Mid May to Mid June, Spring into Summer

Lots of catching up to do, as ever been really busy with work and family life and I've started swimming again as a way of managing my bad back, so time is even more precious than usual.

Friday 16th of May, a lunchtime walk around Ken Hill Wood was enlivened by a Cuckoo calling close by, disappointingly I didn't see any Grass Snakes despite the weather conditions being favourable.

Sunday 18 saw me on Holme Beach in the morning with the family, a lovely warm, blue sky sort of a day, offshore in the distance were three Gannets whilst closer were Little and Sandwich Terns and one or two Common Seals popped up to take a look at the beach. Mist exciting though was a brief but good view of a Broad Bordered Bee Hawkmoth that flew around my wife's hand before disappearing from view.

Common Whelk shells collected by no 1 son at Holme

In the afternoon we could hear Cuckoos calling around Brancaster and I saw a Muntjac with my 5 year old whilst teaching him to ride his bike. In the evening I spent an hour under the cliffs and had a flock of 35 Turnstones including a few with lovely white hoods.

Wednesday 21st saw me on a work visit to Fen Drayton Lakes, not a lot of time for spotting but it was good to see the Common Terns that breed here and four small Avocet chicks on an island in front of the hide.

Friday 23rd and I was at Minsmere for a work visit in between meetings and press calls for the launch of Springwatch and the Suffolk Nature Strategy I managed to see two or three Bitterns and heard several Nightingales 

Oystercatcher and Carrion Crow in dogfight over Minsmere scrape.

Friday 30th saw me walking round Courtyard Farm with my two small sons and enjoying a brief view of a Stoat on the road, a purring Turtle Dove and a brief view of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Saturday 31st and a family trip to Holkham where I saw a Spoonbill fly over Lady Anne's Drive

The following day Sunday 1st June Cuckoos were still calling in Brancaster and I saw a male Orangetip in the garden.

Tuesday 3rd back to Minsmere for work and a short s[ell early evening in Bittern Hide produced a couple of Hobby', three Bitterns, Cetti's Warbler, Bearded Tits and a Kingfisher. The drive home in the dark was notable for sightings of two Tawny Owls and a single Bran Owl.

Monday2nd I saw my first Sparrowhawk for a week or two flying over the car in the morning rush hour in Taverham.

Thursday 5th June, attracted by the sound of mobbing Blackbirds I left the path at Ken Hill Woods and a found a Tawny Owl being mobbed by a mixed passerine flock.

Roosting Tawny Owl, Ken Hill Wood

Friday 6th surely my last Orangetip of the year a male on the edge of Ken hill Wood, but still to see a Grass Snake there this year, very unusual. In the evening I had to drive to Oxford for a nephews birthday party and on the way saw one Red Kite, about ten Kestrels and half a dozen Buzzards plus three Dead on the Road Badgers. The children's party on the Sunday was held in Shotover Country Park and I had Kestrel, Buzzard and Red Kite overhead.

Red Kite, Shotover Country Park

8 year old's birthday party, Shotover Country Park

Wednesday 11th and I found a Lilly Beetle on the Lilly's in our back garden in Hunstanton.

Lilly Beetle, Hunstanton

Thursday 12th saw me back at Minsmere for another work visit on the last day of Springwatch, again I managed views of Hobby, Bittern, Marsh Harrier as well as some splendid flower spikes of Marsh Orchid by Island Mere Hide and some great views from the ramp to this hide of red bellied male Sticklebacks in the Shallows.

Friday 13th a brief afternoon leg stretch and one to one around Ken Hill was brought to life by a wood mouse and then a Stinkhorn covered in fly's and still no Grass snakes

Stinkhorn and fly's, Ken Hill Wood

Sunday 15th, a walk with the family down Gipsy Lane with good views of Spoonbill and Little Tern and later in a Brancaster garden the wonderfully iridescent Oedemera nobilis aka the False Oil Beetle.

Oedemera nobilis aka the False Oil Beetle, Brancaster

First half of May catch up

As family bereavement and a busy work schedule have limited the amount of time in the field, having said that I've still managed to bump into a few nice birds in the first half of May.

 Saturday 3rd of May
A visit to Titchwell Creek with the kids for picnic and play in the sand was a lovely family outing. On the walk down from the Brancaster Beach car park we had a Wheatear on the golf course practice green and a singing Reed Warbler. At the creek I saw my first Little Terns of the year and a couple of Sandwich Terns and was able to watch a couple of Marsh Harriers over Titchwell Marsh. When we arrived I counted 19 Common Seals hauled out on the saltmarsh and as the tide dropped these swam down the creek right past as much to the kids excitement. The only downside was that as I attempted to get a nice low angle shot of no2 son he threw sand all over my Panasonic Lumix which now needs to go to the menders.

