Skip to main content

Slow, so slow. But I really should write something!

I am a little spoilt by my location, but I have to admit to being a little uninspired by local birding over the last few weeks. I have been out and about as usual, seen the odd addition to the patchwork year list, but not a lot to write home about. If you are dead keen on Surlingham and the surrounding area, do read on, for here is a comprehensive guide to what has been lurking amongst frozen bushes and reeds for the last few weeks.

A high count of 30 Egyptian Geese were recorded on the 3rd, and most of them remain as of today. A Skylark was a first for the year, as was a Little Egret which was again present this morning, in the company of 3 Greylag, 2 Egyptian and 2 white farm yard type Geese. An odd little grouping.

Redpoll seem to have disappeared, I could hear nor see any this morning at both Wheatfen or Church Marsh. However, on the 3rd males were exhibiting bright pink plumage and looking fantastic. Stock Dove are now singing and have been all month, and Treecreeper are also making themselves known. Still no sign of a Nuthatch at Wheatfen.

Rockland Broad is proving unproductive, despite a snowy visit at the start of the month when I had hoped for a wildfowl movement. A Barn Owl hunting just before midday must have been hungry, on the 3rd. 2 Common Buzzard have presumably paired up and are displaying over a small copse between  Surlingham and Rockland.

Today, the familiar piping sound of an Oystercatcher rang out from across the river. At least 2 birds have returned. A single Little Grebe was on the lagoon, not common here. At Wheatfen, a Great Black-backed Gull was heard and then seen circling near Rockland Broad, a year tick.


In other news, the Norwich Bat Group have published the results of last year's Big Bat Project, results here. They are hosting a talk on the 26th, sadly for me this has clashed with The Eels at UEA!

Crazy month coming up, 2 Stags (one in Lisbon, any birds I should be looking out for?) a Wedding and hopefully Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers before long.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everything is about edge

Hardley, where it is often confusing to define where the garden ends and the marsh begins. Tumble-down houses and rickety shacks, away from any bus route and Team Sky sorts wrapped in lycra, this is a village that by choice is cut off. The secret is out, and pre-storm Ciara as many as 10 large lenses littered the river bank firing at will. Their target- Winter ghosts. First, the classic Scooby-Doo type, as a Barn Owl responds to an ill-advised squeak in the grass and heads towards the onlookers. Another quickly joins the hunt, their formation a picture of double-edged stealth. But these year-round residents are not the key objective today, that honour is given to the Short-eared Owl. 3/4 of these can be seen from the staithe at the minute, floating like giant moths over the tussocks and edges.  In a recent article in The New Yorker, Jake Fiennes states "Everything is about edge". Hedges, ditches, scrub, forgotten tracts of land that link nothing and no-one. Fiennes, now ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grey Phalarope- a new patch bird

The 7th of April was another bitterly cold Spring day, hats and gloves in prime position on pegs and in bags ready to be deployed. A few brave Garganey have been reported north of the river, but it was a bird from the north itself that had me rushing for the thermals and the telescope late in the day.  I was thankful for the local Whatsapp group who were quick to report that a Grey Phalarope had been seen on Rockland Broad. This tiny Wader would have come in on the northerlies over the last few days, although to grace one of the broads is a real surprise, since most stick pretty close to the coast before moving on. Indeed, my experience of the birds has usually been on a sea watch in the Autumn, waves crashing and foam flying, my eyes straining to pick them out as they fly low just above the surf. They are fantastic birds, and now one was here on the patch. I had a brief panic when I realised my scope was in my car at the garage (thankfully I do have a much older spare) but once th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Claxton-on-sea!

 Although it was not quite the Christmas we wanted here in the valley, the rain has bought its own gift. A grim vision of the future, perhaps. But right now, the patch is peaking and is alive with birds, and for that I am thankful. On Christmas eve, it was a job to navigate away from the village due to standing water that had left abandoned cars and undelivered presents in its wake. The rain had been persistent and unforgiving, the ground, saturated. Over on the marsh, where there had once been a muddy puddle amongst the pasture, a city had sprung from the leak, with a plethora of new occupants noisily laying claim to a patch of sodden marsh. Wigeon and Black-headed Gulls in their thousands now wheeled and whistled over and amongst the newly formed pools, accompanied by smaller numbers of Teal and Shoveler. A flock of two hundred-strong Lapwing enjoyed feeding on the less damp spots where green grass was still exposed, and thrown in for good measure have been a couple of Ruff, the ...
4 comments
Read more