A very good days birding with the Jims

Left home at six this morning for a very full days birding with the Jims.
We started at first light in Santon Downham as they still needed Woodlark for a year tick which we managed to get just a few feet from the car with birds calling, singing and feeding on the ground along the path to the underpass. We walked down river accompanied by a mother and cub Otter all the way to the fallen tree at which point we stopped and they carried on. After a short wait we picked up a pair of Lesser-spotted Woodpecker and managed a few record shots of the female.

Woodlark

Otter 

Female Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

Our next stop was Sculthorpe Moor where Redpolls were our target. After a small donation we marched on down to the portacabins where Mealy Redpolls were quickly seen feeding with a couple of Lessers. I had a very likely candidate on the feeders and managed a record shot which to my mind shows it to be the Arctic Redpoll. The Jims managed to get a view in better light when it dropped into a puddle to drink. I managed a record shot of the next bird to drop in which was a Mealy but still nice to watch.

The Arctic

The Mealy

We moved on after a couple of hours of watching the feeders and chose Titchwell as our final stop of the day. A Spotted Redshank was picked out in the distance as we marched to the sea where we picked out Black-throated and Great Northern Diver. On the walk back I picked up a Rock Pipit and eventually picked up my first Bearded Tits of 2019. 

Woodlark

Woodlark

Otters. Always on the far bank or in the darkest areas of the river but really good to watch them feeding.

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

Year list now 178