way to going home. Fairly standard affair with lots of nice species on the scrapes: Avocets, Turnstones, Green Sandpiper and other waders, plus Swallows and Wheatears for the early migrants.

By mid-afternoon I had all but done at Cley, so decided to walk the shingle along to Salthouse in the hope of finding something along the edges on the fields. Nothing doing other than a couple of Wheatears. I did however pick up some 3G and was able to check out other sightings in the area. A couple of firecrest caught my attention at a site I was not familiar with 'Gramborough Hill'. A quick check of the map showed that it was in fact at Salthouse. Despite the birds not apparently been seen that day I decided to check it out anyway, in the off chance nobody had checked, or not put it out,

The wind made it difficult but with perseverance I managed to relocate one of the Firecrests, but it was very elusive and extremely tricky. I had fantastic views but as for the photos, well they were sadly not up to the same standard. I managed one photo which shows what it really is.

Still, only my third ever Firecrest and they really are stunning birds. To be honest its what I was hoping to find at Stiffkey so to get one here was a real bonus, even if it wasn't 'self-found'

-Firecrest

By now I had to go as there was only one bus left to take me home. In the hour I waited I only managed to see the Firecrest four times, before each time it vanished into the shrubbery. What a tricky little bird.

Species List:

Stiffkey NT: Starling, Jackdaw, Robin, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Redshank, Brent Goose, Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Pied Wagtail, Carrion Crow, Wren, Goldcrest, Meadow Pipit, Lapwing, Red Kite, Linnet, Dunnock, Long-tailed Tit, Herring Gull, Mallard, Common Buzzard, Skylark, Pheasant, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Shelduck,

Cley Marshes NWT: Black-tailed Godwit, Shelduck, Mallard, Redshank, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Avocet, Black-headed Gull, Greylag Goose, Moorhen, Teal, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Lapwing, Woodpigeon, Ringed Plover, Starling, Pochard, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Rook, House Sparrow, Collard Dove, Cettis Warbler, Swallow, Pheasant, Mute Swan, Skylark, Brent Goose, Wigeon, Shoveler, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Meadow Pipit, Turnstone, Sandwich Tern,

Salthouse and Gramborough Hill: Herring Gull, Redshank, Dunnock, Wren, Firecrest, Black-headed Gull, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, Canada Goose, Norther Wheatear, Ruff, Jackdaw, Rook, Wigeon, Shoveler, Shelduck,

Cambridge Holiday day 5: Himalayan Wildlife Watching and going home

Last day of the holiday, so we headed to a National Trust property, Angelsey Abbey, same as last time we were down this way. I did not expect to see much but it turned out to be the best wildlife filled day of the holiday. Probably as a consequence of the weather, which was the nicest it had been so far on the holiday. As last time, as soon as we arrived I headed straight to the wildlife area in the hope that there may be something good on the feeders or in the woods. However, I thought we had arrived too late, and that most things would have been scared off by rowdy kids.

As I was crossing the lawns I spotted a Green Woodpecker. Its crazy to think I have seen more of these birds in the past 3 days that I did in the whole of last year but now I managed to get a photo of one too as it perched up in a tree in a reasonably photograph-able position.

-Green Woodpecker

I got to the hide but there was not much there. A lovely moorhen sitting on a nest in front of the hide was a highlight, and when we returned in the evening I could see 2 eggs under there too, so that was nice. There were also some smashing views of Blue Tit and Chaffinch as well as a couple of Long-Tailed Tits coming through. As a results I stayed about half an hour before leaving.

Now I was at a loss as to where to look for stuff, so I headed around the house, to the second hand bookshop, and then off into the gardens along the river. The river was dead, with no vegetation on it at all. However, there was a Grey Wagtail on it, though that was the sum total of all the bird species. 

As I entered the garden though I spotted a Brimstone butterfly flying along the borders. This was quite exciting, my first of the year and a species I do not see as much as I would like. In the end I found up to 8 of these butterflies around the borders. I was lucky enough to find one that had landed in an ideal position so could grab a few record shots for the year.