Titchwell Creek

Tuesday 6th May
Saw my first Swifts of the day a couple of birds out of a meeting room window in Norwich and more over Hunstanton in the evening.

Swift

Wednesday 7th May 
Spent a day in the Ouse valley in Cambridgeshire and popped into Little Paxton Pits where I had great fun watching some Great Crested Newts in a pool by the Visitor Centre and hearing some Nightingales in the scrub. Moved on from here fro a brief visit to the RSPBs Ouse Fen reserve near Needingworth and enjoyed watching two Hobby's hunting over the new Marsh surrounded by tens of Swifts and listening to a booming bittern and calling Cuckoo, also had great views of a singing Garden Warbler here.

RSPB Ouse Fen

Saturday 10th May
A walk round Ken Hill Woods was enlivened by a singing Turtle Dove a rare sight and sound these days.

Monday 12th May
Driving through Sedgeford in the morning it was nice to see my first House Martins of the year. In the afternoon I took a brief diversion off the A140 in Titchwell and up the Choseley Road here I was treated to great scope views of a 'trip' of ten Dotterels feeding in a roadside field. A Corn Bunting singing just up the road from the Dotterel was a nice find as they have been scarce around Choseley this year.

Spring gathers pace

April has been a really busy month with nights away for work, a short family holiday and a family bereavement. Below is a bit of a wrap up of some bird and butterfly sightings this month. I've posted two short separate blogs about visits to the Peak District and Bempton Cliffs.

Friday 4th April, Snettisham
A work visit in between discussing the storm damage it was nice to see a male Red Breasted Merganser, a Black Brant and three Mediterranean Gulls. At the Coastal Park I heard my first Willow Warbler of the year.

Monday 7th April
On the way home from Norwich I saw my first Swallow of the Spring whilst waiting for the traffic lights at Heacham to change colour.

Wednesday 9th April
A sunny lunchtime walk in the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich gave me nice views of my fist Orangetip Butterflies of the year plus Holly Blue and Small Tortoiseshell and singing Blackcap and Chiff Chaff.

Rosary Chiff Chaff

Rosary Primroses

Friday 11th April
Durng a work visit to York University it was nice to see a male Goosander on the University lake and a early Swallow hunting for food. Two Great Crested Grebe nests close to the edge of the lake were a real treat.

York Uni Great Crested Grebes

Saturday 18th April
I took no 1 son for short walk down the West Bank path at Titchwell, from Parrinder Hide we saw Little Ringed Plover and Yellow Wagtail and elsewhere we heard Cetti's and Sedge Warblers. A kindly old lady offered to lend my 5 year old her bird book so that he could find out what the Black and White bird was only to be told he knew that it was an Avocet.

Titchwell Avocet

Monday 21st
A walk with the kids around Wharton's Belt at Courtyard Farm was great for lots of early Spring Butterflies including some wonderfully fresh looking Speckled Woods and Peacocks and more Green Hairstreaks than I can ever remember seeing here, in the short time I had with them I saw at least six insects quite easily.

Green Hairstreak

Wednesday 23rd April

A walk with no2 son along the top of the Dunes at Holme NWT this morning was wonderful with seen and / or heard: Cuckoo, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Chiff Chaff, Sedge Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Whimbrel, Sandwich tern and 8 Wheatears.

A brief visit to the Peak District

River Manifold at Ilam Hall

Monday 14 to Friday 18 April

Just back from a short family get together in the Peak District. We stayed just to the south of the National Park close the north shore of Carsington Water at Knockerdown Cottages. This was first and foremost a chance for the family to get together and for the kids to play with their cousins, but I did managed a couple of short early morning walks.

Knockerdown Cottages were a great place to have a reunion with a small on site swimming pool, kids playground etc, the one major drawback being that our double bed was perhaps the most uncomfortable bed I have ever had the misfortune to have to try and seep on.

Birds seen included god numbers of Buzzards and the odd Sparrowhawk, Grey Wagtail and Dipper on the River Manifold at Ilam Hall. But the best birding was along the lane that ran from our cottage towards Carsington Water, highlights of two 30 - 40 minute early morning walks along this were: Nuthatch, Bullfinch, Willow Tit, Willow Warbler, and Blackcap, Really hadn't expected Willow Tit, I see a lot of Marsh Tits in Norfolk and these were noticeably different to look at and listen too.

Willow Tit near Carsington Water

Both pictures taken with the Panasonic Lumix TZ30 and the Willow Tot has been heavily cropped.

An afternoon at Bempton Cliffs

Gannet at Bempton

Saturday 12 April

I managed to grab a few hours at Bempton during a work visit to York this weekend/ Always a great place o visit in the Spring with an assault on the sense from the noise of the seabirds especially the Kittiwakes, the fishy smell of the seabird colony and of course the great views of Gannets.

