Feb 1st Whitlingham Broad
Fed up of waiting around for a shift at my postal sorting job, I wanted to go out for some fresh air and a walk around Whitlingham Broad. My Mum kindly dropped me off this afternoon and I went off to look for new birds to add to my year list. It was a pleasant day for it, though quite blustery, which would set the theme for the rest of the month. Despite the windy conditions, there were plenty of birds about. On the broad were large numbers of gadwall, tufted ducks, coots, mallards and the odd pochard. Meanwhile, by the barn car park, a couple brought a tub of seed with them and all the swans, geese (greylags, Egyptian and the local barnacle), ducks and gulls (black-headed, common and lesser black-backed mostly) quickly surrounded them in an instant.
Making my round the broad, a kestrel braved over the choppy waters and attempted to hunt the wildfowl for some reason before thinking twice about it and left. Further along, I spotted a few distant male goldeneye. Their white cheek patches were very visible and helped distinguish them even from as far off as they were. Returning back to the spot where the couple were feeding the ducks, etc, the light was beginning to fade and I managed to find the male mandarin that must have just arrived to roost and was already dozing off. Also seen during my visit were; shovelers, cormorants, one great crested grebe and a very distant and high soaring sparrowhawk.
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| Mandarin Duck (Feb 1st), Flood damage (Feb 2nd) & Snowdrops (Feb 9th) |
Feb 2nd Strumpshaw Fen
On the final weekend of January, I discovered some news from Strumpshaw that, due to Storm Malik, the reserve recorded its worst ever flood since the RSPB took over over 45 years ago. The River Yare rose to 1.40m and most of Strumpshaw's paths were underwater and closed off.
On my arrival for my latest shift a few days later, I feared for the worst. The road beside the car park was a shallow stream and didn't give me much confidence. But, thankfully, it wasn't too bad. I managed to walk around most of the reserve with no problem and the flood had subsided greatly. The paths leading to Fen and Tower hides remained underwater and out of bounds, the only areas in which were still badly effected. The woodland trail and the Reception Hide were the places to be with great spotted woodpeckers, Chinese water deer, Muntjac deer, marsh harriers, siskins, gadwall, shovelers, mallards (including a white one), greylags, mute swans, herons, teal, scarlet elfcap fungus and snowdrops.
Feb 8th Catton Park
A short visit to my local park. Highlights being 2 buzzards, 4 stock doves and a great spotted woodpecker.
Feb 9th Strumpshaw Fen
A much drier walk at Strumpshaw as the flood had subsided to normal levels. The Fen Hide was open again, but there wasn't much to see other than 3 Chinese water deer and a couple of marsh harriers. During my morning walk, I witnessed hundreds of pink-footed geese fill the sky with skein after skein, 10 snipe flying into the meadows, siskins, redwings, and, near Base Camp, the small display of snowdrops were now at their best. At Reception Hide, the broad was full of greylags, gadwall, a few mallards, shovelers and coot, in which one pair was building a nest.
Feb 10th Kelling Quags & Cley
Dad and I went in search of the red-breasted goose that was spending time with the brent geese at Cley. Along the way, we stopped at Kelling Quags. Here, we had a field full with pink-footed geese (but no sign of the tundra bean geese that were apparently amongst them), wigeon, shovelers, red-legged partridges and great black-backed gulls.
After a stop at the Kelling tea rooms, we made our way to Cley. On the drive up, we noticed many people looking at something from East Bank. Sadly, there was nowhere to park, so we continued to the beach where I was hoping to see the red-breasted goose. However, there was no sign of anything. We had a quick scan around at the blind overlooking the pools from the beach side, where many brent geese were, but not the goose I wanted. There were a few pintails, teal, wigeon, shovelers and a curlew as well and we came across a stonechat and skylarks on the return to the car.Pink-footed Geese (Feb 10th), Scarlet Elfcaps (Feb 16th)
Storm damage, Song Thrush,
Peacock & Marsh Harrier (Feb 23rd)
At the visitor centre, I learned that the goose was indeed at the East Bank and had since flown east. I had missed my chance! Though I had failed to see it, we had a quick look along East Bank anyway and I added little egrets, grey plover, ringed plovers, oystercatchers and turnstones to my bird list and it took me to 101 species!
Feb 13th Sheringham
I had the opportunity to go sea watching at Sheringham before the latest storm arrived. While my parents went into town, I was left at a shelter with my scope to scan the sea for an hour. The sea seemed flat and calm and empty with just a few gulls and the odd seal, but once I had my eye in, I managed to spot a few distant gannets, red-throated divers and one guillemot.
Once my hour was up, I had a quick look around for purple sandpipers, but could only find turnstones, many of them. At times, these turnstones came up to my feet!
Feb 16th Strumpshaw Fen
A very windy morning, but still relatively warm. Despite the strong winds, I still saw a few good things. At Fen Hide, there was a heron, a snipe, 2 mute swans, greylags, and marsh harriers. The woods, meanwhile, were a deafening place due to the raucous twittering of siskins as well as treecreepers, nuthatches, song thrushes, marsh tits and other common woodland birds minus the woodpeckers. Scarlet elfcap fungi were everywhere on the ground and were more vivid than ever thanks to the perfect light conditions.
It was a bit quieter at Reception hide, but at the end of my shift, provided me with the big highlight of the day in the form of two red kites. With their long wings and distinctive forked tails, it made them easier to identify over the buzzards and marsh harriers that were also around. Other than that, there were 14 coots, about 10+ greylags, a couple of Canada geese and 2 more mute swans.
Feb 20th Buckenham Marshes
Two days after Storm Eunice battered the country, the most dangerous storm in a long, long time, Dad and I decided that we go for a short walk at Buckenham for a couple of hours. We must have been out of our minds. It was another stormy day with Franklin blowing a gale, the third storm in a week! Though not quite as powerful as Eunice, it still wasn't the best conditions to be in. It was more of the rain than the strong winds that really got to us in the end, though, as we were absolutely soaking!
Despite the storm, there was still plenty to see. Marsh harriers were braving the howling gales to attempt to hunt and helped us out in seeing everything that was possibly on the marshes as everything flew up into the dangerous stormy sky to escape becoming a snack. Hundreds of them. Wigeon, lapwing, golden plover and starling were up there swirling around like flakes in a snow globe that's been shook up.
Feb 23rd Strumpshaw Fen
Damage caused by Strom Eunice was still evident to see when I arrived at Strumpshaw for my last shift for February. The ivy covered tree that was standing near Reception Hide was one of several trees that was toppled over and remained on the ground. Good thing it didn't fall in the opposite direction. Thankfully, all the hides and facilities survived the storm without a scratch.
A big flood had also occurred the day before this shift and had forced Fen Hide and Tower Hide to close. I went to check out the latest conditions and was able to get to Fen Hide with no problem, enough for the sign for closure to be removed. Not that there was much to see, however.
There was a lot more activity in the woods as the birds were full of song, which included the voices of song and mistle thrushes, hundreds of siskins and I also encountered 2 treecreepers spiralling up a tree. It was a lovely day, so much so that I saw my first butterfly of the year, a peacock which sunned itself next to the fallen ivy tree. What made my day, though, was a red kite which flew low over my head and over the broad in front of Reception Hide. Sadly, I left my camera inside the hide, a very foolish mistake!
