Buckland Dinham bird survey - the end.

Leaving the 'sweaters on legs' or is that 'hurdle boxers' behind me, I walked down the hill past a disused colliery (you can just see the chimney in amongst the trees). If I'd had the time, I would have tried to get over there for a closer look, but it was away from my footpath shown on my ordnance survey map and my birding survey had to come first. At the bottom of the hill there was a very small brook lined with trees and it was here that I picked up birds like Blue Tits and this smart looking Great Tit. Now, it's a crap photo, but I couldn't resist putting this one in for my friend Evie http://www.sunnysideup.blogspot.com/ . These aren't a couple of yours that have been beamed over here across the pond are they Evie? (-:There's the disused colliery in the background again. It was at this point that I had to walk along several of these muddy stubble fields. As I walked along I picked up more and more mud on my boots. In the end I felt like I had concrete blocks on my feet! I should have taken a photo of my boots at this point! (-: I love the look of these fields though and the colours at the moment are just lovely.

I finished my stomp through the stubble fields at this farmyard. The green grassy bit in the middle of this photo was a handy spot for scraping off the worst of the mud. Then it was back up the country lane....... ......to the village and my car. It was a great walk with some lovely weather and some brilliant birding. I look forward to doing this route again in either January or February.

Bird survey part 2

Carrying on from yesterdays post, I left the muddy lane and took this permissive footpath which leads to....... ......this field with these three beautifully coloured Oak trees, they really stood out against the slate grey clouds. Behind me the sun was still shining strongly. As I walked to the top of this hill, there were lots of Redwings and Fieldfare in mixed flocks flying over me. These are thrushes that come over to winter with us from northern Europe and Scandanavia. They are generally pretty skittish and unfortunately so far I haven't had the chance to get any photographs of these beautifully marked birds. Another footpath along a wooded hedgerow leads me to...... ......some sheep pasture. I don't mind sheep at all, I guess this is because they're not 1/2 a ton of unpredictable meat on legs. (-: They did take quite an interest in me. I bet they thought, what's this mad woman doing wandering around the countryside with camera and binoculars! I'm away for a couple of days now, so the last installment of my Buckland Dinham bird survey will probably be on Sunday when I have a surprise photo for my friend Evie www.sunnysideup.blogspot.com (-:

Early winter bird survey at Buckland Dinham

I took my camera with me on my winter bird survey this morning so that I could show my route in photographs. I took so many that I will be posting this in three parts. So, I started my survey in Buckland Dinham village, that's my car parked along the lane. A bit further along this lane there is a pathway through to some cow pasture (yes, I know I had said I would try NOT to do any more surveys that involved walking through cow pasture, but I took this one on before making that decision!) (-: Actually, most of the cows took no notice of me and just got on with what they do best, which is eat! However, I did race this one to the gate and managed to get there just ahead of it. I think you can just about see the whites around its eyes! I'm sure my friend Roy would just say it was trying to be friendly! (-: Walking through one field, I was chuffed to find a pair of Stonechats together. Here is the female.

And here is the smart male. Stonechats are usually very cooperative and will perch up quite nicely, but this particular male was being a bit shy at first. I tried pishing which didn't work too well (never does work for me). Eventually, he did perch up for a couple of shots, but I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted as I was on a timed tetrad visit.

At the end of that field I entered another country lane and came across this lovely patch of autumn colour in the hedgerow. There has been quite a bit of rain recently which made for mucky conditions (I'll deal with this more in a later post). Along this lane, I was pleased to come across 4 Tree Sparrows. They have declined badly over recent years, so to find them here was great. I'll continue my journey around the fields and lanes of Buckland Dinham tomorrow.

First day out for Poppy!

At last, the momentous day for our new kitten Poppy arrived early last week. We thought we'd start out by letting her have her first look from one of her favourite perches, on Chris's shoulder! After that, we took her back in and let her start out fresh on her own. Here are her first steps out into the big world outside!

There's certainly lots to sniff out there! She liked to slink amongst our various pots, her little nose quivering for all it's worth! Then the irresistible lure of the Cherry tree! She's been running up our curtains indoors for the past two months, so we're hoping that now she has some trees to climb up, our curtains will get a break! We can hope...... (-: It's great fun on the way up...... ....nice view of her domain from up there........ .......not so easy on the way back down though...... .......all sets of claws needed for this operation........ ....nearly there....... .......legs everywhere........ Not bad for a first outing. Since then she's got alot more confident and has explored next door too. I'm not sure she's met up with any of her feline neighbours yet though......an adventure yet to come!

Cley next the sea in Norfolk

This was our bed and breakfast accommodation which was in Cley village (pronounced like eye). Very comfortable room and a brilliant full english breakfast! We needed it as we'd got up and out at 6.30 for an early morning sea-watch for two hours prior to breakfast. The sea-watch was quite productive with some good birds being seen. There were many Common Scoter in small flocks flying past, mainly females and we had three Bonxies (Great Skua) chasing gulls. There were a few Divers (loons) too, mainly Red-throated and a late Arctic Tern and some Little Gulls. One of my favourite birds that morning though was a beautifully marked juv Kittiwake. They are such smart looking birds.
Also at Cley nature reserve are extensive reedbeds and I took this photo just at dusk. I loved the dramatic clouds that were just about to cover the setting sun. The light on the reeds had a lovely warmth to it. This is not the best shot for detail of these Brent Geese, but I liked the silhouettes that they made in this photo. These last two photos were taken just at dusk on Cley beach. One of my friends, like me was taking photos and one was busy sea-watching.

It was a great if short trip to one of the best birding spots in this country. I really need a week there one day!

Norfolk birding trip

I've just come back from a couple of days spent on the north Norfolk coast, one of my favourite places to go birding. I went with a couple of friends and we set off a 4.30am to beat the traffic and to make the most of the day for birding. It took 4.5 hours to get there from Bristol in the west country. Our first stop was a place called Wells next the sea. Here is a view of the harbour area. We spent several hours in Wells woods an area of pine and some deciduous woods looking for rare migrants which would be taking shelter from the NE winds. Here we found three of the most charasmatic of small passerines that grace our shores. One is the Firecrest which breeds in small numbers in this country and the other two are vagrants to Great Britain. The Yellow-browed Warbler which is a visitor from the Siberian taiga and the bird pictured below which is a Pallas's Warbler from Asia. The pale yellow rump and central crown stripe are good identification marks for this wonderful energetic warbler.

Another wood that we went to in order to look for birds on migration was Holkham woods. Again this is an area of Pine with Birch and Beech and Oak. The wind was more fierce on this day and we had occasional rain. It was quieter in these woods, but we did see some visible migration in the form of 100 or so Blackbirds which must have just come in off the North Sea. We also saw some Bohemian Waxwings in flight. These are winter visitors to Great Britain from northern Scandanavia and Russia that very often make the eastern side of the British Isles. Occasionally there is an irruption year and we will see them even in the west country.

The only bird I managed to capture on camera at Holkham woods was this confiding Goldcrest. At the end of a long walk along the belt of pines that line the north Norfolk coast at Holkam we spent some time in the dunes. This is a great place to get birds just come in off the sea. Unfortunately for us, it was very quiet the day we were there. Our last stop of the two day trip was to the well know RSPB reserve at Titchwell. This is a fantastic reserve, specially in winter when fresh and salt water lagoons are teeming with waders (shorebirds to my american friends). Most of those waders were too far away for good photography that day, but I did manage to get this shot of Redshank a common wader to this country. My next post will be about our time spent at another wonderful place along the coast, Cley next the sea.