1st June 2026
An early start for Lynda and I this morning. Last night I set up a moth trap in a grass field on one of the farms I survey. This was my first session mothing on this particular farm and now I have other farmers asking if I can go on their farm too, I could be out 24/7.

First light and we arrived at the field. We passed a red-legged partridge on the lane and a rook flew over. When we got out of the car skylarks and whitethroats were singing away as were 2 yellowhammers. We approached the trap to find we had a modest catch, but all new for the farm biodiversity database.

First out to be processed was a Marbled Brown, the only one we caught.

Not the prettiest of beasts but like all the others, once identified safely released into dense vegetation where they would be out of sight of hungry birds.

The rest of the catch comprised of the following;

Hook-streaked grass veneer, a total of 5
Common Wainscot 7
Marbled Minor 5
Pale Prominent 1

Pale Prominent

Turnip Moth 7

Marbled Clover 1

Marbled Clover

Middle barred Minor 1

Heart and Dart 2

Shuttle shaped dart 1

Dusky Brocade 1 Green Oak Tortix 1

Marsh Grey 1

Common Swift 2

Common Swift

We weren’t too long processing our catch then it was back home for breakfast. Slowly making our way back through the farmyard we added 13 stock dove to our bird list, a magpie, 1 song thrush and one very loud mistle thrush, 1 pied wagtail and 3 chirpy house sparrows in the farmyard. We were also pleased to record a painted lady butterfly.

My next biggish session out was on the 6th June. This was a stop off at Lynda’s mums on our way up to the Yorkshire Dales for a mini break.

3rd June 2026
This evening Lynda and I went to our local heath to listen for Nightjar. We were well rewarded making my bird count 196 for the year. This was a prepping visit ready for my annual outing when I usually have 12-18 people join me for a nightjar and glowworm evening. More on that later.

6th June 2026
We always have to have a walk around the Idle Valley Complex and Lound Gravel Pits when we travel North to Lynda’s mums

The flag iris were looking fabulous and there were birds a plenty. We took a leisurely 2 hour walk covering a little over 3 miles. There is so much to see here.

Lound Gravel Pits, Nottinghamshire, England, GB
40 species

Greylag Goose 21
Canada Goose 10
Mute Swan 37
Egyptian Goose 5
Gadwall 10
Mallard 30
Tufted Duck 20
Stock Dove 2
Common Woodpigeon 10
Common Cuckoo 4
Common Moorhen 1
Eurasian Coot 210
Black-headed Gull 200
Lesser Black-backed Gull 90
Common Tern 2
Great Crested Grebe 6
Glossy Ibis 1
Little Egret 2
Eurasian Jay 1
Common Magpie 1
Eurasian Jackdaw 1
Rook 40
Eurasian Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Sedge Warbler 1
Barn Swallow 1
Western House Martin 5
Willow Warbler 2
Common Chiffchaff 3
Cetti's Warbler 2
Long-tailed Tit 15
Eurasian Blackcap 2
Eurasian Wren 3
Song Thrush 2
Eurasian Blackbird 11
European Robin 2
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 1
Pied Wagtail 2
Common Chaffinch 3

It was great to hear singing willow warbler as they are a bit thin on the ground in East Anglia these days and I was very pleased to catch sight of a glossy ibis. This bird has been present on and off for several days now.

7th June 2026

We left Lound and drove up to Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales. In the first few years after we were married we had quite a few holidays in the Yorkshire Dales, we even had a weeks cycling holiday and camped. I think I had more punctures that week than I have had during the rest of my life to date. Lynda kept saying she would really like to return to the Dales so we made it happen. Of course I arrived with a shopping list of birds, a key species being ring ouzel as I had seen them in this part of the Dales before in the Swaledale - Arkengarthdale area.

We are staying 2 nights near Reeth at the lower end of Arkengarthdale.

We arrived at 12:00 and found a pub which served Sunday lunch just at the end of our drive. We had to find somewhere quick as the place Lynda had booked was without a chef so had cancelled us. Lynda jumped out and made a booking. 15 minutes later we were inside. The lunch was excellent so we booked for tomorrow evening as well.

The River Swale

Very pretty gardens and as we walk by we can hear curlew singing from the hill tops as well as willow warblers in the nearby bushes. Are we in heaven?

We leave the manicured gardens and climb up into more open countryside. The wildflowers are amazing and yet we know there is better to come tomorrow.

We are in an area where lead mining was once a major industry.

Possibly a disused entrance into an old lead mine.

Just a two mile walk before our evening meal. It was great to be back in such a fabulous part of the country. Birds encountered on this walk as follows;

Common Woodpigeon 1
Northern Lapwing 2
Eurasian Curlew 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Eurasian Jackdaw 3
Barn Swallow 5
Willow Warbler 1
Song Thrush 1
House Sparrow 3
Pied Wagtail 2
Meadow Pipit 6
European Goldfinch 2

The trouble with Lynda and I is we just can’t keep still. After food we were off again on another outing. This time it was for a drive along a road where in previous years I had come across our moorland thrush, the ring ouzel. We set off and it wasn't long before we had quite a few lapwing, curlew in abundance and red grouse (several with chicks).

The remains of a Smelting Mill, this was Surrender Mill.

The first ore from the profitable Surrender Mines was smelted in 1797 after protracted disputes over ownership which lasted nearly 100 years. The mineral lords fought each other through the courts while their miners fought and sabotaged each other’s work on the ground. One incident involved one faction sinking a shaft which was then filled in by the other side, nearly killing the men still underground.

The present Surrender smelt mill replaced two earlier ones on the site in 1841 and is interesting for its symmetrical layout. A huge waterwheel powered the bellows for the furnaces and its wheel pit can still be seen.

The main fuel for the hearths was peat and the remains of a fine open-sided peat storehouse can also be seen on the site. It would once have had a heather-thatched roof.

Lead produced here would have been taken by pack-horse or cart to markets in Stockton-on-Tees or to Richmond once the railway station opened. It would have had many uses including paint, water pipes, weights, roof covering, lead shot and water tanks.

A bird suddenly appeared in our sights and flew over us. After years of birding you instantly spot something and from its jizz you just know it is different. It was very blackbird like but not a blackbird. We had struck lucky it was a male ring ouzel. Lynda saw it and admitted it just somehow didn’t look like a blackbird but she couldn’t have said it was an ouzel. We drove for about a mile down a narrow road then turned around.

Red Grouse every where.

I was driving very slowly alongside Surrender Mill again when Lynda shouted ‘stop”, there perched on top of a fencepost she had spotted our male ring ouzel again and no mistaking it this time. Perched proudly showing off its white crescent on top of its breast. Lynda was well pleased and it was bird number 197 for my year list.

Rugged, remote and beautiful. Not a fast food shack for miles.

A very good selection of birds on this outing.

Red Grouse
Common Pheasant
Common Woodpigeon
Common Cuckoo
Northern Lapwing
Eurasian Curlew
Eurasian Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Common Raven
Ring Ouzel
Northern Wheatear
Pied Wagtail
Meadow Pipit

8th June 2026

By the end of yesterday I had walked a total of 553 miles, just over halfway towards my annual target. I knew today would give it a good boost as we were walking from Gunnerside to Muker along the River Swale. The meadows in this part of the dales must be seen. Meadows like we used to have, not the slurry soaked monoculture grasslands we now have in most of the country.

Driving to our parking spot we saw more red grouse with chicks.

We parked and set off. Within minutes I had a spotted flycatcher on the opposite side of the river doing what spotted flycatchers do. Typically they dart out from a perch catch a passing insect then more often than not return to the same perch. This is another species which has become very scarce in East Anglia and gave me bird number 198 for the year. Getting close now, 2 to go.

We both spotted movement below on the water mum goosander with about 10 young.

Goosander family

A sight to behold real meadows with buttercups. Almost dazzling.

We left the river for a while and began walking through the meadows. Wild flowers in abundance.

Mouse-eared Chickweed

Smooth Bedstraw

Winter cattle barns, typical of the Yorkshire Dales.

Curlew were singing all around us and enjoying the rich sward were these young lambs.

We rejoined the river near Ivelet.

The historical Ivelet Bridge.

Ivelet Bridge is a historic structure in Ivelet, a hamlet in North Yorkshire, in England.

The packhorse bridge over the River Swale was constructed in the late 16th century. Nikolaus Pevsner describes it as “the most romantic of the Swaledale bridges. One arch, rising very high and never widened”. It was grade II* listed in 1966.[1] The bridge was damaged by a vehicle in 2012, but was repaired ahead of the 2014 Tour de France passing nearby.

The bridge is built of rubble, and consists of a single semicircular arch of voussoirs, surmounted by smaller stones forming a hood mould. The parapets have segmental coping, and they curve round at the northeast corner. Immediately to its northeast is a separately listed Mediaeval stone slab, said to have been used to rest coffins being transported to the Church of St Andrew, Grinton.

Onwards towards Muker.

The River Swale in all its glory.

One of the most splendid of meadows just outside Muker.

Bistort

Wood Cranesbill

We walked by a barn tucked away under some old beech trees and I heard a bird which stopped me in my tracks. It is like, you recognise it but when you don’t hear them too often you have to dig deep into your memory banks. Ping, it came to me, common redstart and this was the female, a great bird to find but not my first for the year.

We had lunch in Muker then retraced our steps. Back at the barn under the beech trees and this time we spotted the male redstart which made Lynda happier as they are particularly beautiful birds.

We stopped for 5 on the banks of the Swale, just to soak it all up. Sunshine, birdsong, flowers, a gentle breeze, then what’s this? someone who is not relaxing.

A flavous nomad bee nesting inside the river bank. We admired it for ages going about its business and let it off. It had far more important things to be getting on with than Lynda and I. Leaving the bee to get on with its chores we walked on meeting more meadow residents along the way.

Back at Ivelet Bridge we had a common sandpiper, another great bird to add to the days list.

Don’t you just love these old barns.

After 9.1 miles we reached our car. We have had the good fortune to have walked the whole of the South West coastal path and hundreds of miles either side of it. We have hiked the Lake District Fells, most of the Derbyshire Peak District and the Milford Track in New Zealand but we both said this had been one of the most beautiful walks we had ever completed. 562 miles walked this year.

We had seen and heard some great birds on the walk. Dipper, Kingfisher, Goosander, Curlew, Redstart, Willow Warbler to name but a few.

We had our evening meal and thought just for a change we would go for a walk. Well the area is so beautiful it would be rude not to. The highlight on this walk was finding mountain pansy.

All good things come to an end and on the 9th we returned to East Anglia.

19th June 2026
David and I went to Knettishall Heath this evening see if there were any nightjars. We didn’t see any but heard one male and also a tawny owl.

23rd June 2026
David and I had a day out birding in Norfolk today. We began at our raptor watchpoint in the Brecks. Several shelduck were flying around and we had curlew and lapwing. Today our only raptor at this site was a kestrel.

From here we went to the public hide at Abbey Farm, Flitcham. Water was in short supply with just a wet puddle in the base of the pond. Several greylag geese looked on in hope that it might rain one day. For such a small site it punches above its weight with two pairs of marsh harrier breeding this year and hardly any reeds at all. We saw 3 juvenile birds flying around, a kestrel, 2 buzzards, a red kite and a little owl, the latter was quite vocal.

2 moorhens and an oystercatcher came to have a look at the puddle which was all that remained of what is usually a sizeable pond. Before we left we heard a purring turtle dove and saw 2 reed buntings.

Next we stopped off at Thornham Harbour and watched out towards the sea and Thornham Point. The tide was well out but we did see a couple of turnstone, 14 oystercatcher and a little egret. A surprise was a gannet flying East along the shoreline, David spotted the gannet then I found a few little terns. Little tern had been hiding from us all Spring so finally we could add the bird to our list, 199. Now just 1 to go to hit my target and this year I am way ahead of David. It is his fault he will keep clearing off abroad. Which species will be my 200th bird. knows the answer to this one because I clocked it about 10 minutes before we met at RSPB Bempton.

26th June 2026

Lynda and I are having another mini escape. This time it is to East Yorkshire. We are staying in Flamborough for two nights so the plan is to make a couple of visits at least to RSPB Bempton. I have one common UK seabird that I have not seen this year and whilst there are not many at Bempton in the grand scheme of things I should connect. For this trip I had a spy on the ground who had already informed me there were several present. My spy on the ground was the lovely . We had been messaging each other and arranged to meet up. Whilst we both subscribe to each others Substack accounts this was going to be the first time we had actually met. We had shared details regarding our enfoldings and I knew I was looking for a lady in a gannet tee shirt.

We arrived at Bempton before Gem and set off walking.

Nearly but it didn’t count.

That is a whole lot better. Bird number 200, whippee. Target reached before the end of the 6th month of the year. Pretty good going says me.

OK enough of the puffins. What else can we see, yes gannets.

Lots and lots of gannets, razorbills and guillemots and of course a subject which cropped up recently on Substack those hundreds of rock doves which are not rock doves but feral pigeons. Not forgetting the kittiwakes either.

Razorbill.

Walking along the cliff top path I spied a young lady who was deep in conversation with another visitor. Even without binoculars I could tell they were gannets on her tee shirt. “I am sure that is Gem”, I said to Lynda and sure enough it was. We chatted and birded and walked whilst Gem took lots of photos and then we each went on our merry way. A fabulous opportunity meeting a like minded person and one we shall repeat (even if I have to come to Fowlmere).

27th June 2026

Lynda and I started our day by driving to Wykeham Forest. This is a good spot for seeing honey buzzard and I last visited about 3 years ago when I had fabulous views. The area close to the raptor watchpoint looked as though it had been bombed but we ignored it and walked by, finally reaching the watchpoint. Lynda soon made herself comfortable knowing that I would very likely be looking for dots in the sky. Several birders were present and I quickly checked in establishing that nothing had been seen on the honey b front.

The vista is across a valley and last time I was here I had great views of honey buzzard below me and above. Unfortunately a lot of the trees have grown up so views down into the valley were limited to say the least. As it is a listed raptor watchpoint managed by Forest England I was puzzled as to why the view was blocked. I do wonder sometimes who they have in charge of managing their forests. Any way let’s keep looking. Several chaffinches flew by as did a couple of siskin. A hobby was spotted and a couple of common buzzards.

Finally way in the distance I spied a raptor which was not holding itself like a common buzzard. It had smoothly downcurved wings, common usually holds it wings in a shallow V shape. It had a noticeably longer tail than common buzzard and a protruding head. All classic signs making it a honey. Burhinus you are on a roll, 201 for the year. The heat was becoming unbearable so after watching the honey buzzard until it dropped out of view we made our way back to the car. Walking back we had tree pipit, which was a good bird to add to the list for the trip.

We returned to the coast and RSPB Bempton. had sent me a fantastic shot of a barn owl she took very early in the morning before driving home. If you are not tuned in to her Substack then you must. All the seabirds were there waiting for us plus we had common whitethroat and around the visitor centre, tree sparrows. We crashed out on a bench in the shade and had a snooze.

In the evening we went to Runswick Bay and Flamborough where quail had been reported. No chance of hearing quail this evening there was a band playing at a local campsite and I think we might have heard them if we were at home in Suffolk. We dropped down on to the beach at Runswick Bay and we lost the band. Lovely peace and quiet, just gently lapping waves, kittiwakes, cliff nesting house martins and Lynda called a bird, which she initially thought was a juvenile gannet. It was a bit too early as they were all still in the nest. I scanned with my binoculars and to my surprise found it was a great skua being mobbed by loads of gulls and terns. Bird 202 for the year. Having had an incredible day in the heat we headed for our bed.

28th June 2026

It is home today but just one last call in at Bempton to say cheerio to the puffins. There wasn’t really anything new to add. It soon became horribly crowded so we set off for home.

Note to self, keep away from Bempton at weekends.

30th June 2026

This evening David and I co led a visit to the farm where I am doing the Wildfarmed bird survey by a group from our local Suffolk Wildlife Trust Group.

We had several painted lady butterflies, lots of swifts and house martins at the nest boxes provided by the farmer.

House Martin

Swift

We were all surprised to see this little chappy in with the chickens

Joey

Stay tuned in folks for a lifer in July.

As the visit to Boughton Fen had been so successful yesterday I thought I should take Lynda in the hope of seeing the grizzled skipper again but before that I had to check all was well with the Wild Farmed recording equipment on my local farm and conduct my first timed walk around the field. So 06:45 and Lynda and I are walking the field. Not a huge amount seen or heard but still a pleasant walk in the early morning sunshine.

15 species
Common Pheasant 2
Stock Dove 1
Common Woodpigeon 3
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Eurasian Jackdaw 1
Carrion Crow 1
Great Tit 1
Eurasian Skylark 2
Common Chiffchaff 1
Eurasian Blackcap 1
Common Whitethroat 2
Eurasian Wren 1
Song Thrush 1
Common Chaffinch 1
Yellowhammer 2

From here we drove on to Boughton Fen. The day was warming and birds were singing away as we arrived. Very similar birds to yesterday really when I was here with David, we heard the bittern again, saw 2 marsh harriers a kite but no buzzard. A sparrowhawk did fly over us though and we saw 2 hobbies today.

Like yesterday the reeds were alive with song and chatter, reed and sedge warblers were singing away as was the loud cetti’s warbler. Two birds today which were not recorded yesterday were a fly over kronking raven and from deep inside the reeded a squealing water rail. Also two woodpeckers this morning great spotted and green.

Great spotted Woodpecker

A cuckoo was also singing away.

Cuckoo, not taken today. Bird held under license.

We did spy a sneaky heron though.

Grey Heron

The temperature was rising and as expected just like yesterday hobbies appeared, this time just two birds. We continued walking adding common whitethroat, blackcap, garden warbler and robin to the list and in the reeds we saw a reed bunting. Returning to our car we drove the short distance to Foulden Common.

