Cemetery Tick and other stuff

Common Buzzard, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

I had a very enjoyable and productive lunchtime walk around the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich with a work friend today.The fine weather from the weekend was still with us and the cemetery looked wonderfully green highlighting the wonderful glowing red leaves of the Copper Beaches. Chiff Chaff's and Blackcap's were both in song and my friend heard a brief snatch of Swallow song, quite a mega record here.

Overhead I saw my first two Swifts of the year always a great sign of the impending arrival of summer. But the best bird of this short walk was a Common Buzzard high overhead mobbed my a Carrion Crow. Neither of us had a pair of binoculars with us and we wondered for a while whether this might be a Honey Buzzard, but came to the conclusion it was a Common Buzzard, something borne out by the heavily enlarged image above taken on my TZ30 compact camera

Holly Blue, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

It was also great to see a few butterflies on the wing including perhaps my favourite UK species the Orangetip.

Male Orangetip, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

Spring on the way

Pleasant weekend of sunshine and a cold wind. Yesterday [Saturday] had a brief visit to the bird hide at Abbey Farm, Flitcham. Always a great place to stop to have a quiet birdwatch on the way back from shopping in King's Lynn. Highlights were a Common Buzzard, singing Chiff Chaff, half a dozen Bramblings and a Tree Sparrow.

A herd of a dozen Fallow Deer on the edge of a wood between Flitcham and the Anmer turnoff was unexpected. Popped into Titchwell for an hour before dusk and got my second spring migrant of the day a Little Ringed Plover on the Fresh Marsh. Also saw and then briefly saw a Bittern in the reedbed.

Today popped down Dersingham Bog with Bricker and Phil for the Great Grey Shrike which we had good scope views of plus lots of fly over Crossbills and Siskins.

Got this grab shot of a hunting Barn Owl over a field on the south side of Barrow Common yesterday afternoon. If Norfolk has a signature bird species surely this is it.