A new patch bird- not the Purple Heron though!

Yesterday news broke of a Purple Heron in a ditch at Claxton. Now, there are quite a few ditches at Claxton and no further details were forthcoming. Not owning a pager, I checked RBA online late in the day and knew I had missed a big patch bird and one which I have been expecting for some time now. I went out in search this morning post-car boot sale. Assuming it was mobile I began at Langley Dyke. Very quiet this morning, but I glimpsed a small bird flick from a wire into a bush, and back again. Surely a Flycatcher. This would be a patch tick whatever the species! I went round the back of the carpark for a better view, and confirmed it is Spotted Flycatcher! Now this seemed to be a different bird to before, as on its back were 2 white downy feathers not present on what was probably an adult seen at distance. This is what patch birding is all about, you just never know!
I had by now almost forgotten about the Heron, but I went to Claxton on auto-pilot. Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler and a female Sparrowhawk over but no Herons.

There is always something to do for our wedding at the moment, and I am finding myself turning down all sorts of offers to bird and socialise this year. I am desperate to get up to the north coast to hunt for butterflies but am having to be content with local wanderings, which I really should not complain about. Debs and I went to Wheatfen yesterday, which was superb for Dragons and Damsels. We saw Emperor, Migrant Hawker, Ruddy Darter and the species below. This may or may not be a Willow Emerald, opinion is split on the forums!

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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 ...

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...

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 ...

Notes from the valley

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