Birding on the common was very quiet. We did hear singing curlew, chiffchaff, blackcap and garden warbler but it really was the butterflies I had brought Lynda to see. Despite a lot of searching we did not see grizzled skipper today. Plenty of small heath again, brimstone, a painted lady, red admiral and dingy skipper. We opened up our seats and watched the gorse for movement. I had seen green hairstreak yesterday but only poor views. Today was another story. We must have had fantastic views of half a dozen at least.

Not the best shot but it is clearly green hairstreak.

14th May 2026

Another early start to check the recording device in the wild wheat. Periodically I have to swap the SD card and batteries then when back home I set up a night time upload of the data to Wildfarms. A few more birds seen and heard as we walked to the recorder today. After a couple of weeks of recording there are several thousand files to upload.

18 species

Common Pheasant 1
Stock Dove 5
Common Woodpigeon 3
Common Cuckoo 1
Common Buzzard 1
Eurasian Jay 1
Carrion Crow 3
Eurasian Skylark 4
Barn Swallow 2
Common Chiffchaff 2
Eurasian Blackcap 2
Common Whitethroat 2
Eurasian Wren 1
Song Thrush 3
Eurasian Blackbird 1
Dunnock 1
Common Chaffinch 3
Common Linnet 1

16th May 2026

Lynda and I woke up silly early and drove to Devon. We were staying in the tiny village of Kingston for a few nights. The main aim was to revisit a dairy farm where we stayed last Autumn in the hope of seeing cirl bunting. The couple at the farm have become friends and when we arrived escaping without a catch up and coffee was not on the agenda. We ended up having a rather long chat covering many topics about farming, farm clusters and wildlife. Eventually we set off for our walk down from the farm on to the Devon coastal path.

Along the way down to the coast we encountered kestrel, buzzard and a fly over raven. We benefitted from the shade provided by large hedgerows but we knew we would soon be out in the open. Blackcap and common whitethroat were singing and just as we approached the gate which opened out directly on to the coastal path we heard a stonechat calling away, a lovely male bird soon showed himself.

We tucked ourselves into one of our hosts private beaches and had lunch.

It was so relaxing sitting watching fulmar and herring gulls soaring around in front of us with the occasional shag bringing in nesting material on the cliff tops above us.

Fulmar safely watching us from its nest.

Jackdaw watching the fulmar.

After a long relaxing lunch break we set off walking again in the hope of seeing or hearing, but preferably seeing a cirl bunting or two. We counted 4 fulmar on the cliffs, 4 cormorant and 4 shag. Down on the rocks in front of us 2 rock pipits kept dropping in to look for food. We did not see many gulls on the coastal edge as we walked, just a few herring gulls, 2 great black backed and 1 lesser black backed. I was busy scanning the hedge tops and clumps of gorse. 2 birds flew over and 1 circled round and landed in the top of a gorse bush. I just managed to get my binoculars on it and it flew off. Success, time was just sufficient to identify it as a female cirl bunting. Lynda was miffed because she missed it. I was sufficiently confident to add it as bird number 188 to my year list. This was the first cirl bunting I had had for several years. A task was now set, find one for Lynda. As we continued on our walk I played Lynda the song of a cirl, her hearing is better than mine even with hearing aids so 4 ears were better than 2. We were just about at a point where we had decided we would turn around and walk back when we both heard a short blast of bird song. We instantly both looked at each other and said “that was a cirl bunting” just as it flew right by us and dropped into gorse, out of view. We waited for what seemed like an age but it never re appeared.

Time was slipping by and we decided we would return to our accomodation. Kingston is a very small village in South Devon and driving to it along miles of descending lanes is what I would imagine driving into middle earth is like. Down, down, down along narrow lanes with typical high Devon banks on either side and often through patches of woodland. Fingers crossed we don’t meet another vehicle. We arrived in Kingston safely and had a relaxing evening.

I can recommend the garden hut where we stayed it is quite spacious and very quiet.

17th May 2026

Today we spent most of the day in the vicinity of Wembury Point walking another stretch of the coastal path.

Yesterday we walked just over 3 miles, today we went slightly further and walked just under 5 miles. Not far really but sometimes to Lynda’s annoyance I will keep stopping and birdwatching or peering down looking at flowers or insects. Thankfully she is understanding. My walking total for the year is now 494 miles.

3 canada geese were in a field just inland from the coastal path, it seemed a bit strange as I couldn’t see a pond but there must have been one somewhere tucked away because 3 mallard also appeared. The tide was out leaving lots of small rock pools and seaweed. An oystercatcher called and 2 ringed plover flew over. Then another call from the rock pools but search as we did we could not find the bird anywhere. It would have been nice to have seen it as it was my first for the year but it was not to be. Our bird was a whimbrel and came in at the 189th species for my 2026 year list. Perhaps a bit on the late side but a passage bird, having a feed before heading off further North.

18th May 2026
Today our plan was to visit a National Trust property near Plymouth, Saltram House and then return for one last search and hopefully improved views of cirl bunting at the farm.

Saltram House is a rather grand property as you might imagine and we enjoyed the gardens and our tour of the house. Sitting having coffee I was looking over a small pond and was surprised to see so many mandarin ducks. I overheard a gentleman sat at the side of me. His group had spotted them and did not have a clue what they were. He said he did not have a clue what they were but they weren’t mallard. I couldn’t help myself, it was the lecturer, field trip leader coming out in me. I gave him the nudge as to what they were, where they were from and how they got here.

Mandarin Duck

There were 5 males on the fence plus several females in the water.

Coffee finished and we headed back to the farm for one last walk and to call in and say a huge thanks once again and goodbye until next year.

On reaching the coastal path we decided to walk West, which was in the opposite direction to our earlier walks but it gave us the opportunity to inspect a different part of the farm. The usual goldfinches, linnets, chiffchaff and whitethroat in the bushes before we reached the coast.

Herring gulls flew by and 3 fulmar on stiffly held wings glided over our heads circling and going back the way they came. Effortlessly as they wheel around, they are amazing birds to watch. We were now walking alongside a large field of grass and flowers on our right with the cliffs and sea on our left. Suddenly a smallish bird came into view as it flew low over the flowers in the field. Lynda missed it again but it was another female cirl bunting. We both then heard a distant singing male, then another bird flew up from the grass and flowers and perched on our side of the field perimeter hedge. I very quickly passed the binoculars to Lynda. This was immediately followed by “ wow, beautiful, look at that” The bird sat for ages. At last a fine male cirl bunting in full view. Sadly just a bit too far away to take a piccy.

We reported back in at the farm and updated them on our findings, said our goodbyes and drove back to middle earth. All in all a very successfull trip, mission accomplished.

22nd May 2026
A day out with David and today we are having a session on the Suffolk coast. Minsmere is a draw as there has been 1 sometimes 2 roseate terns on one of the scrapes for a few days now. Before the coast we called in at one of our friend’s farms in mid Suffolk in the hope of getting turtle dove. We had not walked far before we heard the purring of a male turtle dove (190). Off we go.

We arrived at Minsmere at 09:30 and made our way down to the beach and to the scrape where the rosettes had been reported. It came as no surprise on reaching the viewing platform to find our friend Granty there. He loves showing people what is around and especially when there is something good to see.

He informed us there were 2 roseate terns down and gave precise directions. Just seconds and we had the birds. Sometimes, like the recent cirl buntings it can be hard work finding something good so it is always a welcome change when the goods come in quite quickly and easily. The terns were great to see as it was a new species for both David and I. One which neither of us had seen for quite a few years and it was actually a new Suffolk bird for myself. The terns were not very active so we began searching the other mud bars. A few geese were present in the form of 5 greylag, 7 barnacle and 4 Canada’s. 40 shelduck were on various parts of the scrape, plus 39 mallard, 3 gadwall and 7 shoveler.

Common Terns above

The roseate terns were too far away to photograph but this common tern showed well. Common because it has the black tip to the end of the red bill. There are a few other features which help identify the bird above as common but we will leave those today.

Something caught my eye on the opposite side of the muddy bank to the roseates. It was a smallish wader. A quick look through the scope revealed a common sandpiper. Another new bird for the year and with the roseate terns I was now on 192 for the year.

Quite a few other waders were around today, 40 avocet, 7 oystercatcher, 2 ringed plover, 7 lapwing, 30 black tailed godwit, 2 common redshank and 2 dunlin.

Lapwing

Avocet

One particular muddy island was obviously favoured by the terns for nesting as it had 40 common terns and 30 sandwich terns on it. Slightly more distant views over the reed beds gave us bittern in flight and a grey heron. We were lucky to see or hear a total of 55 species at Minsmere.

From Minsmere we went to Dunwich Heath. It is so close to Minsmere and there is always a chance of a dartford warbler.

There was a small gathering of people with cameras on the main path across the heath as we arrived and it did not take long to establish there were a pair of dartford warblers close by.

Dartford Warbler

The male soon appeared, he was quite obliging and appeared to have a circuit which he kept following and every once in a while the female came out to join him. After not much more than a minute she disappeared and off he went again on his short trip around the gorse, heather and other bushes on the heath. This was the shortest time it had ever taken us to connect with this species on the heath and the closest to the car park.

As we watched the warbler 2 mediterranean gulls flew over. We would not have noticed them had they not made their familiar call. I always think it sounds rather like a meowing cat. Other birds included linnet, goldfinch, common whitethroat and several sand martins which do nest close by to here and also at Minsmere.

24th May 2026
It is the time of year for evening excursions. This evening Lynda and I picked David up and went off to the Cambridgeshire Washes. Two birds which can be heard here in the evening are corncrake and spotted crake. It was a beautiful warm evening and other people had the same idea as there were a number of birders on the bank. Some couples were really enjoying the moment by sitting on the sunny side of the bank and having a picnic. We did not have a picnic this evening but we had brought chairs. The idea was to sit relax, look listen and enjoy.

Ahead of us the washes were ablaze with the yellow of flag iris. Common redshank called, several lapwing were present in the distance and a snipe was doing its drumming display flight. They fly along at height and swoop down. As they are descending the air rushes through their especially designed tail feathers which makes the drumming sound. The very first time I experienced this I was only about 15 and was on a marsh in North Nottinghamshire, I had no idea what it was but thought something really weird was out there. Certainly not will o the wisp but perhaps a bog monster. Fortunately I wasn’t captured and dragged to the bottom of the marsh never to be seen again. I did find the bird and realised it was a snipe so had to go home and read all about this strange occurrence.

The sun slowly but surely kept sinking and 2 grasshopper warblers began singing. A hobby flew over looking for a late evening snack and we could hear the calls of distant common cranes. Later we did spot 3 in flight.

Reed warblers sang from the reeds and a cetti’s warbler added to the evening chorus. Across our section of the washes we counted 20 mute swans, a few mallard and 2 shelduck. A distant boom could be heard, bittern, a great bird to add to the list, then a second bittern flew right in front of us giving great views. We counted 6 grey herons, 5 little egret and 7 cattle egret but no crakes. As hot as the day had been the sun had now slipped below the horizon and it was surprising how quickly the temperature dropped. The crakes were silent. We waited until it really did become quite chilly and everyone was leaving the site. With a fairly long drive home we had experienced a truly magical evening even though the crakes did not perform.

28th May 2026
Half term and Lynda and I were on grandparent duties. We thought our granddaughter might like a boat trip so off we went to Ranworth Broad on the Norfolk Broads. We walked to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visitor centre and showed our granddaughter where we would be catching the boat from later that afternoon. She was suitably excited and asked why we couldn’t go straight away. It’s great to be 6, I know, I was there once.

Ranworth Broad is rather special in that last year a pair of ospreys bred for the first time in 100’s of years. David and I did visit but whilst we saw one of the birds the views were poor. This year the Norfolk Wildlife Trust have erected a better camera giving live footage from within the centre. We watched the screen for a while then I had a distant view through my telescope.

Lunch came and went and much to the delight of our granddaughter it was time to form an orderly queue whilst we were given a briefing and fitted with buoyancy aids. Osprey ( 193) I shouted and pointed skywards. Our skipper informed us that at about the same time yesterday an adult bird was seen flying around but only briefly. This bird gave tremendous views as it flew around and almost above us.

This was not our vessel.

Ranworth views

We set off on our boat trip and the adult osprey returned flying around for ages. It had a couple of attempts at swooping down to the waters surface but didn’t actually catch anything. At one point it flew right over the boat and our skipper said we had experienced some of the best views this season so we were all highly delighted.

From the broad we joined the river and went along for about a mile. A heron was stood waiting in the hope of catching a tasty morsel. I just had to shout again as a kingfisher flew along the edge of the river. I think most of the passengers saw it apart from our granddaughter which was a shame but it was as quick as a flash or a kingfisher and she hasn’t learned to be that quick at spotting yet. All in good time.

Back on dry land and it was time to head for home.

29th May 2026
Another day out with David and we were heading to the Norfolk coast but our first stop off was near a small hamlet called Cockley Cley, near Swaffham. We did not stay long but it is right by the main road so no great detour. This is on the Norfolk Brecks so no surprises to find common shelduck on the fields, 7 in total, 12 lapwing and 2 curlew. Skylarks were a plenty with at least 8 birds singing and we also had 3 of their cousins the woodlark. A great spotted woodpecker flew over us as did 4 black headed gulls. We felt we had clocked all there was to find at this site this morning so we headed off for RSPB Titchwell.

Upon arrival we had a quick check on the sightings board to find that both little stint and a curlew sandpiper had been seen that morning. Two great little waders to spot one of which would be a new bird for the year for me and both for David. We clocked up 38 species on this visit which did include both the little stint and curlew sandpiper (194). No shortage of avocets today and other waders included both common ringed and little ringed plover. We heard a pinging call from a strip of reeds in front of us and then saw the owner a bearded tit as it flew by us and dropped into thicker reeds.

Over on the far side of the scrape was a great white egret and 3 spoonbills. I always enjoy seeing these birds on our outings.

After a rewarding couple of hours at Titchwell we decided that on the way home we would call in at a raptor watchpoint in the hope we might see a honey buzzard. We arrived to find a number of birders already there. Honey buzzard had been seen a few days earlier but there were no reports for today, so far.

It was hot, very hot, we got our seats out and waited and watched. 1 hobby was hunting close by and we saw 4 common buzzards in the air together but nothing which looked anything like a honey buzzard. The next raptor to make an appearance was a red kite. Whilst we waited we were entertained from the adjacent bushes by chiffchaff, common whitethroat, linnet and yellowhammer. People left having become fed up of waiting with no honeys showing. Different people arrived, usual comments “any luck?” We waited until we were frazzled and even we had had enough. Not a honey to be seen. It was homeward bound.

Stick around folks and I will get June to you fairly soon.

Nearly all the summer migrants are in and beginning to add their songs to the dawn chorus which becomes louder each morning. So how will this month pan out, where will I find myself? So much to choose from, farmland, hedgerow, salt marsh, gravel pits, woodland, heathland, the list goes on so let’s get cracking.

I was out with David today and we decided that we would begin on trip at Boughton Fen.

History

Boughton Fen is located at the eastern end of Oxborough Road (old Fen Road) and covers around 40 acres to the south of the ‘T’ junction and straddles either side of the road that leads to Eastmoor to the north and Oxborough to the south. It is a nationally designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has recently been reclassified as being in an ‘unfavourable recovering condition’ (November 2013). Water loss is occurring at an alarming rate and there is rapid encroachment of scrub that will lead to this important site becoming woodland in a short period of time and this will result in the loss of important wildlife currently existing in this environment. These adverse conditions are fundamentally the result of neglect and the lack of a definitive structure for managing this site.

Boughton Fen comprises three separate parcels of land at the eastern end of Oxborough Road. For ease of identification the Boughton Fen Committee (BFC) have labelled these parcels of land Highland Fen, Middle Fen and Lower Fen. The total registered area of The Fen is 44 acres and two of these parcels have been designated SSSI status by Natural England, namely Highland Fen and Middle Fen.

Boughton Fen is situated on shallow fen peats in the valley of a tributary of the River Wissey. A tall fen community covers much of the site and several interesting plants are present. Scrub is well represented and is used by breeding birds. The site is of entomological interest. Reed Phragmites australis forms an almost pure stand where the water-table is highest at the southern end of the site. The remainder of the site is of variable wetness and a more diverse fen community has developed. Reed is again dominant, but Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria and Great Willowherb Epilobium hirsutum are abundant. Other species present include Common Valerian Valeriana officinalis, Hemp Agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum, Angelica Angelica sylvestris, Purple Small-reed Calamagrostis canescens and Reed Sweet-grass Glyceria maxima.

On the highest ground, woodland has developed and is dominated by Ash Fraxinus excelsior and Alder Alnus glutinosa with some Willow Salix sp. The ground flora consists of Meadowseet, Nettle Urtica dioica and Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium. Several areas of dense Blackthorn Prunus spinosa scrub are present on the drier parts of the site. Many uncommon species of moth have been recorded from the site, including the rare Perizoma sagittata. Sedge, Reed and Grasshopper Warblers all breed on The Fen and otters are regular visitors. The Perizoma sagittata is the nationally scarce “Marsh Carpet Moth” which is found in marshes and reedbeds. It will therefore be one of our targets to establish whether or not this moth is still present. The food plant of the Marsh Carpet Moth larvae, Common Meadow-rue, Thalictrium plavumhas, has been located on both Highland and Middle Fen.

Information courtesy of the Boughton Fen Committee.

Fortunately the Boughton Fen Committee have been in place for a few years now and they are doing great work to mange this important habitat along with the help of some keen volunteers.

Boughton Fen

It was about 10:00 when we arrived and the reed bed was already noisy with the songs of reed warblers, chiffchaff and a cettis’s warbler. Walking along a bank we passed two birders sat on a bench. They said they had heard a bittern booming about 10 minutes earlier. It is a good spot for bittern so no surprises really and we hoped it may perform for us shortly. We could hear the grumpy honks of greylag geese coming from nearby pits which were out of view to us. It was quite a warm and sunny morning so we hoped that it would not be too long before we caught sight of our target species a hobby. Fresh in from their winter quarters these fabulous raptors love habitats such as this because of the plentiful food supply of dragons and damsels which were emerging. Being aerial hunters they like a warm temperature which lifts the insects out of the reed and up into the air.

