Saturday, 26 June 2021

Roller at Icklingham in Suffolk

Wednesday a Roller was located in Suffolk and I couldn't resist a trip to see it having only seen two previously in the UK.

The Jims had other plans so couldn't drop everything as easy as me so this was a solo run and on route the bird went missing but within the hours drive it was refound at Icklingham so a small diversion and I was back on track. Lee Evans was on site and had taken on the role of parking supervisor so directed me up a small road and said the Roller could be seen on the wires above the sheep field. I turned around on the hard standing and parked up at the bottom of the lane and managed fantastic views of the Roller through the scope and even managed some reasonable images although it was at a challenging distance for my newly repaired 400mm lens.

The local farmer wasn't pleased with parking arrangements and has since asked people to not use the lane. I showed the farmer the bird through my scope and explained why people wanted to see it so much and this calmed him a little and he agreed it was a smart looking bird. He agreed the cars parked could stay but asked Lee to stop more cars coming in giving an alternative car park about 800yards further up the road which Lee asked RBA to include in future messages. The walk along the A1101 is dangerous with no path and traffic moving much faster than the 50mph limit. The police were in attendance ticketing anybody parking on the main road and asking people to walk in single file as it really is an accident waiting to happen. I hope everybody attending appreciates the danger and applies adequate caution.

I returned on Friday as the Jims were now in a position to travel and we took Rob along too as he needed Roller as a life tick. Parking was easy as we found a spot in the layby opposite the field and simply crossed the road to view for an hour or so. You cannot describe the beauty of this bird in flight it just has to be seen to be appreciated fully. My images do not do it justice.