Breckland Birder

Breckland Birder
Red Deer in Breckland, Norfolk Photo by Paul Newport

Monday 14 October 2019

Deopham, Norfolk

I had an hour long break from work this morning and decided on watching the vast expanse of arable farmland at the site of the former WW2 airfield at Deopham.  There has been a lot of devastating changes to this locality in the past year.  This land was purchased by a local businessman and one of the first actions seen was the digging up of the former runway, in my opinion this is an insult to the servicemen who served here during the war.  Further devastation saw the grubbing up of two very valuable hedgerows and scrub, habitats which were the summer home of migrant Warblers, and the autumn/winter staging post for migrant Thrush species.  Clearly, the scum who caused this devastation has no conscience and is driven by the need for greed.  His judgement day will come.
This location felt bleak and isolated, its very rural feel suiting me down to the ground.  From my 'point' watch the fields around me comprised Sugar Beet and large areas of maize stubble, suitable for Finches and Pipits.
Todays birds were:

3 Cormorant - south
15 Golden Plover - east
7 Stock Dove
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtails
Skylarks
300+ Linnets

Now is the time to see flocking Finches and Buntings on arable land, and the maize stubble here provides great feeding opportunities for these Finches.  300+ Linnets was a good count, and is an expected species in this habitat.  I have also recently seen three-figure numbers of Linnets in Sugar Beet crop, so check these habitat for these delightful Finches.
The Linnet is a common breeding bird in Norfolk, it is also a winter visitor from Europe.
 
 

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