-Brimstone

It was then that I got a text saying to be back for lunch. Of course it was at this point that all the wildlife appeared. I was walking down a wooded alley with conifers on both sides, and importantly no people, when I spotted a female pheasant crossing the path in front of me. At once I could see that this was not an ordinary pheasant with striking plumage and a black eye mask on an orange face. I realised pretty quickly that I must be looking at a female Reeves Pheasant, though I knew nothing about them, the mask on this bird matched the males very nicely. I proceeded to follow the bird round for about 20 - 30 mins before deciding it best to go to lunch. I also found it after lunch, though it was much harder to refind after lunch, and managed to get some reasonable shots, though it being under the trees the light was poor. However, I got enough shots to show the spangly plumage and striking head pattern. Sadly, this was my favourite of the pheasant encounters of the holiday but its the one I can't tick!

-Reeves Pheasant

As I was following the pheasant before lunch I also spotted a Muntjac Deer in deep bushes. I tried for a photo but it was too thick in, and when it bolted it was on the far side to me, so my only effort was blurry and not particularly clear. Having said that, it does show the difficult nature of seeing these animals.

-Muntjac Deer

I also spotted a Common Buzzard overhead at this point as the thermals were picking up. I decided to leave it and go for lunch, but returned after lunch. After lunch I failed to pick up the pheasant for a couple of hours and there was no sign of the deer. There were other bits and pieces though, including a pair of Goldcrests, a couple of other butterfly species; Comma and Peacock and got smashing views of Sparrowhawk and Treecreeper.

As the afternoon drew on my parents and I decided to re-try the wildlife area to see what was there. Just as we approached my dad spotted 2 Muntjac Deer deep in the undergrowth, and I tried again for a photo. However, once more I failed pretty badly. We also had outstanding views of up to 4 Jays together!

-Muntjac Deer

It was late afternoon at this point so I did not see much more. On the feeders we were joined by a Great Spotted Woodpecker, though it was on the more distant feeders. That was about it though, and after that we left to head off home. It had been a fantastic day, and to finish with here are a few photos of other wildlife seen through the day, showing just how fantastic a days birding it had been...

-Bee Fly

-Sparrowhawk

-Comma

-Great Spotted Woodpecker

Species List:
Angelsey Abbey NT: Green Woodpecker, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Rook, Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Common Pheasant, Moorhen, Mallard, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Long-Tailed Tit, Common Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, Magpie, Treecreeper, Black-Headed Gull, Sparrowhawk, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Greenfinch, Reeves Pheasant, Muntjac Deer, Rabbit, Grey Squirrel, Comma, Peacock Butterfly, Brimstone

Cambridge Holiday day 3: Fowlmere RSPB

For today my family were going to Duxford air museum. Having seen the pheasant yesterday and th weather being windy today I did not fancy going back for that, and all the other nature reserves that I wanted to go to is that I could not get to by public transport. There was an RSPB reserve near to Duxford and so that seemed like the best option.

It was a small reserve and I did not fancy spending all day there, even less so when birds were at a premium that would make soil hill proud. There were odd bits though having spent all day there so I gathered up around 25 species by the end of the day.

The first two hides had no birds in at all… but the third hide had a little bit more to offer, including Graylag Geese in good numbers, a few Canada Geese and a couple of Mute Swans. 3 Reed Buntings made an appearance too. The reedbeds were alive with the squealing of water rails but I did not see any.

-Graylag Goose

There was a Barn Owl box there which I could see a pale blob inside, presumably an owl, but could not make it out properly first time. Having said that, the second time round the bird had moved and now its face was clear through the hole, clearly making out that it was indeed a Barn Owl, happily dozing away.

-Barn Owl

I spent most of the rest of the time waiting for a Water Rail to appear from the reeds in one of the hides. I got a singing Chiff-Chaff and Teal added to my list. The real highlight of the afternoon was a Muntjac Deer that strolled along the hedge as I left the hide. I got a fantastic view of it and it did not even flinch when I got the camera out. However, I had it on auto-focus so failed to get it through the vegetation, and in the meantime it saw me and bolted, which I was a little gutted about for the missed opportunity but it was still a fantastic view.

