I am very fortunate and grateful to the Bowes estate near Watton to be allowed to pursue my passion in very typical Breckland landscapes and habitat. I am especially grateful to the estates owner, Kevin Bowes, who invited me onto his land some years ago. The land covers a large area from Saham, Threxton, Little Cressingham, Great Cressingham, Bodney, and Hilborough. Much of this land lies with Stanford Army Training Area (STANTA).
Every year in February for a two week period the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust holds a nationwide Bird count, these counts are put to great use in assessing the health of farmland birds populations and to act upon areas of concern.
This years count began, as with every year, on 7th February, however, my first counts of the year began the weekend of the 8th and 9th February.
I was rather disappointed in that Finch and Bunting numbers were down, I put this down to the especially cold easterly wind, hopefully, an improvement in their numbers will be seen as the count progresses.
The following is a list of species seen the weekend of the 8th and 9th February.
Greylag Goose
Mute Swan 2
Egyptian Goose 6+
Mallard
Teal 40+
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Little Grebe 1
Grey Heron 1
Little Egret 1
Cormorant 1
Sparrowhawk 1
Goshawk 1
Buzzard
Moorhen 2
Lapwing 250+
Black-headed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Stock Dove (Best single count of 12)
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Kestrel
Merlin 1
Peregrine 1
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook (highest single count of 300+)
Carrion Crow
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Skylark
Long-tailed Tit 2
Wren
Starling (Highest count of 300+)
Blackbird (Included my first singing male of the year)
Fieldfare (Best single count of 80+)
Redwing (Best single count of 20+)
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush (5 singing males at one location)
Robin
Stonechat (Pair)
Dunnock
Pied Wagtail
Chaffinch (Best single count of 90+)
Linnet
Goldfinch
Yellowhammer
Reed Bunting 3
8 February (Highlights)
My first habitat visited for this years count was a large game strip comprising Maize and Brassicas, a type of habitat which is a good place to begin as such habitats attract Finches and Buntings. It was here I gathered a count of 90+ Chaffinches, but only a few Linnets.
A walk through Pine woodland produced a very close and calling Goshawk high in trees, but could I locate it visually.
Nearby farmland held 100+ Rooks, 80+ Fieldfare, 300+ Starlings, and about 20 Redwings.
A short visit to the Watton Brook valley produced a few Teal and Little Grebe, the highlight was a Peregrine flying east in a leisurely flight, I watched this bird until lost to sight.
9 February (Highlights)
I was particularly impressed by the numbers of singing Mistle Thrushes at one site, these large Thrushes always sing from the highest point in a tree, they are rightly called 'Stormcock' because they often sing in foul weather.
About 40 Teal were on wet meadows at Hilborough, also, I watched a Little Egret using its feet to stir up silt to look for invertebrate food.
The highlight of the day occurred at Bodney. I was closing a gate having entered land when I looked up when high overhead a Merlin was being shadowed by a tight flock of small and noisy passerine species, the Merlin then plummeted at speed towards the ground, these are high speed chase predators, I suspect once prey was located the Merlin would begin the chase hugging the ground. The Merlin is the smallest European Falcon being similar in size to a Blackbird.
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