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Showing posts from February, 2016

Seal up-river and growing the patch list- Edited!

On the 20th, I was visited by my friend Ian from Wisconsin, who is over here studying in London. He, like me, enjoys the vast and desolate beauty of The Broads and I was keen to show him a few of the residents. When the water bulged on the Yare, I expected to be able to show him an Otter, but to our surprise a Grey Seal surfaced! He was wrestling with a large Pike and having subdued the fish, tucked in. At this point, we were halfway between the Beauchamp Arms and Rockland Broad, and our Seal disappeared so we continued with the hike. Incredibly, the Seal must have been following us as he resurfaced at the broad! The odd Seal does get reported up-river every year, but this was the first I had seen myself. There was little else of note on The Broad but there was only one highlight from this walk (not including the pint of Waxwing at the New Inn). The following morning at Church Marsh was not quite so lively, although 3 Shoveler went on the WeBs count and were NFY.

The highs and lows of February birding

To many, February can seem like an unappealing month. Still dark, certainly dreary and very much Winter. I can't disprove any of this, but I always look forward to the half term week and see it as an opportunity to get some seasonal birding done before the season begins to shift in mid-March. Beginning on Monday 15th, amongst a few other typical half-term potterings I was keen to have a look at the Cattle Egret near Aldeby tip. The bird was frequenting a small paddock with cows not far from my friend John's house, so after a quick stroll along the track at Boon's Heath, he and I made our way towards the river. Passing the paddock, we stood on the river bank looking across at Castle and Carlton Marshes where a large Gull roost had assembled. A Barn Owl had begun to hunt on our side of the river, and a Redshank called before alighting on a small river side pool. The Cattle Egret then arrived from the south, giving us a fly-past before landing back with the cattle we had j