We needed a bit more warmth so sat on another bench soaking in the splendour. From the adjoining pits we heard a gadwall call and a mallard flew over us. We both heard a loud mewing coming from way up in the sky. It was the familiar call of the common buzzard of which there is no shortage in these parts. The buzzard provided us with an opportunity to focus in on its soaring flight pattern with the classic shallow V formed by the lifted wings which are held slightly forward. There was now also an opportunity to compare this raptor with two others which were also high in the blue sky and close by. No competition from the birds each knew it’s place and was totally unpeturbred by the other.

One of the others had more arched wings which looked flexed at the carpels. The big giveaway here was its long forked tail. Red Kite.

Red Kite

And our third? Well it still wasn’t a hobby. This bird was large, larger than the buzzard but was soaring with wings held in a shallow V. When you have had years of experience you notice the subtle differences, but it only comes with studying them. Watch their behaviour, the flapping, the soaring, the diving. This bird had narrower wings and an overall slimmer body. With its wings holding the V the arm was slightly raised and the hand more level. Hope that makes sense, yes I know birds don’t have arms and hands. Taking the habitat in to consideration as well, pools and reed-beds our third raptor was a marsh harrier.

Any Monty Python fans out there?No I am not going to crack a joke or do a silly walk but - Now for something completely different. We had yet another raptor in the air. Smaller with narrower wings and moving with much more purpose. It looked a bit like an overgrown swift. Finally we had a hobby.

Hobby

It was fairly quickly flying well above the reed tops on the hunt for those dragons and damsels. No loafing and posing like the other three. This bird had only very recently arrived from Africa and there was an ever increasing glut of food here. The birds only have a relatively short amount of time to recover from their journey and build up body reserves real for breeding. For myself this was bird 184 for the year. David is way behind this year on his UK total but his Western Palearctic list is very healthy. Well he will keep buggering off to foreign climes. Morrocco, Menorca to name but a few and Greece to come.

It was all happening, we spotted movement in a willow tree in front of us and then a loud “cuckoo” peering into the foliage with binoculars we spotted a male and female cuckoo. She was all of a quiver, the excitement was all too much. Well it was for us too we nearly fell off the bench. We knew that it would not be very long before some of those reed warblers would be having other responsibilities forced on to them. Deed done they both flew off in opposite directions “cuckoo”.

Quick, back to the sky our hobby was still snacking on the wing and it had been joined by 2 more birds. Like buses you wait and wait then several turn up. There was more activity in the willows now, a showy blue tit made its way through looking for caterpillars. We could hear common whitethroat singing away and deep in the base of the tree a moorhen let out a sharp call.

Moorhen

More birds came by to add to the growing list. You don’t have to be in a hide, or walking miles. Carry a plastic bag with you or a small seat if there are no benches and plonk yourself down. Just let it happen. Woodpigeon, Lapwing, a singing wren, noisy jay and a blackbird. There are some bird races, often on reserves where the participants do not move they just find a comfortable place to sit or stand and count what comes by. You would be amazed. Well we had sat for some considerable time so it was time to move on. Just down the road from us was Foulden Common. It is OK for birds but the main draw are the butterflies.

We arrived about 11:45. David had drove by many times over the years but had never called in he thought it was just wet willow scrub, which is all you see from the roadside. There are a couple of small gateways and after just a relatively short walk you enter the common.

Foulden Common

There were two reasons for calling here today. Firstly to show David the site but very importantly to walk in search of a butterfly I so desperately want to see, the grizzled skipper. This will be my third year attempting at this site have failed the last two years.

We were surprised that as soon as we walked on to the common we heard and saw two woodlark. Back to flutterbies There are no grizzled skipper to be found in Suffolk now and this is one of only two areas in Norfolk where the did occur. The other site I believes has failed to come up with the goods for a couple of years. Here I know they are recorded but just like birding it is very much the luck of the draw. After the excitement of the woodlark David commented on how impressed he was with the site and had no idea what had been sitting behind that roadside willow scrub all those years.

We agreed. the best place to walk would be up close to the banks of hawthorn and gorse. We disturbed good numbers of small heath butterflies as we walked and there were loads of brimstones.

Play time for the brimstones.

A sparrowhawk flew over, our fifth raptor for the day. More small heaths and then a new one for us, a dingy skipper. They fly very low to the ground and easy to miss.

Dingy Skipper

Another chance now to compare birds, not flight this time but song. We had blackcap and garden warbler both singing away. A lot of birders have difficulty telling them apart, they often sing from within bushes and are sometimes difficult to spot. Blackcaps song can begin like the garden warbler with some chattering but turns into clear, slightly melancholy flute-like notes at the end. I always think the blackcap does reach higher up the scale and the song is delivered at a slightly quicker pace. Garden warbler song consists of rather deeper notes, can be thrush-like and then becoming a bit harsher but somehow lacks clear melody. Have a listen for yourself and open up xeno-canto on the web.

We spotted two guys stood near a thick clump of gorse so walked over to them to ask if they had seen any grizzled skipper. Yes we have had a couple just here and quite a few green hairstreak. Wow, green hairstreak was also on my wanted list. It is one of those butterflies that has just managed to keep off my radar and I have tried.

Movement close to the ground, “that’s a grizzled” one of the guys said. They were very good butterfly spotters. We approached it very slowly. YES, YES, YES, finally my first grizzled skipper. What a booty.

Grizzled Skipper

David was as pleased as I was, this was his first East Anglian sighting and he knows a thing or two about butterflies. A cuckoo sang as if to help us celebrate then most unexpectedly two mandarin ducks flew over. David’s favourite duck. All in all a great session out and a great beginning to May. I was surprised to note I had walked 4.1 miles today even though we sat for quite a while on a bench. My annual total of miles walked is now at 441.4

Until next time, may the birds be with you.

Lynda and I went to visit family in North Nottinghamshire today. No visit is complete without spending some time on the Idle Valley Reserve. I walked just under 4 miles, mainly on the far Northern end of the reserve. It consists of a number of redundant gravel pits which are ideal for waterfowl, waders and warblers, the latter in the waterside willows and alders.

There was a good range of waterfowl this afternoon though not in the numbers as seen on my last visit, no surprises really as many had left for the breeding season. One Winter visitor still hanging around was Goldeneye and I counted 5 birds on my walk. Shoveler were still present in good numbers with 60 birds counted. The pits are an important wintering site for waterfowl. In recent years, in addition to the many 100’s of ducks, pink footed geese can be found on adjacent fields in the Winter months as well as whooper swans.

Shoveler

Only 3 canada geese today and 12 greylags. I guess they are busy on and guarding nests. I didn’t see any goslings on this trip but I bet it won’t be long before the pits have dozens of goose families swimming around.

Canada Goose

Swimming on the far side of one of the pits was a duck I was particularly searching for and a species I missed when I was here in March. Under the dappled light of the distant willows and alders this duck was easy to identify even though it was so far away. I still had a look through my binoculars, not because I was unsure as to what it was but because the males are so impressive looking with their orange head and striking coral-red bill. Not a common bird in the UK but it has become a regular vagrant, especially in autumn and winter with around 10 to 50 records annually. A few do breed and they do like the pits on the Idle Valley Reserve. I had just the one Red-Crested Pochard in my sights, but it only takes one to lift the annual tally. This handsome chap came in at bird species number163 for the year.

Standing hunched under riparian trees I counted 5 herons and back on the open water 1 great-crested grebe and 2 little grebes. The willows had chiffchaffs singing away and I counted 7 singing males. Another breeding warbler for the area is Blackcap and today I heard 4 different males singing away.

Blackcap

In total I clocked up 39 species on my bimble around the reserve. Back in mother in laws garden a pair of siskin made 40 species for the day.

6th April 2026

On our return journey back to the flatlands Lynda and I called in for a couple of hours at RSPB Frampton Marsh on The Wash near Boston in Lincolnshire. We do enjoy a walk around the reserve and we usually extend the walk by venturing a little way off the reserve to The Haven Mouth. Very few human visitors to the reserve venture this far away from the visitor centre but you have the feeling of being in a different world. You are right out on the salt marshes and the edge of The Wash.

It looks as though it could be a long boring walk down to Haven Mouth but far from it with the river on your left and the marshes on your right, which are always thronging with birds, brent geese, just 400 today. They will be leaving soon for their summer breeding grounds where they will be found on arctic islands and coasts but today they are split in between grazing on the marsh or splashing and bathing on the river. They do seem to like landing slightly up river to bathe and as they flap and splash water about they drift on the surface of an outgoing tide towards The Wash. At times quite comical to watch and they are always chattering to each other. Their call is described as a gargling, guttural ‘r’ rot ‘r’ rot or ‘rhut’. I think they are chatting about the water temperature, where the best eel grass is to feed on and whether they have packed their suitcases.

Brent Goose

We eventually reached the end of the footpath and plonked ourselves down on a log which has been positioned as a seat. Just the two of us, humans that is. Redshank, curlew, lapwing , cormorant, ringed plover and bar-tailed godwit all enjoying this wonderful bit of England. Not a human takeaway in sight.

You can never have too many brent geese.

Heaven and hard to imagine that Boston is only a few miles away. Eventually we tore ourselves away from the beauty and made our way back to the main reserve walking around the scrapes calling in at various hides. After ages of diligently searching I found one lonely golden plover, or was it lonely?

It was probably enjoying the peace and quiet now its mates had all flown north. It was too far away to photograph as were many of the waders but I did manage a few shots.

Lapwing

Little ringed Plover (left) and Ruff (right)

Thank you, the little ringed plover came a bit closer. As the name suggests it is smaller than the ringed plover and is a summer visitor and breeding bird to the UK. In flight they show at best a very thin wing bar whereas the ringed plover or common ringed plover as we are supposed to call them has a very distinct wing bar in flight. Close up and on the deck the little ringed sports a bright yellow orbital eye ring (see below) and check out the forehead on little ringed they always remind me of a liquorish allsorts sweetie, white on top and bottom with liquorish in the middle.

One bird I was not expecting was a Little Stint. These tiny waders are usually seen in the autumn but two keen eyed birders had spotted one not too far from the visitor centre which was now on our return walk to the car park. Only about two thirds the size of a dunlin or for comparison with something perhaps more familiar, slightly larger than a robin. The couple did well to spot it and we stayed for a while to enjoy this little wading bird. Another new bird for my year list bringing me up to 165. We reached our car having had a very satisfying visit and set off for the remainder of the journey home. Frampton does make a good stop off between Suffolk and Nottinghamshire.

8th April 2026

Today I was out with my birding pal David. We started recording at Knettishall Heath where we hoped to pick up singing woodlark. We pulled up and straight away we heard a singing male, success. Several pheasants were making their presence known and as always carrion crows called and flew over on steady flapping wings. Other birds adding to the chorus were chaffinch, blackbird, green woodpecker and a coal tit. A noisy jay called deep from within the pine belt and this seemed to trigger a green woodpecker which also just wanted to let us know it was there. We didn’t see either the jay or the woodpecker.

We were now making our way to King’s Forest which is within the mighty Thetford Forest, lowland Englands largest pine factory. Our target bird here was tree pipit but before King’s we made a brief stop without having to even get out of the car alongside Thetford Warren to see if we could locate a stone curlew. Sure enough, we spied 2 stonie’s, one of my favourite birds. Birding just like any wildlife watching is very much luck of the draw. Some days you lose and some days you win. During our very brief stop here we also picked up 10 skylark and a flyover swallow. On to King’s. The first thing we noticed was the erection of signs in the car park. Forest England are preparing for charging to park at many of their popular parking spots. Lynford Arboretum was the first in our area. All done on number plate recognition so come prepared.

Lots of birds singing here in the forest. Chaffinch, nuthatch, wood pigeons, coal tit and greenfinch. We walked through a more dense belt of trees and out onto a heathy habitat. 2 carrion crows flew over then we heard 2 singing song thrushes and 3 chiffchaff. I did wonder whether we might be a tad early for tree pipit but we were not disappointed and heard two birds singing and saw one in action. Like little ringed plover, tree pipits are summer visitors to the UK. They are similar in appearance to the meadow pipit but have a slightly heavier bill. They have bolder head markings and a slightly stronger supercillium (this is a stripe above the eye on a birds head). They breed in open woodland and young coniferous plantations. They have a characteristic song flight which is delightfully entertaining. They begin singing from a tree which they leave flying higher and higher then they parachute down to the ground with wings held rigid and feet dangling down, usually landing in a different tree.

From here we drove to RSPB Lakenheath where amongst all the usuals we picked up our first garganey for the year, we found a pair on Hockwold washes. They seem to like it here.

Hockwold Washes

We tried in vane for grasshopper warbler but no luck today.

Close to the visitor centre was this cracking male reed bunting.

Reed Bunting

We sat in a. hide for some time in the company of several other birders. Most entertainment was provided by a pair of great crested grebe.

Stunning birds

After Lakenheath we drove on to Black Drove on The Fens in the hope of seeing yellow wagtails and corn buntings. It was not too long before we had a couple of northern wheatear then a yellow wagtail and a second and even a third. These are stunning canary yellow birds and they love the deep ditch lined fields on this part of the fens.

Yellow wagtails like water, water and insects means lots of insects. It took us a while but there was one around the sheeps legs.

It was rather distant but the next one makes up for it a bit.

Peepo, I can see you.

We drove on checking wires for singing corn buntings, nothing. We turned around and drove steadily back passing an old brick barn. There were 5 birds on the verge which all took off together and flew away from us. The missing link, we had our corn buntings. Bird 173 for the year. We decided as it was almost en route we would stop off for a quick look at Norfolk Wildlife Trusts Weeting Heath reserve. We might see another stone curlew.

Success, two birds were present on a patch of heath which had been recently cultivated to create a bare nest site especially for them. We moved on to look at the pond. It was great as always watching stone curlew but there was a terrible heat haze on the heath and these birds were keeping their heads down.

1/10 for effort. Stone Curlew.

Blue Tit

Blackcap

Goldfinch

I can make a bigger splash than you.

Stock Dove

Female Redpoll

If you want to see birds on a hot day, find a puddle.

15th April 2026

A walk with Lynda from Manningtree in Essex. We caught the train in Diss and before we had even left the station car park in Manningtree we had 2 nightingales singing. This is a great area for them and part of the reason for the visit so an early success on this outing. The walk to Flatford Mill is along tracks through marshland. one bird I ws not expecting to come across was a ruddy shelduck. I think this is 174 for the year. Spring was certainly in the air and along the full length of the walk.

One lane was covered in spring beauty, perhaps more than I have ever seen growing in one area before.

Spring Beauty

My 2026 floral list continues to grow. it now stands at 54 species.

The reed beds had singing reed and sedge warbler, plus common whitethroat and another nightingale. We finally arrived at the mill and also had a look in the RSBB wildlife garden.

It has changed a bit!

17th April 2026

Today it was out with my pal David again and we were heading for the Norfolk coast. With numerous reports of passage ring ouzels at various locations we thought we would start our day on a common near King’s Lynn where they often occur in Spring and sometimes in good numbers. We walked about a mile and had red kite, marsh harrier, curlew and redshank but unfortunately no ouzels.

From Roydon we went to Holme Dunes where there had also been reports of ring ouzel as recent as yesterday. 4 northern wheatears along a bank top made a good start, along with a common whitethroat in the sea buckthorn bushes. We checked the sea for terns but it was quiet apart from 20 Cornish pasty gobblers (sorry herring gulls) flying close to the shore line. Returning to the dunes there was a flyover mediterranean gull and a kestrel, the latter was hovering above the marram grass. Birds on the marsh included curlew, oystercatcher and a small group of greylag geese.

We continued walking further along the dunes in the hope that an elusive ring ouzel might just appear but no luck. We stopped and spoke to other birders who were also searching but they had also drawn a blank. The ouzel’s had flown.

We heard click, click like two stones being chinked together, looking up we saw a male stonechat perched on top of a sea buckthorn

Stonechat - This bird was caught by licensed bird ringers at Holme Bird Observatory a few years ago.

After walking the dunes on the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve we walked around Holme Bird Observatory. This is one of 21 bird observatories found around the coast of Britain and Ireland. To many the heyday of the bird observatory was during the 1950s and ‘60s but recent work by the network of current observatories suggests that the daily census information which each collects could be a valuable tool in the long-term monitoring of bird population.

Map courtesy of BOC

The Bird Observatories Council (BOC) was formed in 1946 to co-ordinate the work of the established observatories and standardise methods of data collection and is made up of representatives from each of the accredited observatories (there are currently 21 accredited observatories - see the map) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The definition of a bird observatory is given as:

“The Bird Observatories’ primary purpose is to conduct long-term monitoring of bird populations and migration.

Individual Observatories are located at prime migration points, where a daily census is taken and other standardised methods of data collection are used in a defined recording area.

An integral part of observatory work is bird ringing, undertaken within the national scheme which is licensed under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and co-ordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology. This provides data for guiding conservation policies of such bodies as Natural England, the Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage and their counterparts in Ireland.

The Observatories enable and encourage volunteers to participate in scientific studies of birds and the environment. The results of these studies and more general information are made freely available to researchers and to the public who are welcome to visit Observatories.”

I personally have spent quite a few happy hours at Holme, Spurn, Gibraltar Point, Languard and Portland Bill.

Today the observatory at Holme was very quiet on the bird front so we moved on.

This a very old photo of the founder of Holme Bird Observatory, Peter Clarke (left and the head warden at the time of the photo Jed Andrews (right). Peter gave 33 years service to the Norfolk Ornithologists Association. Sadly he passed away in 2017. Jed was head warden for several years before moving on to pastures new. Over the years those benches have seated many of my birding friends most who have now gone to the great bird observatory in the sky.

19th April 2026

Each year Lynda and I try to visit Devils Dyke near Newmarket to see the Pasque Flowers. They put on a grand display today.

