I had a five day break this easter. It started in a really big way on Good Friday.
I got up early and headed off to Fairlands Valley, arriving just after eight. Being bright and sunny (but a bit chilly) there were decent numbers of singing Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. On the way up, I had had a chat with a dog walker about camera gear and thought I'd seen a Raven go over west, and was relieved to see one drift west over the balancing pond. I thought it would be the highlight of the day, being my first for the park, and the first local bird this year.
Approaching nine, I had covered Environmental and Millennium Lakes when I bumped into Tony Hukin, so we swapped notes-he had seen the Raven too. Peter Clarke approached us and asked if we had seen the large bird on the marina lamp post which he thought was a young Heron. We walked round to get a view and were stunned to see the unmistakable silhouette of a White Stork!
I took a few snaps and moved to get a better view, and it just sat there not more than 15 yards away unconcerned by the passing dog walkers runners and so on. Having got very good views we were able to establish that it was not bearing any ring we put the news out and it wasn't long before the first locals arrived. The Stork stayed for nearly an hour with wing stretching and the occasional bill clatter until it suddenly took of, and after circling a bit drifted south where, over the Glaxo site the local Buzzard and gulls took offence and then it slowly moved west and appeared to turn north before we finally lost it behind Monks Wood. I had a nice bottle to celebrate with my lunch!
On Saturday Colin came over and we headed off to the Brecks. It was misty locally but cleared to a nice but rather cold sunrise. Unfortunately as the day progressed it gradually got cloudier and duller but we had a pretty good day out.
First stop was Santon Downham where we headed west along the river to try and locate the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. We met someone who had seen one at first light but nothing over the next two hours. Undaunted we continued on. There were several drumming Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, singing Nuthatches and Marsh Tits (sadly the Willow Tits were lost years ago). To my delight I found an otter that gave us fantastic views so I spent a while trying to get good images-not easy as it spent most of the time underwater but came out onto a log for a bit. A bit further on we stood on the bank and watched another which then climbed up the bank towards us, but unfortunately far too close for the camera!
We spent around an hour hoping to get the Woodpecker without success and returned to the road, finding several Mandarins, and a nice flock of Redpolls.
After this we drove up to the Cockley Cley watchpoint stopping off a bit to the south first. Here we could hear several Woodlarks singing in the pines above our heads but couldn't see any, but fortunately one showed really well at the watchpoint.
While there were a few birds of prey up-Kites and Buzzards, the conditions were not ideal for Goshawks. A bit late for displaying birds obviously, but we are often successful in seeing one.
A brief stop at Weeting failed to locate Stone Curlews and then we finished the day at Lakenheath. By now the wind had picked up and it had got rather cloudy. The drake Garganey showed well but distantly, several Stonechat were along the river and after a bit of a wait at the viewpoint I thought I could hear a Bittern booming behind me but dismissed it as the wind until dropping down to the shelter of the reeds when it was obvious there was a bird in front of us. Invisible of course, but the pings and brief views of Bearded Tits were a nice compensation.
All in all a great start to the holiday.
