Day in the Brecks

We'd been waiting for a half decent day to go looking for Goshawks but with three named storms in the last week or so things hadn't looked good but on checking the forecast for today it looked as though we'd finally have a break in the the weather with sunny dry spells predicted and with winds dropping to around 20mph so we arranged a meet and Robert drove us to Santon Downham where we arrived around 7.15am this morning. The walk down to the river gave good views of several Woodlark which were in full song and a real delight to hear so early in the season. We made our way down the river to the usual Lesser Pecker area and Rob spotted a single bird which hung around long enough for us all to get a view. For the next hour or so we watched both male and female bird showing on and off with an almost constant drumming. 

Following the success of this first stop we made our way to the local Goshawk area and set up to scope the tree line with a few like minded people and it wasn't long before we were enjoying some terrific Goshawk action with birds displaying, mobbing Buzzards and even a large female bird sitting in a pine giving fantastic scope views. After a couple of hours we decided to leave but another birder called us back with news of a White-tailed Eagle flying along the tree line. I quickly grabbed the scope and managed views of the bird as it left the area attracting a lot of attention from the local Buzzards. The bird is more than likely one of the IOW released population and hopefully I'll find out more in good time. We  also  saw a large flock of mixed finches including many Brambling and there are still a few Fieldfare in the area.

Our last stop was Lynford where a small group had gathered around the Ivy near the carpark to watch a Firecrest and after a short wait we also managed good views. At the feeders we found a single Hawfinch with several Brambling and Yellowhammers. A walk to the paddock gave distant views of a single Hawfinch although four were reported by other birders today. Siskin, Redwing, Nuthatch, Marsh Tit and Treecreeper made up the best of the rest to close out a fabulous days birding in the Brecks.

Year list now 161

The local Cattle 

Firecrest thinking about showing itself

Firecrest at Lynford

Goshawk (looked a lot better in the scope)

Hawfinch, Brambling and Yellowhammers

Lesser Pecker

Marsh Tit

Treecreeper