Pasque Flowers

Devil’s Dyke

27th April 2026

A couple of days ago my birding pal David asked if I might be interested in helping a local farmer and mutual friend. David and I both go birding on the farm at Knettishall in Suffolk. The farmer is a member of an organisation called Wild Farmed. Their mission is to get better food from better farms onto the high street. The founders identified a problem. Farmland covers over two-thirds of the UK Landscape. A resilient, nature-rich future depends on this farmland being full of life again. Wildfarmed supports farmers to create habitat within food producing fields. Better for flavour, better for the future. Wild farmed were about to start a survey on Spring sown wild wheat fields which had flowering pollinator strips running through the fields at intervals. The survey involved erecting a sound recording device in the middle of one such field and have it recording 24/ 7 from the end of April until the end of July. In addition to this two timed walked counts had to take place around the perimeter of the field, recording birds seen and heard both in the field and on the perimeter. I agreed to assist with the survey as I was already familiar with the make of recording device as I owned one myself. Mid morning and I met the farmer. I had already done a recce and selected a suitable field so we drove to the site to erect the recorder. Once secure I synced the device with my phone and set it to record. Job done.

This is the device in one of the flower strips which have been sown within the wild wheat. Wild Wheat, you ask? The farmer in question does not plough at all and has not done so for several years. He lightly cultivates cover crops of flowering plants after they have finished into the ground to add fertility to the soil or direct drills into stubbles after harvest. I must stress that NO Glyphosate is used in fact no synthetic chemicals are used apart from until recently limited fertiliser but that has now ceased. Note the black patches on the ground in the image above, it hasn’t been burned but the whole field has been spread with liquid digestate a bi product of the bio fuel industry. This farmer as moved into agro forestry, so some fields have strips of trees growing at intervals within his fields and most fields have headlands of pollinator mixes which in turn produce seeds for birds such as yellowhammer and linnets.

Later in the day Lynda and I visited RSPB Lakenheath.

Hockwold Washes at RSPB Lakenheath.

We spent some time here because grasshopper warbler had been heard over the last few days and indeed this very morning. Well not this afternoon, we waited and waited but not a squeak from a gropper. I did say some days you win some you lose, that is the name of the game and part of the excitement. I set up my telescope and scanned the washes as another summer visiting bird had been reported this time a duck. I was looking for a garganey, they are slightly larger than a teal with a longer and straighter bill. The male has a distinct white crescent over the eye which is easy to spot at some distance. I located a pair on the washes, happily swimming around together and feeding. This was not new for the year but I hoped I Hoped I would be able to show Lynda.

We walked along further and spotted a grey heron on the river bank.

Grey Heron

We arrived at the far view point to the occasional sound of booming bittern, then the most amazing thing happened. I was busy scanning the skies for hobbies because I had spotted a feeding group of swifts, about 20 birds in total. Hobbies usually feed on dragonflies in spring as the adults emerge from the water but they also feed on hirundines (swallows, martins, swifts). I was not looking at the reedbed right in front of me but fortunately Lynda was. ‘Binoculars quick” she shouted, “it’s the bittern” Sure enough after its last booming session it literally grasped a fistful of reeds and used the structure to climb higher within the reeds.

You can see how it was grasping the reeds until it finally flew off. What an absolutely amazing experience. A never to be forgotten moment.

We did not think we would better that so began the walk back to the car park adding kingfisher, great white and cattle egret to our list plus curlew, lapwing and oystercatcher. We clocked up 55 species at Lakenheath.

28th April 2026

Back on farms and this morning I knew a site where goldilocks buttercup grew so wanted to go and have a look. Cuckoo’s singing aways in addition to yellowhammer and whitethroats as I made my way to a small patch of the buttercups.

Goldilocks Buttercup

This differs from the other buttercups in that the basal leaves are a different shape to the higher leaves and they have strange looking seed cases, as shown.

29th April 2026

Several visits have been made to a number of sites in the hope of hearing a grasshopper warbler and none to date have been successful. David’s wife kept saying she was hearing them when she walked the dog on their local fen so we arose early morning and had a walk around. Right at the far end of the reserve Lynda heard a male grasshopper warbler reeling away its insect or mechanical like song. Lynda is still fortunate in having very good hearing but even with hearing aids I have to have things just right for me to hear them. I have to be closer than Lynda and ideally slightly higher than the bird.. I walked a few yards from the path to the reeds without sinking and finally heard the bird. How my list has shot up, this made 185 for the year.

April has been an excellent month as to be expected with so many migrants arriving for the breeding season. 15 birds to go to reach my target of 200 species. Here is to May.

Before diving in to my account of the forthcoming day I just wanted to say how overwhelmed I am following a recent posted note of mine here on Substack. On 3rd May I set up my moth trap in the garden, something I try to do about once each month. When I checked the catch I noticed I had caught a rather magnificent Lime Hawk Moth, I took several photographs and posted them in a note on Substack. To date that note has received close on 2,000 likes, has been restocked over 40 times and I have gained something in the order of another 40 new subscribers. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you. I intend to write in more detail about this character in due course, but for now here it is again.

Lime Hawk Moth

1st April 2026

Back to today, well actually a couple of days ago and when I was having planning discussions with David he just happened to mention that he would like to try and see or hear 100 species in the day again. Not being one to argue I duly agreed and so at 07:30 we headed off towards Norfolk. It actually is not that far to travel for us, we can see Norfolk from where we both live in Suffolk and we can almost touch the county boundary from our gardens.

David drove so I was officially in charge of keeping a tally of the days list. As it turned out this was probably not the best idea! First, whilst we loaded our gear into David’s car there were birds to be added to our list from his drive.

Off we go, a distant calling pheasant started the list, 99 to go. That was closely followed by a couple of fly over linnets, calling as they passed above us and a starling, also flying over. Next came the wheezing call of a greenfinch, singing blue tit and song thrush. We are only talking a few minutes here so far. It is Spring and the gardens are alive with sounds. Continuing, singing robin, calling jackdaws, house sparrows, wood pigeon and a singing blackbird.

Greenfinch

We set off with Knettishall Heath on our schedule for the first place to call in to. It is the closest ideal habitat to David’s to hopefully begin adding some Breckland birds. It is a mix of coniferous and deciduous woodland with some areas of open Breckland heath. Driving through the village and out into open countryside we saw our first raptor for the day a kestrel perched on a post. Next came a magpie and a small group of feral pigeons. Yes we count those. Over the last couple of houses in the village we had seen a couple of collared doves. We drove past a rookery. Lots of noise and activity here.

Kestrel

As soon as we got out of the car we were searching, eyes open, scanning through our binoculars for movement and listening for calls and song. Two of a birders best tools, eyes and ears. My ears are not what they were so I do wear hearing aids, which I can adjust for being outdoors. This enables me to hear (hopefully) those higher pitched notes which I missed out on for a few years. You can only say “What did you say” so many times to your wife before you realise something has to be done to improve matters. I am pleased with the aids I now have.

Behind us on the heath we heard a call from the policeman of the woods, a Jay. They earned this country name because they are quite wary birds, often heard and not seen. When they detect danger they let out a loud, hoarse scream which alerts other woodland wildlife. Fortunately on this occasion everything appeared to stay calm and carry on as normal. No incident numbers were issued and no blue and whitecap was left to blow all over the countryside. A carrion crow called as it flew by and over a distant line of tree we noticed a a largish white bird flying along. Not a bird of woodlands or heath but a species which is very much at home on the Brecks during the breeding season. This was a shelduck, quite unmistakeable as it flew over. They like the Brecks because the soil is very sandy and is liked by rabbits. They often breed in rabbit burrows or in more recent times with the increase in outdoor pig farming they will sometimes nest in gaps between the bales of straw, which are stacked up in the fields and used for animal bedding. These outdoor pig units usually have wet wallows so the pigs can cover themselves in mud. Always worth checking for birdlife and especially late afternoons and evening when farm workers have gone home and the fields are left to the pigs and wildlife.

After a few minutes we finally heard a target bird for the day and a Breckland speciality. The fluty song of a woodlark was now being heard from the open heath in front of us. Finally we saw the bird but it was too far away to photograph. The loud song of a mistle thrush was now blasting across the heath and a pair of stonechat put in an appearance. Another bird which likes to nest on open heathland.

Time to drive on a bit. Our next stop was to be Lynford Arboretum near Mundford. We hoped to pick up a few woodland specialities from this next site. Forest England seem to be charging for more of their carparks now across large areas of Thetford Forest. Certainly at the arboretum this move has caused a lot of dog walkers, wild swimmers and patrons of the Shepherds Baa coffee hut to park on the edge of the approach road to avoid parking. I have a permit so this did not present us with a problem. Regular readers will know that we visit this site fairly often throughout the winter months as it often holds hawfinch and brambling. Whilst winter has gone on the calendar it certainly does not feel too much like spring this morning but we were here to search for lingering birds plus other specialities.

Singing coal and great tits started us off followed by a fly over herring gull and a couple of lesser black backed gulls. Gentle twittering from the trees revealed a couple of goldfinches bringing us up to 32 species so far. The conifers around the coffee hut can sometimes hold firecrest but not today. We did however see a goldcrest working its way in a very acrobatic manner searching the pine cones for tasty morsels.

Goldcrest, closer to the ground.

A marsh tit came to one of the bird feeders giving us good views and deeper into the forest we could hear the monotonous hollow moaning song of a stock dove.

Stock Dove

A nuthatch was calling then a little grebe struck up with its almost whinnying high pitched calls. This was hiding in reeds on the end of the lake. We were now approaching the paddocks where hawfinch can often be seen. Often but not always and today they were hiding. I wonder if they perch hidden in the trees saying ‘look those two guys with binoculars are looking for us, let’s hide till they have gone“. Most likely not but it is a funny thought. Two mallard took flight and flew up from the reeds giving out a loud quack as they took off. A couple of long tailed tits came to see what we were up to and alerted by different calls we gazed upwards to see a small group of siskins feeding on alder cones above our heads. From farther along the lake we could hear greylag geese and canadas calling. The former sounding like grumpy old men who don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.

Mallard

With no hawfinch in site we retraced our steps towards the car before turning to walk to the large lake. Always chance of a great crested grebe here. We stopped at an area known as the tunnel. A photographer was there and he said he had seen a brambling and treecreeper. These were two birds we needed so decided to stay a few minutes.

Wren, a fly over cormorant and a calling moorhen. We then heard a familiar chip call. We both knew instantly what it was and it came down to drink. A crossbill.

Crossbill

There was a dash of movement and a smallish bird dropped into the leaf litter. Up popped a head, then a body. A female brambling, lovely. This was the time to move on to the lake. As we approached a viewing screen by the lake side David just happened to comment that as we had mandarin ducks so close by on other bodies of water he had always expected to see them here but never had. Well thanks for talking them up David. The hawfinches were not playing ball but lo and behold right before our very eyes on the lake were two pairs of mandarin and a lone male. Originating from East Asia these birds have escaped from collections and we now have a self sustaining population here in the UK. Did we count it as a species, well yes we did.

Mandarin. If any bird has an excuse to show off a mandarin does.

In addition to the mandarin and as expected were a pair of great crested grebe, several gadwall, some teal and a cormorant.

Wow, we are doing really well and as well as increasing the daily tally we are adding some new birds for our year lists. We now felt we should move on to our goshawk stop off site in the hope of seeing them displaying. I have mentioned previously that due to persecution I cannot divulge the name of this site.

We pulled up in a large roadside pull in and got our scopes out. When displaying, goshawk can be found flying low over the tree tops or they can be quite high in the sky presenting themselves as dots, in the clouds. Peering up at dots is not my wife Lynda’s idea of birding. She likes birds low and close.

The first bird to make itself known was a grey partridge then a small flock of fieldfare flew by. Still a few winter birds around and all welcome for our ever growing tally of birds. A common or eurasian curlew started singing. What a magical, haunting bubbling sound. It is so typical of estuaries and moorlands but we do have a few pairs breeding on the Brecks. We turned around to find the bird and soon spotted a pair on the grass behind us. Several pied wagtails were close by then we spotted a distant raptor. It is all about size and shape with distant raptors and how they are flying. Are the wings being held in an arched position are they carried upwards. Is it gliding and for how long. This is giss my friends (pronounced JIZZ) and learning the general impression of size and shape comes with practice. Our raptor was broad winged but was soaring around with its wing held slightly upward forming a very shallow V. This was a common buzzard. Then a second raptor appeared. Not a buzzard, it had more arched wings as it flew and soared. Not so stiff winged as a buzzard it appeared more agile and the big give away was its forked tail. We had a red kite this time. I decided to look higher up into the sky, scanning across the front of clouds. Finally a black dot was located and it was slowly coming towards us. I pointed it out to David providing him with instructions to help him locate it. “Over the clump of very dark looking trees then up high to the bottom right hand side of the really dark grey cloud”, “got it he shouted” This was rather like a sparrowhawk but bulkier. A slightly different flight pattern. It came lower and closer and was now soaring along in front of us. This was not a sparrowhawk but a goshawk. Success, we both agreed it was a goshawk, a real one of course not like the one viewers were fobbed off with in the recent film Hamnet where an American harris hawk was used.

With our target species seen we moved on closer to the Norfolk coast. We were now going for a walk around Kelling Heath. A specialty heathland bird the dartford warbler can be found here. Actually I failed to connect with it here last year but did find one on Dunwich Heath. Would today be my lucky day? David and I walked, stopped and listened many times. We stopped and spoke to a few other visiting birders some had been lucky others had given up. We continued listening for its familiar drawn out harsh calls and even hoped for a blast of song but nothing. Was I going to leave Kelling Heath empty handed on the dartford front again?

We decided to walk back towards the car and made our way along a well worn pathway with some thick gorse on one side. a small bird shot out from our left and flew into the more dense gorse on the right of the path. Instantly it appeared again right in front of us feeding amongst the gorse flowers. Success, it only takes one and that is all we had, one fine male dartford warbler.

Dartford Warbler

We could now happily leave the heath and go to the next location which was still in the village of Kelling.

We arrived at Kelling Quags in the hope of finding our first sand martins of the year. Oystercatchers flew over our heads and we heard then saw a great black backed gull fly by. It was probably on the look out for ducklings or lapwing chicks. A Cetti’s warbler sang out loud from some scrub. It is an explosive song and reminds be of the opening of Beethoven’s 5th.

There were a few shoveler on the pool and right at the far end flying low above the water and vegetation about 8 sand martin, another success. We were now on 74 species for the day and it wasn’t even lunch time, we were doing very well. Anyone who has ever done this sort of thing or taken part in a bird race knows it gets harder as the day goes on. Would we reach 100? Hanging around here wouldn’t do it for us so we moved on to Salthouse and the Beach Road. Earlier in the year David and I had gone there for twite (a northern cousin of the linnet which winters on the east coast. Sadly numbers have greatly reduced so we tend not to see too many these days. The flock of 17 we saw earlier in the year were still around and birders were still reporting seeing them so we had to try as we were so close. We parked up at the end of the lane and the first bird encountered which was new for the day was a marsh harrier. It was quartering over the marsh looking for lunch and the ducks and waders knew it so they were on extra alert, just like me and David but we didn’t want them for lunch.

Avocets and redshank on the pools and a meadow pipit on a wire fence which ran across the marsh. Where were they? There were still quite a few wigeon feeding on the marsh and out of the reeds two heads popped up. One was a little egret and the other was a great white egret. David noticed a small flock of birds in the distance, perched on yet another wire fence. They kept flying off and flying around or landing on the ground. This was very twite like in behaviour but they could be linnet we had to get closer. It meant a walk of several hundred metres across the deep shingle which David was not impressed about. It had to be done, crunch, crunch under our feet as we walked on towards the birds. Fortunately the walk was worthwhile as the birds were indeed our twite. Bird number 81 for the day.

It was lunch time and RSPB Titchwell time so off we went, we knew there would be some useful additions there. The tide was not in our favour for bringing birds up on to the reserve or in making the shoreline a 100 yard walk rather than a quarter mile one. The scrapes on the reserve had all the usuals suspects. Lapwing, black-tailed godwit, common snipe and ruff. Waders kept being found, ringed plover, dunlin and turnstone all put in an appearance. Then we heard and saw a bearded tit. A little bit like bittern because they spend so much time deep within then reeds they are more often heard rather than seen. Thankfully for us this bird did both. David spotted a pair of pintail at the far back of the scrape and behind it on the reed fringe a heron was stood waiting for a passing frog. A spoonbill flew right over our heads, long and stretched in flight, legs out the back and that huge bill with the rounded end at the front. Dotted across the salt marsh were still, lots of brent geese, they tend to stay quite a bit longer than the pink feet. though we did see a few pinkies today.

Spoonbill

Time to check the list as time was also slipping away. Late afternoon and pink foot made the 99th bird. “What about a quick call in to Lady Annes Drive at Holkham” David said. “You found us barnacle goose last time we went.” So I did and so we did. David drove to Holkham and we pulled on to the drive which leads all the way to the famous Holkham Pines. We drove slowly checking the marshes. Lots of wigeon and teal. But no close barnies. We stopped and got out, setting up our telescopes so we could scan the far end of the marshes. You have to look and keep looking, the marshes are quite undulating in parts so one minute you look and do not spot anything then look again and a goose could easily have walked up out of a depression in the ground and there you are in full view. Eventually we spotted 4 barnies making bird 100 for the day. We did it.

The next morning I typed up the list to email David. Bird number 2 linnet, I kept on typing, bird number 59 linnet. No, really. Yes really, I had entered linnet twice. How embarrassing. I had messed up we didn’t actually make the 100 but 99. Well who cares, the most important thing was we had yet another fantastic day out, walking in the fresh air, bird watching and listening to the sounds of the breeze in the trees, reeds and the calls and songs of countless birds. If I was a company HR department I would have earned a big wellbeing tick.

