Ive been a bit tardy with the writing this week, and I haven't even got round to getting the photos off the camera yet, so they will have to follow later.
On Saturday I took Mum over to see Sarah and Ed as it was the day of the Barkway Fair. The forecast was a bit indifferent and we had quite a bit of it over the course of the day. I drove up in torrential rain, which had pretty much finished well before we reached Royston and it wasn't too bad by the time we arrived. I had a quick look round the garden with Sarah, unloaded the car which basically meant handing over lots of plants (which she reciprocated later) and then took her to the fair, leaving Mum and Ed to have a rest.
The fair is basically an excuse for Sarah and I to do a bit of plant hunting for the garden as there are usually a few stall there, but this year we were rather restrained and I only ended up with a few replacements for things that I have lost over recent winters. The local Mayfly Cider company was there (highly recommended) so naturally I bought some, and a nice bonus was the Bancaster Brewery stall with a large selection of beers from Norfolk, which looked very tempting so four bottles came home with me.
As mentioned earlier we had a lot of weather. While it was (briefly) sunny and warm when we got there, short showers then arrived which made the drive out of the field a bit interesting-and we were one of the early leavers. I suspect it got very muddy and slippery in the afternoon. Heavy hail showers later couldn't have helped. However in between there were brighter spells. Sarah has had regular Holly Blues and I saw my first of the year that afternoon, plus she appears to have a resident Blackcap in the garden, while the local Swallows seem to be back in force.
Sunday was a lot better regarding weather, and Colin and I spent the day on the Norfolk coast. I was sunny all day, though there was a bit of a cool north easterly.
We stopped first at Chosely to have a look at the Dotterel in the field south of the barns. Numbers had been building over the previous couple of days with up to 27 on Sunday. However, I went through the flock several times and each count came to 21. Not sure if Ive ever seen so many in one place before. Nearby a singing Corn Bunting and the first of many Lesser Whitethroats was a nice accompaniment.
Titchwell was rather busy as a Great Reed Warbler had been found earlier in the morning. I was hoping it would be good here, and while I managed 78 species in 2-3 hours there was lot we missed. The real problem was the lack of waders. Plenty of Avocets of course, and the saline lagoon behind the beach had the usual gathering of Grey Plover, Turnstone and Oystercatcher, but that was about it. A handful of Dunlin and Black Tailed Godwits, singles of Redshank, Curlew and Lapwing (!), but where were the Ruff, Spotted Redshanks, Knot etc that I was expecting? Apparently small numbers have been going through early in the morning and not staying.
I remember when Mediterranean Gull was a bit special here, and something of a highlight, so the 150+ now nesting feels a bit strange. Rather like Little Egret and Red Kite here in Herts I suppose.
Nice to see a female Bearded Tit with young, with many others pinging away in the reeds, and having failed to go out during last years hot summer, my first Sandwich and Little Terns in two years. I went through them, and the gulls hoping for Arctic Tern and Little Gull (singles were apparently there) but I couldn't find them. I did find a wall Brown, so my butterfly list was improving.
Naturally we had to go for the Great Reed so made our way through the Fen Trail, picking up our first Azure Damselfly. The warbler proved to be very elusive and kept low in the scrub so most of the assembled crowd never saw it. There were a few brief snatches of song and the odd call now and again. Eventually a few photos surfaced, but it was a rather disappointing bird-they are usually loud and showy. Unfortunately, with it being by the Turtle Dove feeding station we never saw the doves either as they were generally staying away while the crowd was present.
In the afternoon we went to Burnham Overy. As it turned out, the Purple Heron that had been around for three weeks seemed to have departed, and a feeding Spoonbill was all we could find (not too hard as the breeding colony isn't all that far from here). More wall Browns, a Green Hairstreak, lots of Orange Tips and a Large Red Damselfly meant i wasn't a wasted walk.
We called in at Weeting on the way home. Luckily it didn't take long for one of the nesting Stone Curlew to appear. This year the East Hide is favoured, but it sounds like there are only a couple of pairs this year, and this nest is the only one on view. We were concerned by the hight of the turf, and the many pine seedlings and it appears that the rabbit population has been decimated, which may prove problematic later in the year as the vegetation grows. Lots of Brimstones here, and a pair of Small Coppers was handy-I didn't see many last year, and none in spring.
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