-Muntjac Deer

That was about it though. It was nice, but most were species I could easily see at home, so it did feel a little like a day wasted. However, news broke in the afternoon that the Pheasant was now to fed with seed from tomorrow onwards, so I guess that’s tomorrows plans sorted…

Species List:

Fowlmere RSPB: Graylag Goose, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Teal, Barn Owl, Little Grebe, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Common Snipe, Long-Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Woodpigeon, Moorhen, Coot, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Chiffchaff, Muntjac Deer, Goldfinch, Dunnock,

cambridgeshire day 1

We arrived the previous night, Our destination, Maidenhall on the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border. The Campsite was decent, hidden amidst predominantly coniferous woodland, the only catch was that there were no facilities, so we were going to have to use the ones in the caravan. For our first morning my we decided to go and look at Maidenhall, the local town. What makes Maidenhall famous-well nothing really!! There's a Big RAF place just outside the town but aside from that it resembles pretty much any other english town, only without any big name shops. There was only a Sainsburys that was a typical shop. Behind the Sainsburys was a river, quite big really and on it were the usual assortment of ducks (mallards) with some Canada geese and a couple of swans. There was a bridge across the river and on the other side there was more of a wildlife area. There was an area of marsh behind a line of trees and around the pond there were some Banded demoiselles.

-Banded demoiselle
There were only males in the pond area, but on the river there were a few more species of damselflies such as the Azure on the riverside vegetation.

-Azure Damselfly
Where we turned around there was a golf course and on it were a large number of blackbirds, but also there was a grey wagtail, which was quite nice to see.Walking back from the golf course My dad spotted a giant beetle crossing the path, I took some photos and after some identification we reckon that its a lesser stag beetle.

-Lesser Stag Beetle

On the way back we spotted some female banded demoiselle, Although I thought that they were beautiful demoiselles because of the lack of bands. Never mind! I wont be making that mistake again.

-Banded demoiselle (Female)
when we were almost on the town side of the river I spotted another type of damselfly, a blue tailed, this one is a normal mature specimen.

-Blue tailed damselfly
Back at the campsite we had time to kill, as we were back before lunch. I decided that after lunch I would go into the wood opposite and look at the apparent nature reserves there. In the leaflet the nature reserves apparently had stone curlew, woodlark and white admiral! The whole point of us coming on this holiday was to see stone curlew so it would be great to see them without even going to weeting heath, and on the first day. During Lunch we were visited by some squirrels. Unfortunately they were grey.

-Grey Tree Rat
So After lunch I set off, I won't deny it, thinking of stone curlew, The wood was mostly coniferous but there was no wildlife-at all. I eventually reached the nature reserves which were actually only about 200m squared a piece, and ultimately lacking in any form of heathland wildlife. I spotted a jay in one of the reserves, which so far have been the birds of the holiday. We had one in the morning and it just sat in front of the caravan. At the far side of the first reserve there was a path leading out of the reserve and into the neighbouring fields. I was still filled with stone curlew thoughts and the fields made me think that maybe they may be in the field. I wandered around the edge of the Field and reached a small pond. I glanced around and spotted a few damselflies but also a Hornet. sadly it landed way out of view, so I didn't get any photos. I double backed on myself to try and get back to the path. As I almost reached the path, I spotted a deer coming out of the woods and enter the Field. I tried to follow its progress so i could get closer to it but it kept dipping out of sight. Then, The deer popped up next to me! It just came out of the crops and looked at me, about 1.5m away from me. In a moment of absent mindedness I grabbed for the camera and it scarped but I managed to get some shots of its back end as it ran away. They always tell you that the back is vital when I.d'ing deer and as it so happens that was the case this time. The fact that the deer has a significant tail tells me that it is a muntjack-which is a first for me. At the time didn't know what kind of deer it was because my mammal book was at home so i remained ignorant to the true identity of the deer for the whole holiday. But it was the first new species of the holiday!

-Muntjack Deer

After it scarped away I followed round the rim of the feild. However the farmer came down in his car and told me that I was trespassing... so I had to make my way back into the wood pretty sharpish. When I did I found a speckled wood butterfly, which is my first for the year.

-Speckled wood

So no stone curlews and no woodlarks but still enough to be happy with. After tea we went to the another river away from the campsite to sit and see what came. There was quite an influx of unusual wildlife. The river I hould say was one of the fens and there were barges moored up all along the dock we were sat on. Naturally the first birds we saw were mallards, but then a common tern flew down river and started fishing in front of us. Then a kingfisher flew by and rested just up stream. We also spotted a jay (Told you they were the birds of the holiday!) and on the way back there were some red-legged partridges in a feild. so overall, a great start to the holiday.