Surlingham Garganey

Before the obvious, a brief look back at last Sunday.

Laid up with a cold for a few days, I emerged on Sunday to find the 4 Glossy Ibis at Cantley looking pristine in the sun, a full array of greens, purples and blues when the sun caught the plumage. Lovely stuff. Also popped to Marlingford, 2 Grey Wagtail on the river here, 2 Common Buzzard overhead. Stopped for a pint in The Bell, lovely spot this and a decent pint of EPA.

Surlingham this evening was rather warm, and driving home listening to Gram Parsons I could have been anywhere, but glad I was in Norfolk. 3 Chiffchaff are now singing on the reserve, and the Kingfisher frequenting the landspring continues to show. A Little Egret was in front of the hide, and there appeared to be a good few Duck present. I set about scanning the wildfowl, and stumbled across a pair of Garganey! Patch mega! Both were asleep, the white head stripe giving the male away. After a short wait, he woke up and dabbled in the water at the edge of the mud. Always nice to see this species, let alone on me patch! A look at the sightings board showed that the pair had been present since at least midday (Thanks Mr. G Moore) which is encouraging, since that would have been when the Gun Club were popping off rounds. Will they stay? Stay tuned for more information.
Other stuff of note included a pair of Marsh Harrier (per sightings board) Common Snipe and Great-spotted Woodpecker. Coal Tits in song today, with aplomb.

Great start to the year- Northern Bullfinch, Hen Harrier and now this.
Below is the worst shot of a Garganey you will see. But they were there.

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Notes from the valley

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