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January 2008
Tuesday/Wednesday 29th/30th January
Lunchtime snaps:
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Grey Squirrel (left) and Great Tit (right), Sandringham, 29th January 2008
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Oystercatcher, Brancaster Staithe, 30th January 2008 |
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Sunday 27th January
Sparham Pools was quiet apart from 5 Goosanders but before that Swanton Morley was far from quiet. Unfortunately the non-quiet was mostly created by a working party hacking down the vegetation round Holkham Lake rather than any avian activity, but it wasn't a wasted trip. From the far north end of the fishing lake complex, looking north across the B1145 between Worthing and Billingford a ringtail Hen Harrier was quartering the fields - a new species for the local area for me. Also flushed a Water Rail from the edge of Holkham Lake - usually heard only but I've seen them several times lately - one day I might even get a photo... A Cetti's Warbler was singing from the east end.
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Cormorant (left) and female Tufted Duck (right), Swanton Morley, 27th January 2008 |
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Saturday 26th January
Too much socialising this week-end to do much birding so far, so here's a pair of Collared Doves from the garden:
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pair of Collared Doves, Bawdeswell, 26th January 2008 |
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Wednesday 23rd January
Lunchtime snaps from Brancaster Staithe:
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second-winter Common Gull (left) and Cormorant (right), Brancaster Staithe, 23rd January 2008 |
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Monday 21st January
Not many geese found during a wet and windy lunch break but a first-winter Mediterranean Gull was flying around some fields at Flitcham.
Saturday 19th January
Once the rain stopped and I'd finished faffing around I has a look round Sparham Pools where there was 1 Goosander, Tawny Owl, Nuthatch and 2 Marsh Tits. Popped in to Swanton Morley but didn't spend long there as it started to rain again - 32 Gadwall and 3 Shoveler were with the Pochards.
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Tawny Owl and Bracket Fungus, Sparham Pools, 19th January 2008 |
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Friday 18th January
A Pale-bellied Brent Goose was among the Pink-feet near work - is this the same bird that's been returning since at least 2003? Didn't leave me much time to look through the flock near East Rudham but as well as a leucistic Pink-foot there was at least one small white bird hiding at the back of the flock. Probably a Ross's but most of the time it was completely obscured by Pink-feet and I never saw its head.
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Pale-bellied Brent Goose, Bircham, 18th January 2008
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leucistic Pink-footed Goose, north of East Rudham, 18th January 2008 |
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Monday 14th January
Three Roe Deers quietly overlooked the flock of Pink-feet between Docking and Bircham. Nothing unusual among this relatively small flock, but four neck-collared birds was a high proportion.
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Roe Deer, south of Docking, 14th January 2008 |
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Saturday 12th January
A fine specimen of a Peregrine was the highlight at Swanton Morley this morning. Other than that not much of note apart from a couple of Water Rails (both away from the usual spot) and a Chiffchaff.
Despite the beautiful weather I didn't manage to obtain any photos worth sharing this morning. What a contrast though between this morning's calm, clear and frosty morning after the howling wind and torrential rain that kept me awake for most of last night.
Tuesday 8th January
The old hybrid goose that's presumed to be the offspring of a Barnacle x White-front pairing at Raynham Lake a few years ago was still present at Flitcham today and 3 Buzzards were messing around overhead. Unfortunately most of the wild geese are not visible from the road at present due to the number of birders that have been looking for them recently. A Woodcock flew up from beside the road.
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Presumed hybrid Barnacle Goose x White-fronted Goose, Flitcham, 8th January 2008 |
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Monday 7th January
Half a dozen Fallow Deer ran across the field where I was watching geese near Amner today. This is a species of deer I only ever see in parks where they're semi-tame - in fact I'm not sure if I've ever seen them in a completely wild setting before.
Sunday 6th January
News of a White-crowned Sparrow at Cley scuppered plans for a nice afternoon's local birding, but I wasn't complaining. Once I'd fought my way near enough to the front and centre of the crowd to have half a chance of seeing anything apart from people's heads, I eventually got a couple of brief views of this ace North American vagrant, the first to be seen in Norfolk. I even got a photo (well, sort of). Not a good bird to go and see if you don't like crushes, but well worth it if you don't mind standing on tip-toes for hours only to find someone move in front of you just as it pops out for the first time in half an hour.
Saturday 5th January
The group I sometimes help out with were going to Cley today so, as they weren't starting until 10.30 I decided to have a lie in and still have time to pop in to see the Lapland Buntings at Salthouse. A flock of about 150 Pink-footed Geese flew behind the house while I was having breakfast - a few days too late to make it on to my local year list effort. I saw some fly over the house in the autumn of 2006 shortly after moving in but hadn't seen any in the valley since then.
Salthouse produced the 2 Lapland Buntings and roughly 50 Snow Buntings as expected, and provided such good views that I took the group along to see them once we'd finished at Cley. Cley itself was fairly quiet, highlight (for me) being a first-winter Pale-bellied Brent Goose although the group enjoyed things like Pintails and Avocets just as much.
Wednesday 2nd January
More poor attempts to photograph flying waders at Brancaster Staithe in my lunch break. A flock of 14 Twite was nice even if my photos aren't.
Tuesday 1st January 2008
Barely worth a diary entry as today's briefer-than-usual trip to Swanton Morley was so unremarkable. A Water Rail was calling and 200+ Golden Plover flew over, but nothing unexpected there. Hope the rest of the year's better than this!
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Kingfisher, Swanton Morley, 1st January 2008 |
Collared Dove, Bawdeswell, 1st January 2008 |
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