Little Cressingham (Watton Brook Valley) 11 September 2025 (0825-1115)

 A pleasant morning, however, the moderate to fresh SW wind had a cool feel to it, despite this it remained sunny throughout the morning.  

My visit this morning was on private land and my focus was on finding migrant species, this includes listening for calls which was a little difficult owing to the noise of the wind.  I had commanding views over this part of my patch from the top of a Bronze Age burial tumulus from where I sat for a while hoping for some visible migration, however, no birds were seen, but the views were spectacular.

Looking west from the Bronze Age tumulus 11 September 2025

Looking north from the Bronze Age tumulus 11 September 2025

The first migrant of the morning was a single Hobby drifting slowly east until lost to view.  I began my walk my slowly moving along Watton Brook whilst looking for movement (which was difficult due to the wind) and listening for alarm or agitated calls.  A few Stonechats were seen on posts, but then I heard a harsh "trrr" call followed by the subsong of a Reed Warbler, I could see some movement in the vegetation and eventually caught a partial sighting of a juvenile Reed Warbler between cover.

Migrant Reed Warbler (juvenile) in Watton Brook 11 September 2025

Continuing my walk along the valley I noticed the usual Stonechats on the fence, however, one similar sized bird was with them and I could see straight away that this bird had a bold supercillium, this was a Whinchat, a scarce but regular passage migrant on the patch.

Whinchat 11 September 2025

This Whinchat was notable different from the nearby Stonechats, even without optics the salient features of Whinchat was the obvious bold supercillium, and when seen head on it appeared a much paler bird, with optics I could see a slight pale peach blush to the breast.

Raptor species seen on this visit included 4 soaring Buzzards, one Red Kite on carrion, and a beautiful ♀ Kestrel which gave great views in direct sunlight on a post.

Given the wind strength, my final part of my visit was along the leeward side of woodland, here I heard a couple of Chiffchaffs, also present was two Blackcaps, including a ♂ bird seen eating elderberries.