11/02/2018. Norfolk with Marcus Nash 3/3

Sunday 11 February 2018

Our final day, this time in the Brecks, turned out to be even more eventful than either of the others.  The weather forecast was the best of the three days, and even though it was perhaps a little cloudier than we were expecting, it was largely dry and there were some nice bright spells particularly in the morning.

Goshawks

At Cockley Cley, we soon found our target species.  

• In fact, we couldn't get out of the car quick enough as the first Goshawk was showing well.  A young female, big and bulky, brown above and orange-tinged below, it was circling just above the trees. We all jumped out and had a good look at it before it disappeared back over the tops. 

Over the next hour or so, we were rarely without a Goshawk up in the air.  We reckoned on at least 5 birds with well over 10 sightings.

• The best moment of all was when an adult female Goshawk came slowly across over the edge of the trees in front of us. It was a nice flyby and gave us a great look at it, but halfway across it suddenly turned towards us and dropped down in front of the trees. It was flapping powerfully now, with purpose. Ahead of it, a male Pheasant was strutting in the field with its back to the trees, oblivious. The Pheasant realised just in time, panicked and ran towards a cover strip in the middle of the field. It dived in, the Goshawk turning sharply and looking to follow it, but decided against it at the last minute. Wow!

Goshawk
courtesy of Marcus Nash

• There were a few other raptors up too this morning. A Red Kite drifted lazily over the trees. Several Buzzards circled up, as did a couple of distant Kestrels. A Sparrowhawk flew across, much smaller than the Goshawks and with bursts of much faster flapping flight.

Woodlarks

It had clouded over, so we decided to drive to a nearby site to look for Woodlarks.  

• It wasn't long before we heard one and then we saw it flying.  
• We managed to get some excellent views of up to 4 birds, in the top of a tree and on the ground. 

Woodlark
courtesy of Marcus Nash

Parrot Crossbills

There has been a flock of Parrot Crossbills around the Santon Downham area since November last year, but they can be very elusive. As specialised pine cone feeders, they have lots of trees to choose from here – Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in the UK! However, they need to drink regularly and will sometimes come in to the same puddles for water. After disappearing for a few days, they had been seen coming to drink yesterday at one of the car parks, so we thought we would have a go at catching up with them.

When we arrived at the rough forestry car park, there were a few people standing around looking down at the muddy puddles. They told us the Parrot Crossbills had been seen coming to drink earlier, which was definitely a good start. We drove round to one of their other favoured areas nearby, but there was no sign of them there. However, we did bump into someone we knew who told us he had seen the Parrot Crossbills coming to drink over an hour before. That meant they were just about due to come back for more, so we headed straight back to the first car park to await them.

• It seemed an opportune moment for an early lunch, while we waited for them to appear. We hadn’t even finished unpacking the sandwiches before we heard the Parrot Crossbills calling and turned to see them landing in the top of the oak trees just across the road. We got them in the scope, as they perched there calling quietly, working up the courage to come down to drink. There were at least 15 of them.

Parrot Crossbills – perched in the trees before coming down to drink
courtesy of Marcus Nash

Parrot Crossbills – great views as they came down to drink in the car park

courtesy of Marcus Nash

Parrot Crossbills are very scarce visitors here. Breeding mainly from Scandinavia across into Russia (with smaller numbers in Scotland too), like other crossbills they are an irruptive species, moving south and west in response to any shortage of cones in their home range, but rarely making it as far as southern England. So it is a real treat to see them here, and to see them so well.

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers

Things had gone so well that we were ahead of schedule so we decided to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers along the woods by the Little Ouse river.  This was to be our only disappointment - a combination of wrong time of day, the chilly weather and the presence of numerous walkers and dog walkers made this a long shot. 

Hawfinches

We headed round to Lynford Arboretum for the rest of the afternoon. Hawfinch was our main target here and as it was cool and cloudy now, we decided to head straight down to the paddocks. 

• We were quickly rewarded with a distant Hawfinch in the fir trees at the back, so we made our round for a closer look. It was perched on the edge of the trees, so we got a much better view of it.
• A second Hawfinch flew in and landed in the tree next to it, the two of them staying there together for several minutes before dropping back into the trees. 
  

Hawfinch – good views perched in the edge of the firs
courtesy of Marcus Nash

Firecrest

• It was only as we were getting into the car at the arboretum that we heard a Firecrest call from the trees nearby. It flew across and disappeared into some dense young firs, still calling. We walked over and could just see it flitting around on the edge of the trees, before it disappeared in deeper, out of view.

Starling Murmeration

• As we drove back north to pick up my Mondeo at Swaffham, we could see thousands and thousands of Starlings whirling over the town. It was quite a spectacle. 

There has been a murmuration here for the last couple of winters, and numbers really start to grow at this time of year, presumably as birds start to make their way back towards the continent. 

• We stopped in the market place and watched them for a while, whirling round overhead. They were quite spread out this evening, but it was still amazing to watch them all, there must have been at least 30,000 birds!

Starlings – part of a huge murmuration over Swaffham this evening
courtesy of Marcus Nash

The Starlings were a nice way to round off our three days. It had been very exciting stuff, the best of late winter in the North Norfolk, the Broads and the Brecks. We had seen some great birds (well over 100), lots of great moments and good company too.