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.