Little Cressingham and Stow Bedon, Norfolk.

The morning dawned quite dull and oppressive with a feel of thunder in the air, however, all we had was a little light rain.  Light was quite poor at first but cloud moved on to give a sunny and hot day with a high of 31 degrees.  The wind was a moderate easterly.

Little Cressingham (Fairstead Lane and Green Lane) 0700-0800
With high temperatures forecast for today I decided to take an early morning walk on the patch whilst it was still reasonably comfortable.

Reed Bunting (male)

From the outset it was evident that family parties of birds were moving through the cover of hedgerows and woodland habitats.  Several Whitethroats were both seen and high darting between hedgerows and when close too their harsh clicking chatter was heard.
At the top of Fairstead Lane several birds were seen at 'The Fairstead', these included at least 3 Chiffchaffs and family parties of Tit species.
Green Lane held Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, the latter heard 'tacking' at a couple of sites.
In the Watton Brook valley, a Reed Bunting was heard in song downstream from the bridge on Fairstead Lane.  This bird was singing in typical rank waterside habitat.

Watton
With the recent move into our new bungalow in Watton it is time to start my new 'garden record'. late morning this was given a boost with my first Hobby seen from the garden.  The Falcon passed over at speed and had several Swifts following...clearly a safety strategy to avoid becoming lunch.

Stow Bedon Mere
My visit to this wonderful locality coincided with temperature highs of 31 degrees.  I did not expect to see too many birds due to the heat, however, a Chiffchaff was seen and heard, also Moorhen and a single Grey Heron was seen.


Ruddy Darter Dragonfly at Stow Bedon Mere 18/07/14

Interest during the heat of the day turn to insect species.  This visit saw many Common Blue Damselflies and a couple of very handsome Ruddy Darter Dragonflies.