Abbey Farm Bird Hide and Environs 11th May 2017

The last day in Norfolk before we set back off northwards the following morning was really just going to be a casual day a couple of practical things we had to do and also giving Anne a chance to drop in at the Lavender Farm nearby but still managed to get a little bit of birding in, including a good year tick.

We went to Abbey Farm which Anne found and which is described in the “Best Birdwatching Site in Norfolk” book that I used all the time. It turned out to be little more than a single hide with parking for about four cars. The place is a working farm but it has been designed to be bird friendly. It is also supposed to be (by the above book) one of the very best places to see Turtle Dove which sometimes perch on the wires above the fields you can see from the hide. It is also supposed to home to a Little Owl but we didn’t see either of these species.
What we did see were a pair of Egyptian Geese, a few Greylags, a Gadwall and a Buzzard overhead. Be that as it may it was a nice little stop and it lead us to take a walk down the road looking in the fields. Just as I was convinced that we were never going to see any Grey Partridges, Anne spotted a group of birds down a dirt track and closer inspection showed them to be a mix of Collared Doves, Blackbirds and – Grey Partridge. For once they did not immediately scurry into the bushes but seemed to be unaware of us so I got the scope set up and watched them as they slowly ambled towards us giving us better and better views. We hadn’t done much birding but this was definitely a much-appreciated year tick
On a final note, we looked into a field to the side of this lane and way at the back of it was another sloping field in which we could get scoped views of a Buzzard on the ground feeding on a rabbit.
Year Ticks : Grey Partridge

Bird Sightings : Abbey Farm Bird Hide and Environs