06/03/2020 Marcus Nash Winter Tour Day 1/3

06/03/2020   Marcus Nash Winter Tour - Day1/3

A welcome return visit to Norfolk for another tour with Marcus Nash. 

We were lucky with the weather, mostly bright with sunny intervals and a light N wind, although there was a chill in the air.

We spent the first day down in The Brecks targeting lesser spotted woodpecker.  Things didn't quite go to plan and we dipped on the woodpecker but we picked up a couple of surprise birds and some welcome additions to the year list.


As we arrived at Santon Downham, the small crowd gathered on the bank of the Little Ouse told us that there had been no sign of the woodpecker for at least 1 1/2 hours. We stood with them for a while, but with nothing doing here, we decided to walk on a little further.

• Marcus heard the distinctive 'kee,kee,kee' call of a lesser spotted woodpecker from deeper in the trees. We stopped and scanned but couldn't see anything.  While we were listening to try to hear it again we received a message to say that it had flown in back where we had been standing earlier. We hurried back, but they had lost sight of it, and then next thing we knew it flew out of the tree tops and over our heads, disappearing into the sun across the river.

 

• There had been a firecrest in the churchyard earlier. We  stopped to talk to some locals who were also looking for it when we saw a small bird fly in to the sunny edge of trees. The firecrest! It was low down in a box bush, at about eye level, and gave some great views as it flitted in and out of the branches. The light was perfect too and its bright golden yellow crown stripe was shining in the sun.  It then flew across and landed in a conifer in the corner of the churchyard closest to us. We could see the striking black and white striped face pattern which distinguishes it from its close cousin, the goldcrest.



courtesy of Marcus Nash

We made our way round to Brandon for lunch. There were lots of tits coming and going from the feeders as we ate out in the picnic tables in the sunshine, and a nuthatch calling in the trees.

• Afterwards, we made our way down to the lake. A pair of mandarin ducks were loafing on the ledge of the duck house but it was hard to get a clear angle on them through the reeds. Thankfully, there was another pair over the far side, out of the reeds along the edge. We walked round and, predictably, they swam straight over to where we had just been, but then more helpfully came out into the open for us as we got back round

courtesy of Marcus Nash

Our destination for the afternoon was Lynford Arboretum. We met someone in the car park who told us the hawfinches were showing very well in the paddocks, so we headed straight down there to make sure we caught up with them, in case they flew off.

• Thankfully, several of the hawfinches were still feeding in the grass below one of the hornbeams out in the middle and we quickly got the scopes on them and admired their enormous, cherry-stone-cracking bills.

courtesy of Marcus Nash



Having enjoyed some great views of the hawfinches, we made our way back to the bridge. There was some seed spread out on the tops of the pillars, which we had topped up on our way past earlier.

• There was a steady stream of tits coming and going, and we had some great views of marsh tits here, as usual.

• There were lots of siskins flying in and out of the trees above the bridge here too.

courtesy of Marcus Nash



• We watched a treecreeper climbing up the trunks of the alders opposite, before flying down to the base of the next one and starting again.
• A nuthatch in the trees wouldn’t come in to the food today - probably put off by a combination of all of us standing on the bridge and a couple of photographers stood very close to the pillars.
• Back over the bridge to the Arboretum, the tawny owls were in their usual tree, the two of them roosting side by side high in the spruce tree today. We had a look at them from the path, where they were very difficult to see until you knew where you were looking, and then got some better views from the other side.

courtesy of Marcus Nash



Walking back up along the path through the arboretum to the car park, we stopped at the gate with the feeders in the orchard. The feeders were empty and there was not much seed on the ground either today. Consequently, there were fewer birds than normal coming and going.

• One or two yellowhammers dropped down briefly, but we found more of them in the bushes on the edge of the orchard, perched in the white blossom and dropping down into the long grass between the fruit trees.

courtesy of Marcus Nash



• A brambling dropped down to the pool in front of the gate for a drink and then perched briefly on a branch above. But it flew off before everyone could get onto it. We thought that was it before more appeared higher up in the beech trees and we all got a good look at one or two. There have been very few here this winter - probably they have stayed on the continent this year.

 

 

It had been a super first day - much needed after an awful winter!