Sand Martin was my 162nd new bird for the year. Edging ever closer to my target of 200 species seen or heard in the UK in 2026. New subscribers may not know I set a target to walk 1,000 miles every year. By the end of 1st April I had walked 326 miles so well ahead of myself for the time of year. This year I have also joined the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland target of seeing 100 flowering plants in the year at the end of today (1st April) I have seen 39 species in flower. The last one was today and it was garlic mustard.

Stay tuned for the next instalment dear readers.

As I was walking along the top of the bank I was wondering how many ‘Devil’s Dykes’ there might be in the UK. I have found two so far but I think there are more. In addition to this one there is a famous one on the South Downs in Sussex. At nearly a mile long, the Dyke valley in Sussex is the longest, deepest and widest ‘dry valley’ in the UK. Legend has it that the Devil himself, dug this chasm to drown the parishioners of the Weald. On the other hand, scientists believe it was formed naturally just over 10,000 years ago in the last ice age.

The dyke we were walking was not formed by natural means. This Dyke forms an almost completely straight line over 7 miles in length at up to 10 metres high and runs from just south of Newmarket to Reach just north of the town. It is thought that this earthwork was constructed in Anglo Saxon times partly as a form of defence and partly to control trade and movement. It completely blocks a narrow land corridor, spanning from the impassable marshy Fenlands nearby in the south to dense woodlands in the north, creating an extremely effective strategic line of defence.

It crosses three important Roman Roads on its way which leads experts to believe that it was used as a way of controlling the traffic that passed through the area.

Historians believe that it was carefully surveyed: the long central section is dead straight, laid out on an alignment whose ends are intervisible, and the two changes of direction at each end, which are slight, were designed to connect this long straight section with the end of Reach Lode and to avoid a natural depression near Wood Ditton called Dane Bottom. The builders kept to an alignment that would allow them to use the maximum amount of the high ground. The labour involved in such an undertaking is immense: it has been calculated that using the simple technology of picks, shovels and baskets, one million man-days or more were needed for its construction. Just think, no JCB’s or other diggers, no onsite toilets and no risk assessments. Not even holiday pay or sick pay. Whoever built it clearly had not only a pressing reason for doing so, but also the political and administrative ability to organise a very large body of workers.

There have been many theories about its origin. All that can be said with absolute certainty is that it was built either very late in - say after 370 AD - or after Roman times: Roman remains have been found under it. The fact that Roman remains have been found under it suggests that in fact it did not cut through two Roman roads, who knows. It must have been built (at the very latest) before the eighth century when it is already being used as a boundary. In early Anglo-Saxon times and through the Middle Ages it was the boundary between the parishes of Burwell and Swaffham Prior, and the administrative and tax districts of Staine and Staploe Hundreds.

Above. An Anglo Saxon lady delivering packed lunches for the workers. Sorry no, it’s Lynda searching for Pasqueflowers.

The Dyke is designed so that the rampart is to the east of the fosse, and thus an obvious inference is that whoever built it was expecting trouble from the south-west. It deliberately closes, except for one ancient opening, the Icknield Way, one of the major trackways of ancient Britain, dating back to prehistoric times, which runs all the way from East Anglia to Salisbury Plain. The start of the Icknield Way is close to our home on Knettishall Heath near Thetford, or it is the end depending on which way your chariot is going. Every invader known who hit the East Anglian coast moved along that track into the heart of Britain. The length of the Dyke makes it militarily indefensible against any serious attack, but equally, with a fosse filled with thorns, it would be a major obstacle to any attempt by a large fighting force to get across it towards Exning fast and unnoticed. There is certainly no shortage of thorns today with some parts thick with Blackthorn and Hawthorn. There are three periods in those three obscure centuries when the political circumstances of Britain as a whole might have led to the building of the Dyke.

Another and perhaps more colourful hypothesis is that they are defences built by Anglo-Saxon invaders forces to abandon the Upper Thames valley after being defeated by the British, and to fall back step by step on an area protected on the one side by the Fens, on the other by the sea. This setback, it has been suggested, might have been occasioned by the battle of Mons Badonicus (Mount Badon), fought by King Arthur. This was said to have been followed by a long period of peace, and, if it took place at all, was fought around the year 516.

It once ran right through the village of Reach but was cut through between 1743 and 1768. It is still of massive proportions the sort of earthwork one might have expected the Anglo-Saxons to have attributed to Woden as they did as Wansdyke, Wiltshire.

In the mid 14th century, it appears under the name St Edmund’s Ditch, because it formed the boundary of the Liberty of St Edmund. According to tradition, the dyke was constructed by the Danish king Canute, who, to make amends for his father Sweyn Forkbeard’s rough treatment of the monks of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, granted them privileges that ran as far as this ditch/

The earthwork’s present name does not appear in records until 1574, in the Laton from Daemonis fossam, to which Camdem in 1594 gives the English equivalent, Devil’s Dike. The Latin author says it was so-called because it was popularly thought to have been built by the art of the Devil; but Camden explains it as a corruption of the name of a man called Davilier, who held the manor of Broome in Suffolk by the feudal service of marshalling the ‘footmen’ of Norfolk and Suffolk, whose point of assembly was at this ditch. Both explanations may be correct, the name Davilier suggesting to the locals the old tradition of the Devil as builder.

Known at first as the Great Dyke and later St Edmund’s Dyke, it gained its present name in medieval times and would, experts believe, have taken 200 men more than three years to build - but if you’re the Devil, it’s the work of a moment – especially if you have a band of fairytale creatures at your beck and call.

Legend has it that the Devil arrived at a wedding at Reach Church and, as he had not been issued an invite (and presumably had not bought any guest towels from the wedding list) he was sent away by guests who were furious with his impudence. As he fled in anger, his huge flaming tail scored a deep groove in the earth and formed the dyke.

In the September edition of Norfolk and Suffolk Fair in 1983, there is a discussion about fairy loaves which were sea urchin fossils which resembled loaves of bread (and were also known as pixie weights or shepherd’s crowns) and were often kept in cottage fireplaces to protect against bad luck, illness and lightning strikes and assist dead souls as they made their journey to the afterlife – it is also said that a home with a fairy loaf would never lack bread for humans.

“Undoubtably there were abundant supplies around Newmarket to feed the army of ‘little people’ who built the Devil’s Dyke - that great landmark dominating the heath where it strikes northwards in a straight course for eight miles,” it says.

“Its right flank rests upon streams and fenland and its left upon forest land. But what of its origin? Was it, as some folk suggest, built by an army of fairy folk in league with the Devil? More likely it was the work of the Iceni - themselves physically small - anxious to protect their strategically weak boundaries. Others ascribe it to the Roman legions who occupied the locality. Some evidence suggests that before the Iceni the early Britons populated the locality.”

But enough of theories that don’t harness the supernatural: another is that the ditch was built by giants in the blink of an eye and, even better for those of us that love a shaggy dog story, it’s also said to be one of the places that Black Shuck loves to stalk.

If you see him running along the ancient fairy, giant, Devil or Iceni-built ditch, your joy – like you – may well be short-lived: it is said that those who spy Black Shuck on Devil’s Dyke are driven mad within two months and will not celebrate another revolution around the sun, dying within a year.

So, a multitude of suggestion as to why it was built and who built it. Fast forward to 2026 and it is used by walkers, joggers, golfers (yes there are a couple of high tee off points on the bank top for the local golf course), naturalists and selfish, arrogant dog walkers who let their dogs run loose to crap all over, then don’t pick up.

The steep grassy banks are rich in typical chalk grassland wildflowers and butterflies, which can be seen from the edges of the path.

Five varieties of orchid have been seen here, including the rare lizard and bee species. Around mid-April to early May the beautiful pasque flowers bloom. This part of the Ditch, bordering the heathland, is also the haunt of skylarks, yellow hammers, linnets, curlew and meadow pipits.

The striking, purple Pasqueflower is now a very rare plant in the UK, restricted to just a few chalk and limestone grasslands and found on only a handful of nature reserves. It flowers in the spring, usually around April, which happens to be around Easter time; for this reason, it is known as the ‘anemone of Passiontide’ and its common name ‘pasque’ derives from the word ‘paschal’ which means ‘of Easter’. Its petals sit cushioned on feathery leaves. Legend has it that Pasqueflowers sprang up in places that had been soaked by the blood of Romans or Danes because they often appeared on old barrows and boundary banks. However, it's more likely that these sites are favoured because they tend to be undisturbed chalk grassland.

The plant is very easy to identify with a beautiful, upward bell-shaped flower, the Pasqueflower is easily recognised if found: look for deep purple petals covered in long, silky hairs; a bright yellow, stamen-filled centre; and feathery, grey-green leaves.

With seasons which seem difficult to follow these days, it is as well we had not left our visit much later as several plants had already finished flowering as above.

Walking along the bank top we passed a number of clusters of Brown-tailed Moth caterpillars protected by their silky webs.

Don’t touch! The hairs on these little leaf munchers do irritate.

As for butterflies today. We saw several Brimstone, a couple of Orange Tip and 1 Green-veined white.

Historical information cribbed from various sources, many thanks to the authors.

13th March 2026
Our first walk around just a small part of this huge complex covered just over a mile on foot. My main target bird was red-crested pochard, several pairs breed here now. There were none when we lived here. We had 1 common pochard but red-crested were not playing this morning. There were a few geese represented by greylag and canada.

Neatholme Lakes, Lound

Greylag Goose

Several grebes were present including 3 little grebe and 2 great-crested.

Great-crested Grebe

Neatholme Lakes, Lound

We saw a total of 24 species of bird on this walk around. Several tits made up the bunch, blue and great along with green and great spotted woodpecker and 3 singing chiffchaff. These little warblers seem to be here in force now and will sing their hearts out for weeks to come.

After lunch I set off on my own for a longer walk around the pits and hoping to add a few more species to the list. Covering a greater number of disused pits I was able to clock up a lot more wildfowl. 160 greylag geese, 26 canada’s and 9 mute swans. Shoveler were out in force and I counted 206 birds which is an impressive count.

Shoveler in the foreground.

Quite a few years ago after sand and gravel extraction had ended Tarmac and Hoveringham signed over the complex to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. It is now called the Idle Valley Reserve and is nationally important for wintering wildfowl. Just North of the market town of Retford there is a visitor centre. You could easily spend a couple of days here to do the site justice and the list of birds seen over the years is awesome.

Just to let you know Winter still might have a sting in its tail I found 10 goldeneye on the pits. I mentioned recently in a short post that it was a Blackthorn Winter, the air was cold and another storm was forecast to blow through just as we would arrive in Scotland. Other waterfowl included 60 gadwall, 18 wigeon, 8 mallard, 6 teal, 7 pochard, 58 tufted duck and 3 goosander. Scattered across the complex were 70 coot, several more grebes and 1 oystercatcher.

To help with conservation management the wildlife trust employ some huge lawn mowers. I always enjoy seeing them and you never know from one visit to the next where they might be on the reserve.

These wonderful cattle do a great job of grazing, bashing through scrub and creating puddles in the soft mud where wading birds might nest. Because of their natural and varied diets they fart much less than intensively reared cattle fed on commercial rubbish and monoculture grasses.

There was 1 little egret on the pits plus 2 great white egrets and 1 heron. It is sometimes possible to see cattle egret but not today. At the end of the walk I had covered just under 4 miles and recorded 49 species. One bird I heard but did not see was tree sparrow, a very uncommon bird in the area now. All of my records were submitted to the Idle Valley Birdwatchers.

14th March 2026

Today we left Lound and made our way up to Teesdale. On my way to Dumfries and Galloway I always like to make this slight detour off the A66 in the hope of seeing some moorland specialties. We had booked in to the Langdon Beck Hotel for 1 night. As we headed North the wind was increasing in strength, the weather forecast was saying we were in for a few rough and wild days (nothing to do with my birthday celebrations).

We arrived at Mainsgill Farmshop and Cafe on the A66, had breakfast and drove on to Teesdale. Driving through Middleton on Teesdale we finally reached our first stop off, which was Langdon Beck at the well known Black Grouse lek. There were 15 birds present which was great. Black grouse was one of my target birds for the trip and I have been coming up here for several years to see them.

A very poor shot of Black Grouse.

We then went to Cow Green Reservoir to start our walk. We still needed Red Grouse and I was particularly hoping for Dipper along the river, down from Cauldron Snout.

It wasn’t long after leaving the car park that we had a couple of Red Grouse, then more. Just singles or pairs.

Red Grouse

We reached Cauldron Snout and then joined the River Tees on the Pennine Way. Always on the lookout for Dipper, I was beginning to think the river might be too strong but eventually we had 3 birds.

Cauldron Snout and the dam at Cow Green Reservoir

Curlew were everywhere as we walked. There are stretches of this footpath which require care as you clamber over lots of rocks. Lynda was becoming a bit touchy because she wasn’t expecting it to be like this. With high cliffs to the left she was wondering where we would end up. I walked this alone a few years back.

Pennine Way by the River Tees.

The walk clearly didn’t end quite how I had remembered as we didn’t cut back to the car but ended up at Widdybank Farm. It was enjoyable but a slow old slog up the road all the way back to the car. Shocked to find out it was 2018 last time I walked that stretch.

Plenty of birds around the farm, curlew, lapwing, oystercatcher, snipe, redshank, red & black grouse. We did see 3 dipper on the river. These last 3 species had got the trip off to a good start and brought my 2026 list up to 150 species. 50 to go to hit the 200 and 100% success on my target birds for the area.

15th March 2026

Just light and I have got Black Grouse as a room tick again.

Lynda and I had a pre breakfast walk along the road in the hope of seeing the black grouse lek. The few birds I had seen earlier from our room had gone and we only saw one male which was closeish. I was just about to try for a photo and it flew off. As we walked back we saw 5 had appeared but all too far away to photograph.

We walked back to our room and I got a record count 17 black grouse from the bedroom window, they had appeared in another field on the hillside.

Langdon Beck Hotel

We had breakfast, packed and departed. I had another tally up of black grouse with the 17 I had seen from our room and then more on the roadside around the corner I had reached a personal all time high for this area. Total 36 black grouse, this was amazing. We were now driving over the border heading Northwest across Dumfries and Galloway to the Rhins of Galloway, our bed for the next two nights was at the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel. By making a slight detour en-route I wanted to call in to the tiny fishing harbour at Port Patrick. I had another target bird to add to my wanted list. Port Patrick is well known for it’s breeding black guillemot, they nest in holes in the harbour wall and provide really great opportunities for seeing them up close, really close.

We arrived in Port Patrick and drove straight to the harbour.

Not a black guillemot to be seen, not a bird to be seen apart from a few feral pigeons.

Last time we were here was January 2025 and we stayed in a hotel overlooking the harbour. I managed to get black guillemot as a room tick so I wasn’t too worried that they were not around at this precise moment. In January last year the birds we saw were still in non breeding plumage. I rather thought that as it was mid March they would be in full breeding plumage and we had a few more opportunities to call in and find them before we began to head back East along the Solway.

We had lunch and went for a walk along the cliff top to Dunksey Castle. The wind was really strong now and waves were whipping up. As we set off the sky was looking very black as though a storm was on it’s way.

Port Patrick Harbour.

We had not long left the harbour and the heavens opened. The wind was blowing a hooley and we struggled to put our waterproofs on. By the time I had managed to get my leggings and coat on I was soddened from top to bottom, if it was cold before it was now bloody freezing. We are both seasoned walkers and pressed on regardless, if you are walking to Dunskey Castle you are walking to Dunskey Castle.

Lynda wrapped up with the castle in the background.

Dunskey Castle is a 12th century tower house or castle south of Port Patrick. Francis Grose, an English soldier and antiquary was a great friend of the poet Robert Burns. While visiting Galloway, Grose was told by villagers that evil spirits and even the Devil himself occupied the ruined, crumbling halls of Dunskey Castle. "It is particularly affirmed that a minister of the parish had here a bickering with the foul fiend Satan himself, whom he put to flight," he reported.

Another story concerns the murderous pirate Walter de Currie, who lived at Dunskey Castle in the 1400s and captured both treasure and human hostages from passing ships in the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland.

One Irish minstrel was captured and forced to provide entertainment to de Currie and his men, but his jokes went too far and the furious laird had him thrown in the dungeons to starve to death. The minstrel escaped through a tunnel – but then found himself stranded on a rocky beach at the foot of steep cliffs. On stormy nights, it is said you can still hear the mournful sound of his pipes drifting across the village of Portpatrick.

We didn’t stay until dark on this particular day as we wanted to check in to our next hotel.

Cornwall Lighthouse Hotel is right at the northern tip of The Rhins of Galloway.

Corsewall Lighthouse was first lit in 1817. That same year, the Principal Keeper was reported for incompetence after falling asleep while on duty. For a period of time the revolving apparatus of the light had stopped. The Keeper was suspended and demoted becoming an assistant at Bell Rock Lighthouse.

In November 1970, Concorde reportedly flew over the lighthouse on a trial flight and shattered panes of glass on the lighthouse. Later flights did not affect it.

The lighthouse was fully automated in 1994 and is still working today but the hotel is the old lighthouse keepers accommodation. We had pushed the boat out on this one and had booked the head lighthouse keepers room with a private balcony. The balcony has a sea view and you can see Ailsa Craig in the distance. The area is noted as the best place for seawatching in Dumfries and Galloway.

After checking in I braved the elements and sat out on the balcony in a howling gale.

Ships, I see no ships.

It was far too cold to fall asleep whilst seawtaching so Lynda couldn’t suspend me for incompetence.

I did see a few gannets, cormorants and razorbill go by. Gannet and razorbill were new birds for the year for me. After a long drive, a soaking and a good walk it was time to relax with a wee dram.

16th March 2026

Dawn, the wind had howled all night and still it blows. Today we were driving to the most southerly point of The Rhinns of Galloway, The Mull of Galloway, but calling in at Port Patrick on the way to have a second attempt at seeing black guillemot. First it was time for a spot of pre breakfast seawatching. Gannets again, no surprises really as they breed on Ailsa Craig, several razorbills and guillemots this morning.

