The Great Eastern Pingo trail at Stow Bedon 29 January 2023

 Another familiar themed day of weather with full cloud cover giving poor light.  It was clear and visibility was quite good. The day began with a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. 

This morning I walked through very typical Breckland habitat of pine forest, swamp, and arable farmland. Some of these habitats visited have a very real primeval look and feel about them, it can appear bleak and lonely, the way I love it.

A few Red Deer were seen in relatively open landscape at dawn, these beautiful beasts would soon retire to cover for the day.  Red Deer is our largest native land mammal and is in fact the worlds third largest Deer, they have a fantastic profile, are powerful, and are easily separated from other Deer species, not only by their size, but also the way they elegantly trot effortlessly when on the move. 

A good gathering of records of common Bird species seen this morning with a mobile flock of 80+ Redwings in treetops giving their "seeep" and "chuk" calls.  It is later in the year, usually October, when I like to stand outside during the hours of darkness on a clear night and hear the "seeep" contact calls of newly arrived Redwings from Scandinavia, passing overhead.

A couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were 'drumming' and both Nuthatch and Treecreepers were seen.  Nuthatches are tree dwellers, but this morning I saw one in a Bramble patch and Bracken searching for food.

I found a quiet spot in swamp-like habitat to watch a single Marsh Tit quietly moving around in tree roots and branches close to water.  This bird was seen to dip its bill in water and bathe and preen without entering the water.   I have been passionate about birds seen the mid 1960's and this preening behaviour is new to me.  It is wonderful to witness something new in birding, I never tire of it.

Lynford Water 17 December 2022

 The week prior to Christmas 2022 was a particularly cold one with some severe frosts seen.  As the temperatures were low and with the early wintry weather being a dominant feature I decided upon a visit to Lynford Water to check for signs of any Duck species associated with cold weather such as sawbills or Goldeneye.

Upon my arrival at Lynford Water the dawn temperature was -6 degrees celsius and with a severe frost. Following sunrise the day was very bright with very good visibility and light.  Lynford Water was largely frozen with just a small area of open water where wildfowl were gathered.  The surrounding woodland was cloaked in frost and looked incredibly beautiful.

 The small area of unfrozen water held most interest with good numbers of Mallard, Gadwall (33+), Tufted Duck (26+),  a few Shoveler, Egyptian Geese (2), Mute Swan, Little Grebe (4), and Great Crested Grebe (2).  In the peripheral woodland at least 33 Cormorant stood motionless in the trees.

At least 4 Water Rails were present with two together seen on the ice and as is typical with this species, calls only were heard, the familiar pig-like squeal.  Water Rails are usually very secretive as they live within the cover of dense reedbeds, however, the species will venture away from cover in very cold weather and can occasionally be seen running between cover on ice.  This particular visit saw two Water Rails together in light reed cover where calling, however, both were seen running for deeper cover

Water Rail at Lynford Water 17 December 2022

Much of this visit to Lynford Water was spent taking photographs of the incredibly beautiful wintry scenes.  

  

New beginnings

 To those of you who have followed my Breckland Birder site, it has been obvious to you I am sure that my blogging has been absent for some time.  I apologise for my idleness.

Today (Friday 27/1/23), I met with my friends Graham and Lynn Trimmer for a coffee and an overdue catch up.  I had a thoroughly great visit with Graham and Lynn, we chatted about many things including current affairs, but also, we talked about my Breckland Birder site and for the need for me to restart my birding experiences.  Graham inspired me engage with you through my blog and it is my intention to use my birding experiences as an educational tool.  I thank Graham and Lynn for giving me the lift I needed. I am pleased to say that I will be joined by Graham and Lynn soon for a local walk to discover and learn about our wonderful birds and other wildlife.

Birding has been a lifelong passion of mine and despite first showing an interest in birds back in the 1960's, my desire to learn has never faltered.  Bird migration never ceases to amaze me and it is this fascinating area of birding I would especially like to share with you, I will let you know where and when to 'look up' to watch migrant birds on the move.

To begin with I will let you know about a recent observation of Fieldfare interested me.  It was early one morning when a single Fieldfare was perched high in a Poplar and calling its "shack shack" contact call, this bird continued to call this behaviour for several minutes when I then saw its head on one side to look up.  Checking the sky above the bird I saw a small flock of Fieldfare approaching very high overhead and calling, the Fieldfare in the tree on cue flew off and climbed high and away with the passing birds. Amazing!!