The overnighter for the birding group this term was to North Yorkshire taking in Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs. THis trip is always a good chance to get a few year ticks and this trip we managed to get sixty-three species including seven year ticks.
The first birding group outing of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands. It was a reasonable morning but with only a few notable birds. The first was an adult Mediterranean Gull with a juvenile, a year tick. The second was a single Pintail, both of these from the bridge screen and then, from Inner…
New “Year Ticks” in May 2022: 29New “Life Ticks” in May 2022: 3Total Species for 2022 so far: 142
The first birding group morning out after our two-week holiday was one of my personal favourites – to the Goyt Valley and Danebower Quarry. We usually hope to get Redstart, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit and Ring Ouzel. Well, we didn’t get all of these but we did get some.
Our last visit to Norfolk in 2019 had perhaps spoiled us as the round trip gave us so many of those species that we love including Dotterel and Turtle Dove. This trip gave us fewer species and not all of the most desirable birds but the weather was so much better than in 2019 which…
The 20th was the last day of our holiday and we drove from our cottage in Thornham to the village of Woolsthorpe by Belvoir where we stayed at the Chequers Inn. En route, though, we stopped at Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve. Here was our last chance to see Turtle Doves we thought, since we had…
This was our last day at the cottage before heading homewards so we decided to have a last look at Titchwell RSPB where we, at last, managed to get a year tick Little Gull. After that we went to the beach at Hunstantion and then returned home to pack our bags.
On the 18th we had another lazy day in the sun. We drove around the immediate area a bit and up to Chosely but didn’t see a lot except an entirely accidental Yellowhammer who we flushed from the roas as we were driving along. We ate at home that evening and then walked through the…
On the 17th we took the time to drive out to Sculthorpe Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve which is well known for its Marsh Tit population so we hoped to add this species to our year list. As it turned out it was a bit quiet there. We did the full circuit of the reserve…
When we were getting ready for our day’s birding, I went out to the car and the first thing I saw was a Marsh Harrier over the field immediately opposite our cottage flying about twelve feet off the ground. What a start to the day. It eventually flew off and the airspace was left to…