After breakfast our first stop off was Port Patrick. Having stopped for a while yesterday and failed on black guillemot, this morning the harbour was loaded. They were on the water, flying around and flying into holes in the harbour wall where they nest. Every bird was in full breeding plumage and I counted 20. This was fabulous. Now that they are here in force I am sure it will put pressure on the holes in the wall as they are also used by feral pigeons.

The wind made it difficult to photograph the birds as I could not hold still but I did manage a couple of shots but not of whole birds.

Black Guillemot

This was a new bird for the year for me so a good one to get. We sat and watched them for ages. After soaking up the antics of the guillemots in the harbour we drove to the most southern tip of Scotland which is also the southern tip of The Rhins. We went to The Mull of Galloway. It is barren, bleak, beautiful and today it was blowing a gale.

Mull of Galloway Lighthouse.

All in all it was rather quiet. Very windy for birding and the cliffs were quiet. We saw 10 herring gulls, 8 gannet, 6 cormorant and 4 carrion crow. It was time for coffee so we went in to the superbly situated cafe on the tip.

Mull of Galloway cafe on the cliff top.

Great for shelter and birding. I have sat in here and watched 100’s of Manx shearwaters fly by but not today.

The Nine Tides is a spectacular natural phenomenon caused by opposing tidal rips rushing around the Mull, 90 minutes after low tide.

Legend has it that the tides were conjured up by 9 witches of the Mull of Galloway in an attempt to shipwreck a witchfinder who was en route across the sea from Ireland.

You can view The Nine Tides at Lagvag Point, Mull of Galloway in Scotland. On a clear day you might be lucky to see over to the coastlines of Northern Ireland, the Lake District, and the Isle of Man.

From here we visited Logan Botanical Gardens. Despite numerous visits to The Rhins birding we had never visited the gardens. We were suitably impressed and would recommend to anyone visiting the area.

After being battered all day by the winds we returned to our hotel early.

17th March 2026

This morning we were moving hotels and this time would be on the shores of The Solway Firth. Lots of birding to do before then though. It was still quite windy and showers were forecast so I had decided this morning would be ideal for driving around the shores of Loch Ryan and birding from the many car parks along the shore. Our first stop off was in Kirkholm which is just north of Stranraer on the west of the loch. It was fairly quiet with just a few goldeneye and 2 red-breasted merganser.

Red-breasted Merganser. The weather was rough so difficult for photography.

We drove on to Bishop Burn in Stranraer. Bishop Burn flows in to the loch here and must provide good feeding for lots of birds. This is always a good place to stop and have a look. Today’s visit did not disappoint, with, 200 wigeon, 30 greater scaup, 3 eider, 200 oystercatcher and 1 shag. The scaup, eider and shag were all new birds for the year for me so a very satisfying stop off. We drove as far as Cairn Ryan but the numbers of birds got less and less. From here we decided to drive to The Isle of Whithorn. There is an excellent community centre here with a small shop and cafe so we had a cuppa and scone before braving the wind and and having a look at what was around.

The wind continued to blow but we did have a pied wagtail in the harbour and 20 redshank. We walked up beyond the site of St Ninian’s Chapel to the headland, a lone common scoter flew by shortly followed by a great black-backed gull and a cormorant. We sat on the seaward side of a hill on a conveniently placed bench. We noticed movement quite some way ahead of us on the rocks. 1, no 3, no 4 purple sandpipers totally unfazed by the crashing waves.

Purple Sandpiper,

The tide was now well out when we walked back alongside the harbour to our car, we did flush a flock of 30 greenfinches though which was good to see such a number.

We now made our way to Garlieston, further along the coast. We were booked to stay here for 2 nights.

We checked in to the Harbour Inn and were very pleased with the view from our room which overlooked the harbour.

Garlieston Harbour and bay at low tide.

It was still windy and quite cool but the woods on the other side of the harbour called. After a quick cuppa we were off.

There is a fabulous walk all around Garlieston Bay and the woods are enchanting.

As you leave the woods at the far side of the bay you come back out on to the shoreline.

The woodland floor had the remains of carpets of snowdrops with old shrivelled flower heads remaining. These had been superceded by lots of primroses and wild garlic. As we walked around the bay we had a couple of curlew, 4 redshank and a stonechat. We both thought we had heard brent geese but could not see any. As we returned there were 5 mute and 48 whooper swans on a grass field.

Distant whoppers and mute swans.

The sun was slipping away, it was time to return to our room.

18th March 2026

When we woke up, I peered out of the window to start the days bird list. A great room tick was right outside our room on the high tide confirming we had both heard brent geese.

Brent Goose

We quickly dressed and went out for a pre breakfast walk. In addition to the brents we had a curlew and 1 redshank around the harbour. Walking through woodland again we had robin, wren, blue tit, song thrush and blackbird.

Rush hour in Garlieston.

After breakfast we drove to Wigtown, Scotlands book town. I think it boasts 17 book shops in what is a relatively small town. Authors in the form of the great and the good come here for the annual book festival.

In addition to book shops another highlight at Wigtown is the harbour and adjoining marshes. At the end of the harbour car park is a bird hide giving great views over a freshwater scrape to the rear and panoramic views over the creeks and marshes from the front.

Our visit was towards the end of the winter wildfowl season but there were still lots of pink footed geese and barnacle geese. A couple of years ago avian flu reduced the barnacle goose population by about 30% but fortunately numbers have bounced back.

Just a handful of the many barnacles we saw from the hide.

The weather was a changing beast this morning. The wind had dropped thankfully but one minute it was sunny then the mist rolled in. It sounded more remote in the mist with the calls of wild geese and whooper swans. We counted 30 pink feet and 200 barnacles but could not actually see the whoopers.

On the freshwater pools behind us were 30 wigeon, 2 goldeneye and 20 shelduck. Swapping sides to look out of the front again the tide was slipping away exposing a muddy shoreline near the harbour, redshank quickly took advantage of this new feeding opportunity. It is amazing how they sleep on the fields somewhere safe at high tide but know when the tide has turned and it is time to feed again. They don’t have alarm clocks. 2 greenshank joined the reds and a meadow pipit flew over calling.

Another quick look behind us again then it would be time to move on. Coot, 3 moorhen and 6 pintail were added to the list. A great mornings birding at Wigtown Harbour. Just as we approached our parked car we both heard a bird whose song we are very familiar with back in East Anglia, up here it was quite a rarity, Cetti’s Warbler. We didn’t see it but another couple had also heard it. They also had a common sandpiper which we unfortunately missed.

From Wigtown we went to The Point of Lag near Montreith. It can be good for waders here and purple sandpipers have been recorded before.

The tide was well out but we had several oystercatchers, redshank, shelduck and red-breasted merganser. From the point we walked up to the otter.

Gavin Maxwell grew up around here, author of Ring of Bright Water. A favourite book of mine from many years ago.

Early afternoon and we were back at Garlieston Bay for another walk around the edge. We have been walking around 5.5 miles each day on average. Todays walk, in addition to birding and plant hunting had an historical agenda.

In our room was a photograph of the derelict Beetle Pontoon which was on the far side of the bay so we decided to walk to it and take a closer look.

We reached the far northern side of the bay and began looking for the remains of the pontoon.

We could hear a distant whoop, whoop. I scanned across the mouth of the bay and much closer to Garlieston than we were I spotted 2 whooper swans on the sea.

Whooper Swan

Clambering over the rocks was not easy and as we got ever closer to the sea most of the rocks were covered in the most amazing seaweed. This was quite slippery so extra care had to be taken.

Our first view of the pontoon.

Over years of tides and storms it had broken up into two sections.

And there is that slippery seaweed. Fortunately no falls and lots of photographs we made our way back to base but not before having a look at the site of an old watermill wheel in the village.

The mill has long gone but the wheel is dated 19th century.

19th March 2026

Up and another pre breakfast walk on the harbour.

The Harbour Inn.

After breakfast we set off towards our next accommodation with stops in Galloway Forest along the way. The first stop was at Forest Scotland’s Kirroughtrees Forest and visitor centre. I was hoping for crossbills here.

These west coast woodlands are lush green with mosses, ferns and lichens.

Chiffchaffs wer singing everywhere, letting us know that spring had arrived. We counted 5 coal tits, 3 singing mistle thrush, 2 nuthatch and a kronking fly over raven. We only saw 1 red kite which was a bit of a surprise as we were not too far from Bellymack Farm where kites are fed daily.

Above images taken on the Yellow Trail at Kirroughtrees Forest.

We had a coffee at the visitor centre and scanned the surrounding trees for the one bird I was missing. That pesky crossbill. This was my first visit to Kirroughtrees where I had failed. Never mind that is birding for you and there will be another visit one day. At least I have seen them back home this year already.

From Kirroughtrees we drove on to Threave Castle. Always a favourite stop off either at the castle or the fabulous gardens. For the last few years osprey has bred close to the castle and peregrines usually breed on the castle. Only yesterday a report came in that an osprey had returned to the nest, hence the reason for us stopping off here..

Old Farmhouse at Threave Castle.

Over the last few years a lot of work has happened here to improve the farm for wildlife. Tree planting, conservation grazing by belted galloway cattle and some scrapes have been created. Lynda and I left the car park and walked towards the castle, we could hear both whooper swans and pink footed geese calling. It wasn’t long before we found the geese.

Pink footed geese by the River Dee at Threave Castle.

Threave Castle

Walking around we saw 3 buzzards a raven, 40 whooper swans, 500 pink footed geese and we heard a water rail squealing in a reedy pool where we also spotted our first frog spawn for the year.

Frog Spawn

Another red kite and raven completed our flyover birds seen for the session, whilst in nearby bushes we had gold crest robin, great tit, wren and chaffinch. The osprey had been seen leaving the nest about 15 minutes before we arrived.

We set off and drove to our second to last accommodation for the trip. This was a fabulous old farmhouse just a few miles up the road. The house was rather grand and I needed my binoculars to see Lynda at the far end of the dining table.

20th March 2026

We had an excellent stay and after breakfast we set off again. This time it was driving a little closer to Dumfries, we were meeting my sister and brother-in -law at Mabie Forest for a walk before lunch at the Mabie House Hotel.

We had not been walking long before I spotted marsh marigold in flower on the side of a stream, this came in as my 24th flowering plant seen in 2026 so far, closely followed by wood anemone and wild garlic.

Marsh Marigold or King cup

Wood Anemone

Wild Garlic or Ramsons

Mabie House Hotel

Walking around the forest we heard yet more chiffchaff singing away. They really have arrived in force now. We saw brimstone and also small tortoiseshell butterflies both enjoying the lovely sunshine. What a contrast in the weather from a few days earlier. After our walk we drove on to Carrutherstown to our final hotel of the trip. All good things come to an end and it was home tomorrow. Unlike the journey up a week ago, apart from a lunch break it would be a pretty much non stop trip back to the flatlands of Suffolk.

21st March 2026

I had set off in the hope of finding black grouse and black guillemot and scored. I also hoped we would see dipper and we did. Other birds on my hit list included; eider, shag and gannet and I struck lucky there also. No complaints at all, accommodation was superb, food was excellent, and we did not get blown off the cliff tops. I added several new flowering plants to my 2026 list, with all the driving we only walked 1 mile today bringing my 2026 total miles walked at 294.7 miles. The new birds seen for the year had brought me up to 157 species. I will not be too long now before summer migrants begin flooding in so my count will shoot up over the next few weeks.

Another attempt at seeing 100 species in the day coming soon. Stay tuned dear readers.

This morning Lynda and I headed off for an area of woodland on one of the farms I survey. The visit was not for anything particularly special just a pleasant walk and to have a dose of something I came across recently, Vitamin N (N=Nature). More people should take it. It is totally free and should not come with unpleasant side effects, unless maybe you get stung by a nettle.

We began walking through the wood to the sound of bird song. Last time I walked along this ride which was not too long ago the trees were alive with the chack, chack of Fieldfares, now it was the turn of our resident thrushes with both song and mistle thrushes singing away. Two grey partridges were just on the field edge tucked up tight by the wood. When we disturbed them they took flight, called and went across to the far side of the field.

This wood was once part of a military air base and lots of missiles were apparently stored here. The farm has the remains of miles of concrete tracks and some of the old buildings still remain on adjacent industrial estates.

No military personnel present now just the occasional wren ticking away in the undergrowth. A nuthatch was singing from a nearby tree and much more high pitched was a singing coal tit. Their song is repetitive like a great tit and does sound a bit like the ‘teacher, teacher’ notes of it’s cousin.

Nuthatch (photo D Tomlinson)

Coal Tit taking a drink.

There were chaffinches and greenfinches in the wood and in the distance we could hear a number of rooks calling. A large rookery close by meant that we were constantly accompanied by the caw, caw of rooks. They have almost finished building new or repairing last year’s nests ready for this new breeding season.

As we continued on our walk through the wood we passed lots of flowering dog’s mercury, a true indicator of ancient woodland.

Dog’s Mercury

We could now hear a chiffchaff singing and as we reached the edge of the wood and could see field hedgerows running alongside we picked up linnet, greenfinch and a yellowhammer. All in all a pleasant walk.

6th March 2026

Today was a day out with my birding pal David. For this trip we had decided to head towards the Suffolk coast and Sandlings area. For quite some time there had been regular reports of an overwintering hume’s warbler in Lowestoft. David did try to find it a week ago but failed. Regular readers of my birding trips may remember that we had a hume’s warbler last year at Holkham in Norfolk and that it was particularly exciting for me because it was a lifer (a first time encountered). Might this be my second Hume’s or would we have a repeat of David’s trip last week. David announced that he knew exactly were it had been seen so there we were by the tennis courts in Lowestoft at 09:00 in the morning. As we walked towards the trees where David said it had been another birder was walking towards us. He informed us that he had been here some time and had had no luck, he also said it had been reported on the other side of the road. We were about to make our way there when another birder who was walking towards us shouted and said it was on the other side of the road. Decision definitely made we had to go search over the road.

We arrived at said place, Sparrow’s Nest Park and there were 3 other birders present, one whose arm shot up pointing in to the top of a tree. They had the bird and so did we in under 1 minute of arriving. A new bird for 2026. In true leaf warbler style it was very active searching for food in the canopy. It was very hard work because once it was located it was gone again. There were now 6 pairs of eyes all peering up with craned necks watching for movement in the canopy of some holm oaks, which are evergreen so you can imagine it was really hard work. ‘There it is’ someone shouted, no it isn’t, false alarm it’s a coal tit. We eventually all managed reasonable views of this particularly active bird. I wonder what it thought to Winter in Lowestoft, it could have been in Pakistan and Himalayan foothills east to Nepal or possibly Bangladesh, northern Burma, Thailand. Some winter in Iran, that is possibly why it is in Lowestoft.

Whilst moving around the trees always hoping to get a better angle and view we chatted to the other birders who were local. We asked if the kittiwakes were back yet, about 700 was the reply. Lowestoft is well known for its breeding kittiwakes with many breeding on the broad window ledges of some of the older buildings. Neither David or I had clocked kittiwake for the year so having had our fill of the delightful hume’s warbler we moved on.

It was not long driving back through town before we had our first kittiwakes. I mentioned in a previous post about the 3 birds in the UK which sing their names, chiffchaff being one and the second is kittiwake. Just stand near a colony and you will hear them loud and clear ‘kittiwake, kittiwake, kittiwake’. I just forget now what the third bird sounds like but I know there is a type of clock named after it.

Kittiwake, smart birds and our only seagull whose status is green listed.

No winter visit to Lowestoft is complete without a trip to Ness Point, even though I was here the other day. We continued driving until we reached Ness Point and it was not too long before we found our first purple sandpiper for the day. As is usually the case turnstones were also present.

Purple Sandpiper

From here we drove out of town and headed along the coast to Kessingland where shorelarks had been regularly reported. David and I were at Kessingland at the end of last year adding them to our 2025 list. Unusually they have been scarce in Norfolk this winter so it had to be a return to this part of the Suffolk coast to hopefully find them.

Kessingland beach

This area is made up of pools, sand bars, tall marram grass, and a lot of shingle. It has been the shingle that the birds have preferred, searching for seeds amongst the stones. There were already two other birders searching. David and I watched the birders, not the birdies. Behaviour of the former could save us a lot of unnecessary walking. It was not looking hopeful, they were a good half mile down the beach and constantly walking and looking, walking and looking. Searching for a handful of shorelarks in a habitat like this is a bit like searching for a single hume’s warbler in 4 holm oaks or the proverbial needle in a haystack. We stopped for an impromptu management meeting and the decision was made, we would walk slowly towards the two guys. The gap between us slowly narrowed and suddenly one of the guys put his arm up and waved. That was the signal we hoped for, they had found said larks on the shore. We quickened our pace but at the same time noticed a group of smallish birds flying towards us non stop over our heads and away down the beach several hundred yards ahead. They were the shorelarks and the two guys who we had been walking towards were now hot footing it towards us.

We cautiously approached the birds and kept a safe distance so as not to push them on. It is vital during the winter months that they are allowed to feed to keep their body weight up. I think I would need an awful lot of food if I was going to sleep on the beach with that cold wind blasting in from the North Sea.

Shorelark above

During the time we watched them we also saw a single little egret, lots of herring gulls and 4 ringed plover.

Herring Gull

Amongst the marram grass and bushes we observed greenfinch, linnet and a couple of reed bunting.

Little Egret

Another birder now joined us who we knew, he was a staff member from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in Thetford, he in turn introduced us to one of the other guys present who was a new member of staff from the BTO, it also transpired we had the county mammal recorder for Cambridgeshire on the beach with us. What a collection and even mammal recorders like going birding.

We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. As it turned out the mammal recorder was parked near us so the three of us walked back together and had a good chat about biodiversity recording in general, iRecord and citizen science. As we reached the top of the cliff the sea was now someway away and we started hearing birds you would expect in more of a suburban type environment, collared dove, tits, blackbird and wren. Several greenfinch were also singing away.

