Private Guided Tours

I offer private guided wildlife tours for small groups in my local area and further afield. If you are visiting Norfolk, or just want to know what is on your doorstep, drop me an email at jimbradley.bradley@gmail.com and I will sort out a well priced package.

Depending on the time of year, it is a short drive (or even walk) to observe Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Bearded Tit, Swallowtail Butterfly, Barn Owl and much more. We really are spoilt for choice in Norfolk.

A recent client kindly commented after a summer Swallowtail tour:
Hi Jim, just wanted to thank for such a fantastic afternoon on your guided tour. We really did benefit from your expert guidance and extensive knowledge of flora and fauna. Our aim on the tour was to see the swallowtail butterflies which, with your assistance and impressive knowledge of where to look, allowed us to achieve our goal. Thanks to the diverse nature of the Reserve and your well-prepared tour, we saw a lot more than we could have hoped for. Amazing views of a Marsh Harrier, the distinctive sound and sight of a tree creeper, stunning dragonflies, teams of comma butterflies and close-up views of white admirals were amongst a few of our favourites. We were all amazed at your incredible ability to identify birds from their call or song alone. So, even though we might not have seen a reed warbler, at least we can say we heard it!
We will definitely like to book you for another tour, maybe at a different time of year to allow us to see different species the local reserves have to offer. It was a real pleasure to meet you again and thank you for making the day so successful. Kind regards , Elaine Parsley"

Comments

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 ...

Finally, just in time for the tail end of Spring migration........

.......we get some good weather. Too little too late? Only time will tell. I have enjoyed watching the resident birds go about their business on the local marshes and broads, but that ranks as the poorest Spring I can recall in terms of migrants and variety. That is not to say the birding is not good- but just a little underwhelming. Over at Rockland Broad on Saturday, I enjoyed a bit of a raptor fest, with 3 Hoby, 2 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel all seen well. 2 Garden Warbler were singing, one by the carpark and one by the broad. A couple of Common Tern were hawking over the broad, and a Kingfisher was up to the usual near the hide. Don't get me wrong, this is all great (and in the warm too) but I was hoping for something a little different at Rockland this Spring. Still, with the decent weather set to continue for the next week, eyes to the skies. And indeed, to the ground, for my first Wall Browns of the year were flying and I happened upon my first 4-spotted ...

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...

Notes from the valley

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