What I was also reminded of on this visit was that Bempton also has a great supporting cast of land birds including a colony of tree sparrows nesting on and around the Visitor Centre, Corn Buntings in the cliff top fields and Peregrines on the cliffs. 

During our visit we saw all of the breeding seabirds: Gannets, Kittiwakes, Herring Gulls, Shags, Guillemot's, Razorbills, Puffin's, as well as Jackdaw's, Rock Dove's and Peregrines. We also had great views of Tree Sparrow's and Corn Bunting's. Worth noting that there are not that many Puffins nesting here and you can find yourself working quite hard to see them

Another Gannet at Bempton

A shame about the lack of a decent cafe with the food offer restricted to some long life cakes and packets of crisps served by a rather dour Yorkshire man, still I believes the RSPB have received a grant from HLF to extend and improve the Visitor Centre so hopefully the catering will improve.

Peregrine and Herring Gull having an altercation at Bempton

Warming up, first Blackcap and lots of Chiff Chaffs

A pretty standard last ten days or so with a mix o work and family time and bird sightings woven into these.

Chiff Chaff, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

Last Thursday the 27th of March saw me at Titchwell for a meeting that was enlivened by a female Brambling on the feeders outside the office. The following day I helped a friend out with some jobs at Snettisham at lunchtime and was rewarded with great views of five Mediterranean Gulls on one of the islands.

A lovely early spring morning on Saturday saw me taking the kids for a walk around Ken Hill Woods where several Chiff Chaffs could be heard singing and we saw numerous butterflies including 8 - 10 Brimstone's nearly as many Small Tortoiseshell's and a couple of Peacocks. Then in the afternoon I had a quick walk along Lovers Lane at the back of Hunstanton and enjoyed a Common Buzzard, lots of Hares, drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 10 to 20 Yellowhammers, walking back up Downs road a flock of c 40 House Sparrows was great to see and hear.

Sunday and I bumped into a Stoat and Little Owl on the Ringstead to Choseley road in the morning and a Buzzard and Hen Harrier on a back road near Stanhoe in the afternoon.

Spring blossom, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

Today [Tuesday 1 April] I had a wonderful twenty minutes at lunchtime in the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich, real warm short sleeves weather and I was able to watch a sun bathing Grey Squirrel and see and hear my first Blackcap of the Spring as well as singing Chiff Chaffs, Stock Doves, Great Tits and Blackbirds and a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker. Plus a couple of Peacock butterflies and loads of Primroses.

Primroses, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

Redwing's out, Wheatear's in

From mid February until about a week ago life went on hold as we cared for our two little boys who too it in turn to be ill with Chicken Pox and a nice range of other bugs. Fortunately other than both having colds both are well again and so I am able to update this blog with details of the few birds I've stumbled across since early March.

Boats in the Spring sunshine at low tide, Burnham Overy Staithe

Work took me out to Great Missenden on the edge of the Chilterns and just beyond the reach of the Metropolitan line.  Walking to Marylebone station to get the overland train I picked out a pair of Mandarin Duck in flight over a garden square. Out of the train window I saw three Red Kites and there were often Kites and Common Buzzards over the conference centre and a pair of Grey Wagtails feeding on the lawn.

Sunday the 16th was a quiet family Sunday with a visit to Grand dads in Brancaster, standing outside in the garden there was a light passage of Redwing's heading west and that evening I heard more Redwing's calling over Hunstanton.

On Monday 17th I was I Minsmere for a meeting and managed a very short walk on the reserve after the meeting during which I heard my first Cetti's Warblers and Chiff Chaffs for the year and watched a couple of Marsh Harriers quarter the reedbed from Bittern Hide.

A lunchtime walk in Ken Hill Wood on Friday 21st was enlivened by all five resident Tit species [Marsh, Great, Coal, Blue and Long Tailed] and I picked up on call and then saw a pair of Bullfinches, rather embarrassingly these were a year tick.

On Saturday 22nd I found a nice flock of Redwings up by Choesley drying barns and a male Wheatear in a ploughed field at Courtyard Farm.  I took the time on this day to check through flocks of Turnstones at Hunstanton and Brancaster Staithe and couldn't find any colour ringed birds which suggest that the flocks of Turnstones I was seeing earlier in the winter have moved on taking the marked birds with them. 

Yesterday the 23rd I managed ten minutes in Brancaster Staithe Harbour photographing Black Tailed Godwits in poor light but it was so good to see some of these moulting into their lovely red breeding plumage it was worth the effort.

Black Tailed Godwit, Brancaster Staithe