Greenfinch

On the field edge alexanders was well in flower, which reminded me I needed a tally up of 2026 plants in flower. Over the last few days I have come across the following on my travels;

Shepherd’s Purse, Dog’s Mercury, Sun Spurge, Common Chickweed, Cowslip, Blackthorn and Spring Beauty. This brings me up to 25 species.

Sun Spurge

What really caught my eye on the alexanders was a yellow-legged mining bee.

Yellow-legged Mining Bee

We now moved on to Westleton Heath in the hope of finding Stone Curlew and Dartford Warbler. The weather was not looking good with afternoon rain forecast and we did not connect with either of our target species, in fact it was rather quiet with just 1 black-headed gull, a few carrion crows, blue and long-tailed tits and a skylark.

RSPB Minsmere which was our last stop for the day was more exciting and a good range of birds were present.

Lots of birds on the scrape including shelduck, avocet, mallard, wigeon, teal and gadwall. David spotted 3 goosander over on the far side of the scrape, whilst almost under our noses I spotted a little ringed plover (our first for the year). This was quite an early bird, then to top it off a common ringed plover ran alongside so you could compare the two almost side by side. The little ringed has a forehead which to my mind resembles a liquorice allsort, white on the bottom, then a black stripe then another white stripe. They also have a distinct yellow ring around the eye which common ringed plover lack.

A lot of the birds became quite flighty when a marsh harrier flew over.

Lapwing

Due to their size and therefore no need to worry the greylags and canada geese sat the harriers fly by out as did a group of cormorants. In amongst a group of 50 black headed gulls we located 3 mediterranean gulls. These were now almost in full breeding plumage with jet black heads. We left the scrape and walked over to Bittern Hide then closely followed by Island Mere Hide. We clocked up 36 species at Minsmere and by the end of the day had walked 7.8 miles. my total for the year is now 228.9 miles. Little Ringed Plover was my 146th bird for 2026.

Scottish trip coming up, stay tuned.

25th February 2026

Today Lynda and I went for a walk around a local area of heath and woodland near West Harling in Norfolk. It was a pleasant sunny morning and Lynda had not heard woodlark singing this season as yet so she was keen to have a listen on the heath. With the sun up we thought we would be in with a good chance if we gave the heath a try. We heard singing chiffchaff as soon as we got out of the car and as always the cawing of a carrion crow.

As soon as we walked on to the heath we heard the gentle and very pleasant sweet, melancholy notes of a male woodlark.

Harling Heath

In total on our walk we heard 3 singing woodlark, which was a treat. Also on the heath there were several singing skylarks, very good to compare the songs of these two larks. Like the skylark, woodlarks do sing in the air but of the two they are more often heard singing from a song post like a dead branch and occasionally even on the ground.

As we neared the second block of woodland we had several coal tits in song and within this particular block I usually come across marsh tit. They did not disappoint as I heard one on this mornings walk. There were a few blackbirds singing and these were joined by singing song thrush. The woods are slowly coming alive with song and it will not be too long before the dawn chorus is really worth rising early for. I am sure I mentioned in a previous post that now is a really good time to get to grips with our resident bird songs, they are all starting to sing now as the mornings are very slowly becoming lighter, earlier. Familiarise yourselves with these songsters before the summer migrants arrive. The first of these to arrive and one whose song is easy to learn is the chiffchaff which sings its name; chiffchaff, chiffchaff, chiffchaff.

From inside the wood the familiar drumming of great spotted woodpecker could be heard and the deep repetitive almost groaning ‘ooo-ue’ of a stock dove.

‘glip-glip’, almost like a ticking was heard over my head. A crossbill flew over and away, Lynda missed it but she was not too bothered in a bird which shoots out of view too quickly. If it had been perched so she could get a real good look she would have been happier.

Crossbill. They are a bit quick to photograph in flight.

Sort of soothing to begin with, but quickly becoming rather monotonous, wood pigeons were singing away and a distant buzzard could be heard calling over adjacent fields. As we returned to the car I heard a jackdaw and a magpie chattering away on a field of outdoor pigs over the road. These fields will be good to search for stone curlew any time soon as they begin to return from their winter holidays. It was time to return home. The sun was up and its warmth could be felt, I was keen to watch from the garden in search of early bees and flutterbies.

Back at Burhinus HQ and I was not disappointed, the crocus patch was on full display and the bees were feeding. 1 honey bee and a couple of buff-tailed bumble bees.

Buff-tailed bumbles

The crocus flowers do not seem to last long enough but as soon as the sun shines when they are in flower the bees come in. The muntjac aren’t bothered about sunshine they nibble at night so I cover the patch to keep the deer off.

It doesn’t look particularly pretty but I would rather the bees feed than the deer, which are a pest and better placed to be in a saucepan with shallots, carrots and red wine.

The forecast for the evening was looking favourable for a moth catch so I thought I would set up my moth trap. The month was nearly over and this would be my first session for February .

26th February 2026

I was right about the weather conditions and I had to rise early to check the moth trap. It is surprising how many moths do actually fly during the winter months and it is not just moths. The weather is warming and pond life is also waking up. I was a little surprised to find this bruiser in my trap this morning.

Dytiscus marginalis, otherwise known as Great Diving Beetle.

A little care is required here, I have never been on the receiving end of one of these but I believe they are finger nippers. I carefully extracted it from my trap and as I don’t actually have a garden pond I popped it in one of my homemade hoverfly lagoons where it would be safe until dark when it would fly off again to explore a new water body.

How did the moth catch go you might be asking.

1 Oak Beauty which I posted on the morning of capture and which to date has received 90 likes, thank you very much.

Oak Beauty

I caught 3 Twin-spotted Quaker

1 Shoulder Stripe

4 Clouded Drab

1 Satellite plus a few others. 10 species in total of 34 moths. A pleasing nights catch. I use a twin tube actinic trap for those who may be interested.

27th February 2026

Today Lynda and I went for a walk at High Lodge in Thetford Forest. We had a large flock of chaffinch feeding in a field adjacent to the forest edge, I counted 53 birds. One species we always enjoy seeing is the treecreeper and we spotted one of these mouse like birds in the forest today. I was discussing treecreepers with a friend recently and we commented that treecreeper is one of those birds which, if you go out looking for one you usually fail. They seem to find you and you just happen to notice one out of the corner of your eye.

We also heard a nuthatch plus several thrushes, blue and great tits, wrens and a couple of dunnocks.

I seem to be a sucker for challenges and this year the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) have set a challenge to see 100 plants in flower during 2026. It is set up as an Activity in the app iRecord so you can keep a check on your submissions plus those of everyone else taking part. I read a post by , on 26th Feb, which inspired me to sign up.

To date and all in flower I have seen the following;

2026 Flowers

January
Common Field Speedwell
Red Dead Nettle
White Dead Nettle
Yarrow
Daisy
Dandelion
Hazel
Winter Heliotrope
8 species

February
Sweet Violet
Goat Willow
Lesser Cellandine
Cherry Plum
Scentless Mayweed
Crack Willow
Groundsel
Gorse
Hairy Bittercress
Alexanders
10 species, grand total 18 species.

28th February 2026

I was on granddog walking duties today so guess what, I took her to the seaside and did a bit of birding. I had not caught up with purple sandpiper yet this year so decided I would have a look at Ness Point, Lowestoft. Ness Point is the most Easterly part of the UK and below is the most Easterly bit.

This is one area, where depending on the state of the tide purple sandpipers can be found along with turnstones and a variety of gulls.

Nothing in the first few yards so a walk was required along the sea defences. In the distance I could see some smallish waders stood up on a wall just above the breaking waves.

A closer inspection revealed my first purple sandpiper for the year coming in at bird number 138.

Purple Sandpipers above

Walking a bit further along I noticed a small group of waders which I guessed would be turnstone and they were.

Turnstones above.

When you are at Ness Point I always think it best to gaze along the sea defences or directly out to sea. Looking inland is not a pretty site as you stare at the rear end of the Birds Eye factory which is enough to put you off fish fingers for life.

Birds Eye Lowestoft

Other birds seen included 20 feral pigeons, 40 herring gulls, 8 cormorant, 3 magpie and 3 pied wagtail. With purple sandpiper under my belt I headed for home.

138 species of bird seen for the year and with all the farmland bird counts completed I had walked a total of 206.3 miles. I am well above target if I am to achieve 1000 miles in the year.

Until next time folks.

The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Counts is drawing to a close with just 3 days of counting left. Today I completed the fourth and final count within my own parish. Just a small area of land adjacent to a grassy air strip. Very little to report here with most birds being found in two flocks of gulls, which were all loafing on the grass. One flock held 25 black-headed gulls and they were keeping themselves very apart from another flock of 30 common gulls. We only tend to encounter the latter during the winter months and it is usually when they are feeding on the fields. I was lucky to catch sight of a pair of grey partridge, they all seem to be paired off now. It is only about 5 weeks ago that in this area I was seeing a covey of 10 birds, They would have been mum, dad and last year’s brood. They have been moved on now so mum and dad can get down to business and prepare for the 2026 breeding season.

21st February 2026

Today I started counting for my last farming company, over today and tomorrow I shall conduct 7 counts across various parts of the estate. The first count involved a check of some large horse paddocks, a pond and some arable. It was a reasonable morning weather wise and 4 skylarks were up singing away. 4 mallard flew up from the pond and 2 buzzards could be heard calling high above my head. 15 fieldfare were around the paddocks perched up in oak and ash trees as a red kite drifted over. Other birds included various finches, pigeons and carrion crows.

From here it was off to an old dairy farm. Suffolk is no longer regarded as a county for dairy farms but it is interesting that of the few which remain I count on two active ones. My farm today has not had cows on it for quite a few years now but the buildings and old slurry lagoons remain. Fieldfare again, 30 this time. I think I have recorded them on nearly every count site visited this year. 2 mallard on the pond and yet another red kite overhead. Quite a few blue tits were present in the hedgerows as was a wren, robin, yellowhammer and several blackbirds.

My third count for the day was at a digestate reservoir and it’s adjacent fields. As the demand for the digestate product has rocketed, so too has the need for a range of safe, innovative and flexible digestate storage options. Digestate, a by-product of anaerobic digestion, contains valuable nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which can be used as organic fertilizer to enhance soil health and crop growth. Last year I found a pair of yellow wagtails at this reservoir, I knew they would not be here today as they are summer visitors to the UK but what might the reservoir hold for the count? Well it was one bird and one bird only on the actually reservoir. As I walked up the bank and my figure broke the skyline I flushed a bird which was a new count bird for me and one which I always enjoy seeing. A green sandpiper took off as soon as it saw me. They usually call as they take off but this bird was silent. At a distance this small to medium wader looks black with a white rump. The black at closer range is finely speckled but the white rump is a diagnostic identification feature. Moving on to the fields there were 4 yellowhammer, a buzzard and just 1 fieldfare. Otherwise it was fairly quiet.

22nd February 2026

My final day of counting and the first stop off was around a few farm buildings and fields. 50 fieldfares in the hedgerows was a good start to the day.

Fieldfare

There was a commotion when a sparrowhawk whizzed over the hedge, blackbirds and blue tits began calling then a coal tit came into view which I had previously not spotted. Further along the field yellowhammers could be heard singing their ‘Little bit of bread and no cheese’ song. A red kite flew over as I left this count area and went on to my second for the morning.

This count site contains a small area of woodland and it showed with the presence of more birds. 12 blue tits and 3 great tits were present along with 7 blackbirds and 9 chaffinch. Sparrowhawk again. The previous bird was a large female, this one was a smaller male. A great spotted woodpecker could be heard drumming and a green woodpecker was yaffling. Spring is in the air. Walking along a hedgerow I flushed a grey partridge, it called as it flew off across the field. A small flock of yellowhammers were in the hedge and occasionally flying down to feed in a cover crop, I counted 17 birds along with a greenfinch and 9 chaffinch.

A recently cleared pond. This will allow more sunlight in which will be beneficial for wildlife.

My final two counts were quite close together and included fields, hedgerows, woodland and two small reservoirs. 13 mallard and a moorhen were on the reservoirs. Plenty of wood pigeons and stock doves a common buzzard and a raven added to the list. No shortage of blue and great tits in the woodland and another drumming great spotted woodpecker.

Great spotted Woodpecker

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable counting period despite the grotty weather. I have counted on 63 sites across 19 different farms.

24th February 2026

Big Farmland Bird Count over so it was time to have a day out with my birding pal David. He had contacted me the day before and said he fancied a challenge. He wanted to go North over the border into Norfolk and the challenge was to reach 100 different species of birds seen and or heard during the day.

I arrived at David’s at 07:30 and he had already clocked up 4 species. I was on the back foot and had some catching up to do. As we pulled out of David’s drive a red kite flew low over the house opposite. David did spot it (we have jointly started” but not the pied wagtail I saw on a TV aerial. Our first stop off was Knettishall Heath, this is a Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve. If we were lucky we should hear singing woodlark. En route we both saw red-legged partridge and rook. We pulled up on the heath and within a couple of minutes we both heard a singing woodlark, success. It was now off to Lynford Arboretum near Mundford, target birds here were hawfinch, crossbill, and brambling.

The arboretum is managed by Forest England so as would be expected there are acres of pine factory plus a couple of large lakes and an arboretum. It was not long before we heard our first nuthatch.

Nuthatch, Image courtesy of David T.

We could hear several goldcrests but it took us a while to spot one. There were stock doves singing, robins, mistle thrush, dunnock, blue and great tits. Surprisingly no coal tits. We went to an area known as the tunnel, brambling and hawfinch often come down here to feed and drink. No hawfinch today but we did see 2 brambling. Another fairly reliable site for hawfinch at Lynford is a paddock over the bridge near the hall lake. We arrived and began scanning tree tops and the ground. Redwing, blackbirds, wood pigeon and siskin. Our list was growing. A buzzard flew over then 3 birds which looked very hopeful flew into a hornbeam tree. They stayed for just a short while but sufficiently long enough to gain an id. Hawfinch, yes!

The tunnel

Hawfinch, Image courtesy of David T.

Leaving the paddock David said we were close to an area where he once found a roosting tawny owl. We could not find an owl, but.

I used to be a mallard but now I pretend to be an owl.

We headed off for the large lakes in the hope of tufted duck and great crested grebe. At the first lake we did see couple of tufted duck then a guy who was already there said “there’s an otter out there” we looked but could not see anything then I spotted a ‘v’ shape of ripples along the surface like something was swimming just underneath. Well something was swimming just under the surface and up it popped, wow, a great sighting as neither David nor I had seen otter the previous year at all. Hitting the 100 slipped to the sideline for a short while as we stood and watched the otter until it went under the surface again and out of view.

Onwards to the other lake, where we had great crested and little grebe, tufted duck and cormorant. We had done very well at Lynford so our next stop off was a site in the Brecks which is reliable for goshawk. Goshawks are rather like a large version of a sparrowhawk but with subtle differences. Nationally they are persecuted so I shall not name this site. We arrived to find two other birders there, they had told us they had just been watching a goshawk but it had flown out of view. Well how many times have we heard that? A classic comment is “ It was here 20 minutes ago”. We waited as it is display season for goshawks so we thought we should have an appearance before not too long. One of the guys said he had a crossbill in his scope and offered us the opportunity to have a look. This was great as we had missed out on this species at Lynford. What a lovely bird it was and while I looked at the crossbill I could hear singing sky and woodlarks close by. Scanning over the tops of the distant pines I spotted a raptor which was gaining height but at the same time flying towards us. “This looks hopeful” I called and put everyone on to it. Higher and closer it came, Everyone agreed it was a goshawk, wait, there is a second bird coming in from the left. Excitement all around, we had two birds which circled together for a short while before going off on the own separate ways. A sparrowhawk now came into view and we heard pied wagtails behind us. Time to move on to Hunstanton. Because of its cliffs Hunstanton is the only place in East Anglia where fulmars nest. After leaving at the end of the breeding season early returning birds can be seen from the very end of December or beginning of January so we were hopeful we would be able to add them to our rapidly growing list today. Sure enough we had not been on the cliff tops long before we saw a couple gliding by on their stiff wings.

Fulmar (not a Hunstanton Fulmar)

Often when the tide is in you can see birds like eider or red-breasted merganser on the sea but not today. Herring gulls a plenty and house sparrows around the lighthouse.

Hunstanton lighthouse

Looking ahead on the beach we could see what looked like a large oil slick, fortunately it was not a slick, we knew what it really was so had to go for a closer look and tick another new bird.

A distant oil slick on the waters edge (no not really), just a few hundred oystercatchers.

Our next planned stop off was RSPB Titchwell, we knew we would be able to add a good number of birds here. One of our first was a very good addition and it came in the form of water rail. It was skulking in a ditch by the edge of the path leading down to the beach. They can often be found here.

As it was hidden for the most part this was the best I could do.

Trust me it is a water rail.

The scrapes can vary on a daily basis and even by the minute as to what you might find, sometimes very little and sometimes birds by the thousands.

This particular area of water was lacking but the other side had plenty of birds.

Brent geese.

Brents and greylag on the salt marsh

Again not a brilliant shot but seeing a greater scaup was a super addition for the day.

Greater Scaup

From here we moved to the beach for waders.

David taking an easy option for sea watching.

We counted 10 red-breasted merganser on the sea and I located 1 slavonian grebe and a common scoter. Despite his best efforts David didn’t see either. That will teach him to sit down on the job!!.

Sanderling, bar-tailed godwit, ringed plover, dunlin the birds kept coming in. After a while we started to walk back past the scrapes and reed beds.

A camera shy redshank.

Lapwing and golden plover came in and landed.

Lapwing

Touchdown for golden plover.

In the distance I spotted a great white egret. It wasn’t until I returned home and checked my photos I noticed it had caught lunch.

It was either a frog or toad.

We had clocked up 45 species at Titchwell alone so we were doing very well indeed. In addition to the Brent geese there were about 300 pink footed geese, we knew we would not be seeing these for too much longer as many had already departed for their breeding grounds. Still scanning the scrapes we had a few avocet, another ringed plover and plenty of dunlin.

