Breckland birding

With a forecast of some sun we headed up into Breckland today stopping first at Lynford arboretum where we year ticked Brambling, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit. Amongst the other highlights were a large flock of Siskin, lot's of Nuthatch and Yellowhammers at the gate and what sounded like a Crossbill which I failed to locate to confirm. Jimmy had a crest calling in the carpark but I couldn't find it and he year ticked Treecreeper whilst I was at the paddock.

We moved on to our favourite Goshawk watchpoint and had a Gos fly low across the pines almost as soon as we'd set up the scopes but it took another two hours before we got the next sighting. Three Sparrowhawks lot's of Buzzard and a couple of Red Kites added interest as did a singing Woodlark.

year list now 153

A trip to Abberton

Following my father in laws funeral on 14th I had booked a week at Butlins as a half term treat for the little ones. We had a great time despite Suzanne having a flair up with back pain which kept her housebound the whole week and I arrived home to find my boiler had given up the ghost so had to organise for a replacement which should be fitted tomorrow all being well.

Roll on to this morning and I dropped my grandson to school and passing the A12 on the way home I decided to head up to Abberton to see if I could find the Ring-necked Duck having not seen one since 2023. I first checked Layer Breton which was extremely dull. A drive around to LDLH and I saw three Catte Egrets at the farm on the way round and a very large herd of Swans. At the Causeway I had two very confiding Slavonian Grebes perform at close range which had me reaching for the camera despite the overcast skies. I then found the flock of Black-necked Grebes in the distance and my best count was twelve but it was difficult as they were constantly diving. A pair of Red-crested Pochard added my first  year tick of the day and I saw ten plus Great Egrets and dozens of Goosander. 

I checked the vast flocks of Tufted Duck for the Ring-neck but didn't find it so eventually headed round to Billets farm where I did finally find the Ring-neck in a distant flock of Tufted Duck. There was a few Pochard but I didn't notice the Canvasback among them. A young Spoonbill sat on the bank on the far side from Billets and I picked out a Caspain Gull too.

year list now 148 

Couple of local twitches

Well we laid my father in law to rest on Valentines day just over a month after my mother in law but fitting that after almost sixty years together they might find themselves again on this day. Its been challenging organising two funerals in such a short window but we managed to give them both a fitting send of.

Either side of the funeral I've made two short local twitches, firstly the Green-winged Teal on the goosefields at Fishers Green which was a patch tick for me and then this morning I popped over to Lockwood reservoir where we easily found the Red-necked Grebe reported yesterday.

The pointless year list is now 143

The Lee Valley patch list is now 164 (I count the area from KGV reservoir to Holyfield lake)

Onwards and upwards!

Dunge

I committed to a morning of free time today and spent it at Dungeness with Dad and Jim. We arrived early and scanned new diggings adding two year ticks in the shape of a Long-tailed Duck and a Red-throated Diver. Down at the beach we saw another thirty Red-throated Divers and added our third year tick of the day with some distant Gannets. The sea was pretty quiet and after adding Peregrine to the days count we headed off to Scotney where we found a flock of fifty or more Tree Sparrows and Jim picked out a ring-tail Hen Harrier to add another couple of year ticks. Four Cattle Egret in the sheep pen at Cockles bridge gave up another nice year tick too and as we left we found a 48 strong herd of Bewick's Swan and a Yellow Hammer on the way out at Brenzett allowed the pointless year list to move to 141. The day count was a respectable 68