There were gulls a plenty, with lots of black-headed and a few herring gulls. Careful scanning and we soon had 4 mediterranean gulls in full breeding plumage. They are easier to spot now and tell apart from the black headed as they have jet black heads, a blood red bill and red legs. They often give their presence away as they meow a bit like a cat. Well I think it sounds like a cat.

On the salt marsh we had meadow pipit, a couple of linnet and goldfinch and then behind us in the reeds we heard the familiar ping, ping, contact notes of bearded tits. We turned to see 2 birds disappear deep into the reeds.

Having collected a good few birds at Titchwell it was time to move along the coast a bit further and this time our next stop off was to be Holkham. There had been recent reports of both greater white-fronted and bean geese on the freshwater marsh so we moved to a little gateway pull in from the road and set up our scopes. 100 greylags, shelduck, 500 wigeon and at least 200 lapwing. Looking for the beans and whitefronts was going to be a bit like opening a ‘Where’s Wally” book. Every goose had to be checked and they were spread out over the whole marsh. The marsh is not short of its little humps and hollows so even when you have checked you have to check again and again because when you first sweep across with your scope they could be hidden from view, perhaps have their backs to you or just heads down grazing. Despite scanning back and forth neither of us could find a bean goose but we did manage 6 greater white-fronted geese.

Looking towards another depression in the marsh we spotted 4 large, gleaming white birds with the most impressive head plumes. Spoonbill in breeding plumage. Several pairs have been breeding here for a few years at Holkham. David and I often comment on how it is amazing that on a day out birding on the Norfolk coast now you can often see great white, little and cattle egret, spoonbill and glossy ibis all on the same day.

Pulling on to Lady Annes Drive we collected our first stonechat for the day. Everything else, whilst fantastic to see and hear were repeats on our earlier encounters. OK, where next? Wells-next -Sea was close and we might see the long staying great northern diver or divers as 2 were now being seen quite regularly just in front of the lifeboat station. Wells it was then.

The channel at Wells-next-Sea, in front of the Lifeboat Station.

The divers were not playing today. We had 50 oystercatchers, 30 bar-tailed godwit, a few redshank, 300 knot, 50 herring and 4 great black-backed gulls and a lone chaffinch. With nothing else to add and time now really ticking away we decided to make our last call for the day just around the corner at North Point Pools.

More shelduck, piping teal, mallard, another water rail squealing then we heard a grey partridge. Dusk is good time to hear grey partridge and both sexes sing if you can call it a song. Well we are not talking nightingale standards here but if you are a grey partridge, the sound of a rusty opening or closing barn door or rusty pub sign gently swinging in the wind must sound like heaven.

David called our last joint bird for the day when he spotted a distant hunting barn owl over the marsh. We watched the ghostly white figure going back and forth along the hedgerows and over the marsh for some time. I took my eyes off it to check for incoming glossy ibis which were not incoming and David who was still watching the barn owl added his last bird for the day. As it was quartering over the marsh the owl flushed a common snipe out of the vegetation and I missed it, David saw it as it flew up and away.

I haven’t listed every bird encountered along the way. We each had a few birds which the other one missed so how did we do on our quest for 100 in a day. David reached the grand total of 100 exactly and I managed 103 so an impressive day all around.

Until next time folks.

Actually I did not conduct any farmland counts today as otherwise engaged.

Our ( I call them our) 6 Roe Deer were in the field behind home again this morning. When we first moved into the village and for what seemed like a long time we regularly had 5 in the fields behind us and they earned the nickname locally ‘The Gang of Five’. One did eventually go missing then over time they all moved on. That was probably around 2011-2013. Obviously not the same group today but a great observation to start the day, so long as they are in the field and not our garden. I have had to cover our crocus row up in the front garden to stop them from being nibbled by muntjac deer. Apart from the deer it was a fairly quiet morning on the birding front and nothing too fantastic to report.

Roe Deer

Anti Muntjac defence system.

It does work and the nectar is available for bees like this Buff-tailed Bumblebee.

I did go out again this evening with Lynda and my birding pal David on an owl searching session. Much quieter than last time. Only one call from 8 stops and it was an alarm call again made by a long-eared owl. It was a sound David had never heard before. It is disappointing that we are not hearing singing males. Next time perhaps.

17th February 2026
A fairly early start this morning with three counts to carry out on a large estate and two on another farm nearby.

The first stop off had a reasonable range of birds but no large numbers despite some cover crops and strategically placed feeders. The morning was damp and very cold, like so many to date this month. First job get well wrapped up before setting off around part of the farm. Several stock doves were perched on the old pig buildings with a couple singing. Adding to the dove orchestra was a wood pigeon and a couple of collared doves. Leaving the farmyard and heading off around some of the fields and hedgerows I heard singing skylarks. Always a joy to hear these and I have heard them on most farms I have visited so far in this counting period.

One bird which I am seeing on all farms and in reasonable numbers is the blue tit sometimes they are calling away from the top of a hedge and occasionally they seem to escort me as I walk along the hedge. This I have to be mindful of so as to avoid duplicate counting. This morning I confidently counted 8 birds plus 3 of their larger cousin the great tit. As I returned to my car I noticed activity around a feeder in a small copse. 6 chaffinch, 3 goldfinch and 3 yellowhammer. Off to the next area.

My next stop off was close to the village of Cotton in Suffolk. I was a little concerned about this site because access is along a rough track and with all the rain we have had I was wondering how far I might have to actually walk to reach the site. I made it fortunately without having to be pulled off. Puddles, puddles everywhere and the stream running alongside my counting area was high and running like a torrent. A cormorant flew over and I heard the mewing of buzzards. Walking through the count area I flushed a snipe, my first for this site but no surprises really given the wet soggy grassland I was walking through. When they are flushed they make an abrupt call as they take to the air. Collins guide refers to it as sounding like a scraping catch or to a rubber boot being pulled out of soft mud, I agree with that. I am pulling my wellies out of too much soft mud. It is hard going squelching across the high Suffolk Claylands.

Several tits, more singing skylarks, mallard, robins and blackbirds. Now time to move on. Depending on the location I spend between 30 minutes to an hour or so and I have quite a few to do today. The birds will become less vocal as the morning edges closer to lunch time.

At my third site for the morning I was walking along the field side which runs parallel with a ditch when I noticed a chap walking towards me with his dog but on the other side of the ditch, actually on a public footpath. Next time I looked he had jumped the ditch and was walking towards me. I did wonder what he was up to. I knew he wasn’t hare coursing as he was alone and had a labrador and not greyhounds. We had an incident very close to here recently when the police chased some hare coursers who drove off and joined the busy A14 driving the wrong way along the carriageway (idiots). Fortunately they were caught. Apparently there is big international money paid online for betting and the Chinese for some reason are really into English hare coursing. Any way this guy approached and shouted “Hello Andrew” (there you now know I am called Andrew Burhinus, after all and not Rumpelstiltskin, lol). It was the owner of the farm. We stopped and had a long chat about all manner of things including hare coursing, wildlife etc.

I am always running on automatic so whilst we were chatting I was busy clocking birds, singing skylarks, noisy rooks calling from a nearby rookery, a calling carrion crow and much more. We bid our farewells and I continued counting. A Red Kite drifted over on silent wings.

Red Kite

It was time to move on yet again.

My next farm, still owned by the farmer I had just been chatting to is an active pig farm with lots of arable fields around. Last year when I counted here I had a fly over peregrine falcon. I wonder what today might reveal?

Wrens, dunnock, pied wagtails and robins around the farm buildings, which I soon left behind as I headed out to the surrounding fields. I soon flushed 3 grey partridge and later 2 red-legged partridge. I spotted a field ahead of me which was down to a countryside stewardship mix for farmland birds. They contain a mix of plants which will seed and provide food for our farmland birds during the winter months. They do act as a double whammy because in order to grow the seeds they have to be pollinated so are used by a range of pollinating insects during the summer. Pollination does not stop with bees. Other pollinators include moths, and even wasps. Yes even wasps a much under appreciated insect. I would say hated actually but not by me or , which is a huge shame as they are a farmers and gardeners most beneficial insects catching their way through loads of harmful creatures to feed their young. (Learn to Love a Wasp).

Pied Wagtail

I stood and watched the crop, 5 pheasants were not too impressed by me disturbing their breakfast session, they called and flew off. This in turn did cause some birds which had been deep inside the crop and out of view to take off and fly around twittering. A field tip for you, if this happens be prepared to have a closer look around. If you are on a marsh and all the ducks and waders take off, look skywards there will likely be a bird of prey flying over. Happenings such as this could enable you to add to your birding list for the day. The pheasants did just that for me this morning. 3 yellowhammers, 30 chaffinch and a reed bunting. All scarce farmland birds but these cover crops really are doing their job. It is an important field skill to get to know your wildlife. They are pretty to look at but also very interesting in their habits and behaviour.

A great cover strip (above) and plenty of hedges and trees for the birds to perch in. The grassy headland is also a valuable habitat for voles which in turn attracts owls.

My visit concluded here with a drumming great spotted woodpecker, singing song thrush, blackbirds and 10 singing skylarks.

A short drive to my next location and this time another farm cluster member. Just a small area here so 30 minutes will easy cover it. There are some farm buildings, fields, hedgerows and a small patch of woodland. All in all this was rather quiet. You can’t expect flocks on every farm. 66 wood pigeon came in as the most abundant species here then everything else came in as singles. It is now 11:40 though and early morning resident songsters are having a rest. Buzzard, skylark, wren, fieldfare and blue tit. here. Very quiet.

On to the final call of the day and more field walking. No buildings here other than a few adjacent cottages, just hedges, ditches and a small pond. Still skylark singing and another buzzard calling. This one flew right over me offering good views of its plumage. It is amazing how the plumages of different common buzzards can vary. This often catches the unwary birdwatcher out as some can be quite pale. Not the birdwatchers, the buzzards.

There was just 1 chaffinch here in a hedgerow and 2 stock doves were singing close by. Robin, blackbird and great tits were present as well as the ever abundant wood pigeon with 19 of these counted.

Robin

Great Tit

18th February 2026

5 counts to do this morning. It is much colder than of late and really a horrible morning. I parked up and set off at 07:45. Immediately something does not feel quite right in Burhinus’s body. My back aches and I have radiating sciatica along my thighs, this is painful, very painful indeed. I know it can be very easy to pull your back, maybe just getting out of bed or even bending to put your socks on but I coudnt’t remember anything like this happening and causing a pull or twist. When I thought about it I had walked nearly every day in wellies for the last two weeks and I am now not used to it. I had averaged just over 4.5 miles each day, sometimes swishing about in flood water or twisting and slipping on thick squelchy clay. I am sure this is what had caused my pain. Needless to say when I returned home and still in pain I developed severe ear ache as Mrs Burhinus gave me grief for pushing myself and doing too much.

Anyway being the determined, nay, stubborn coot that I am, I gingerly persevered and continued walking but at a much slower pace. Plenty of woodpigeon on this first count with 100 to add to the list. Plenty of tits with 8 blue and 3 great along the hedgerows. 10 blackbirds, 2 song thrush and 2 fieldfare contributed to the thrush count. Around the field edges were linnets, yellowhammer and a few chaffinch. It was so cold the birds were really not playing. Hardly any song at all this morning.

The second count was pretty much the same but I did hear the yaffle call of a green woodpecker. It was off to the third site and this time there were more birds but I was walking around a cover crop. 1 reed bunting, 20 yellowhammer, 60 linnet and 30 chaffinch. 100 fieldfare were in the hedges and flying over. The only birds singing were 2 skylark.

My third count for the morning was around a field called Woods, aptly titled as it is in-between to sections of woodland so I attempted to add to the list by spending some time in the woods. It paid off as in the second I flushed a woodcock. A great addition to my list and a bird which is rarely seen during the winter unless you happen to flush one. A different matter during the late spring though if you are in the correct habitat ( forest clearings). The males fly over making squeaking and pig like grunting noises. this is called roding, they are calling out their territory and hopefully attracting a mate.

The woods in the distance.

When out birding I am always on the lookout for other flora and fauna. My inquisitive mind doesn’t let me switch off. It does mean I am on high alert all the time but I do enjoy it. Years of practice have taught me to recognise a lot of bird calls and song, this frees up time to look downwards for plants and other things. As I walked through one of the woods I noticed a strange like gel on some decaying wood. This was a new fungi for me and it turned out it was called Crystal Brains.

Crystal Brains

It is more common in the south of the country and can be found on fallen broad-leaved trees.

My final count for the morning was very close by but only yielded small numbers of birds. 1 grey partridge, 1 linnet, a few blackbirds, 1 jay, 6 blue tit, 1 long-tailed tit and a jay. Time to go home. The rest of the day was spent for the most part on my back trying to rest and ease the pain.

19th February 2026

The night was not the best night I have had but I struggled to rise and go out to do just 1 count. My back was tight but not as painful even though my hamstrings were painful. Fool that I am, off I went to a farm which is not part of my cluster and in Norfolk rather than Suffolk.

It was another cold, damp and breezy morning. This farm is very interesting as it has a series of really old wet meadows which have not received any chemical input, probably ever. They do flood but when dry are occasionally grazed by sheep.

Parts of the meadows have reed and sedge growing, an indicator of how wet it is.

Last year the landowner had 3 small scrapes created which, once established should add to the biodiversity value of the area. The next possible project is the creation of leaky dams.

Walking from the farmyard to the meadows I flushed a grey partridge. A skylark was singing and in the distance I heard a green woodpecker. A very noisy jay also wanted me to know it was around. Actually they often call to let other birds and wildlife know that someone is around, sort of giving them the heads up that potential danger is just around the corner. This loud calling behaviour gave them their country name of ‘policeman of the woods’

On the meadows I had hoped to perhaps flush some snipe or even a jack snipe but no luck today. A couple of moorhen called and I heard a reed bunting calling from the top of a sallow. During the walk I spotted 3 reed buntings in total. 20 rooks were on one of the arable fields and in the tree lined ditches were some carrion crows.

The water course was too full to cross, especially as the flimsy plank was without a handrail and was slimy because it was so wet. Now you can imagine what Mrs Burhinus would have had to say if I had to report that I had fallen in. Even I know my limits honest.

Walking back up the track towards the farmyard I had a few dunnocks, wrens and robins.

Time for home and with the forecast of a wet day coming it was time to rest and hopefully recover.

More bird counts to follow then a big day birding, going for a ton.

Until next time folks.

8th February 2026

Today I am on an estate which has only recently joined our farm cluster, it is a large estate with a range of interesting habitats so it will enable me to complete several counts across the area. 13 in total.

My first count on the estate this morning is in an area of mixed woodland surrounded by arable fields all with wide conservation headlands. Despite the grotty weather birds are getting on with courtship as Spring is on its way and they cannot wait. As I walk around the wood which is very wet I hear singing robins, stock dove, blue tit, song thrush, coal tit, chaffinch, wren and nuthatch. There are also 2 great spotted woodpeckers drumming away. This is a joy, the real beginnings of a full on dawn chorus. Just wait until the summer migrants arrive to add to the assembly.

Great spotted Woodpecker

If you are thinking of getting to grips with bird song then now is the time to start. I can highly recommend listening to Shriek of the week . A fantastic explanation of what you should be listening for and what it sounds like. I also mentioned the xeno canto website last week and of course the ever popular app Merlin. I would advise that you do try to get to grips with song (and calls) without relying on Merlin too much though. It is much more satisfying to have nailed it yourself. Plus Merlin is still not 100% accurate but it is very good.

From the wood I drove to my next location on the farm and set off walking again. Mistle thrush singing this time in addition to 2 song thrushes. What an excellent opportunity to stand and listen to both thrushes singing and compare the two songs. Mistle thrush is quite strong, forceful even and not anywhere near as repetitive as its cousin the song thrush. There were also 4 skylarks singing here and several great tits with the teacher, teacher song. On the edge of one of the fields I walked along I counted 50 yellowhammers. They were feeding in a countryside stewardship strip on a mix of seeds. They took it in turns many were feeding whilst a few were perched on the tree tops on the side of the track, these were no doubt watching for sparrowhawks. They kept rotating duties.

Yellowhammer

Some of the males are now looking stunning and are singing away, ‘Little bit of bread and no cheese’

Next site and this time it was a series of fields which have been put down to grass, on the edge of one is a small copse with a wet area. Fewer yellowhammer here but then there are no seed strips for them. 30 Fieldfare in the hedge a flyover kestrel and buzzard. I walked alongside the pool in the copse and flushed a bird I was actually expecting in the wood where I walked first. Sounds from rapidly beating wings but not a call at all as the bird slipped away and out of sight. My bird was a woodcock, a rather secretive wading bird. Large numbers cross the North Sea every winter to stay with us but they can often go unnoticed as they are quite secretive and blend in very well on a floor of leaves.

Counting continued at several more sites across the estate then I stopped at another stewardship seed field behind the farmhouse. The field and hedges here were packed. 40 chaffinches, 15 linnet, thrushes, several greenfinches a treecreeper in the trees and a nuthatch. Lots of rooks and jackdaws to add to the chatter.

Jackdaw

A couple more spots to count then it was lunchtime and the end of counting for today.

9th February 2026

Up early and back to the same estate to continue counting. Today I started by walking some grassy meadows and around some old military mounds. A lot of this estate is on what was a large military base during the war so lots of concrete access roads and old wartime buildings.

I flushed a covey of red-legged partridge, about 12 birds. More linnets here, a few goldfinch and some mallard which were loafing on the wet grass. A buzzard called then woody woodpecker struck up, drumming in a nearby tree. I reached a rather thick copse where there were several blue and great tits and a sparrowhawk left its perch and glided through the scrub. I am not sure who was most surprised me or the sparrowhawk. It did not go too far away as I saw it again a short while later, a large female. I am spending anywhere from 30 minutes to just over an hour at each counting site depending on numbers of birds to count and the walking conditions. This year, as previously mentioned in an earlier post there is a lot of ground water and wellies are the order of the day.