Karl J
Sunday 14th September 2003, 17:11
Up at the crack of dawn and down the eastern end of Breydon for a spot of early morning birding in the peace and quiet by the water.
There's a large piece of wood (sort of telegraph pole size but thicker) which must have floated up on a high tide, which sits on the river bank about half a mile past the hide, and it makes an ideal seat looking South across the mudflats. Sitting there this morning about 7 o'clock was fantastic under the clear blue sky with just a light breeze. Ok, I guess a true birder would ask for easterly gales and rain ...... but ..... nah, give it another week or two yet.... Please. There were actually a surprising number of birds already at the eastern end given that it was 4 hours before high tide. A little further on where the second hide used to be is another good vantage point and between the 2 spots I had some pretty good sightings, nothing fantastic but still ok. As well as the big flocks ( Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Golden Plover etc ..) which I've gone into before so shan't do again, I saw several Wigeon which I think were misidentified from across the river yesterday as Pochard, at a guess these are the first of the returning fowl, and a definite increase in the number of Shelduck.
Walking back toward the Asda ( eastern) end I was absolutely amazed with what came next. Twisting and turning low above the greenery, chasing a small finch (???) like something possessed was a Merlin..... WOW !! Short sharp wingbeats, then rising fast at the target, swooping back down again as the finch jinked out of the way several times to escape. Really fantastic, tenacious, the Merlin just wouldn't give up. Across the saltmarsh it came and right past the hide and over the footpath, then behind some bushes where I think the finch somehow made its escape ... maybe into the bushes ? Anyhow before flying south across the river by the road bridge, the Merlin circled around which gave me an excellent view of it's heavily streaked chest & underwings, it's sleek sharply pointed wings, light chin area against a darker upper head area, and dark brown topside. From my id book, the colour and size indicate it was female. One of, if not the, most memorable of my sightings.
Some other good / noteable bits :
Little Egret x 7
Greenshank x 2
Knot x 1
Curlew Sandpiper x 1
Common Tern x 1
Sandwich Tern x 1
Followed by breakfast of black coffee & chorizo eggs
There's a large piece of wood (sort of telegraph pole size but thicker) which must have floated up on a high tide, which sits on the river bank about half a mile past the hide, and it makes an ideal seat looking South across the mudflats. Sitting there this morning about 7 o'clock was fantastic under the clear blue sky with just a light breeze. Ok, I guess a true birder would ask for easterly gales and rain ...... but ..... nah, give it another week or two yet.... Please. There were actually a surprising number of birds already at the eastern end given that it was 4 hours before high tide. A little further on where the second hide used to be is another good vantage point and between the 2 spots I had some pretty good sightings, nothing fantastic but still ok. As well as the big flocks ( Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Golden Plover etc ..) which I've gone into before so shan't do again, I saw several Wigeon which I think were misidentified from across the river yesterday as Pochard, at a guess these are the first of the returning fowl, and a definite increase in the number of Shelduck.
Walking back toward the Asda ( eastern) end I was absolutely amazed with what came next. Twisting and turning low above the greenery, chasing a small finch (???) like something possessed was a Merlin..... WOW !! Short sharp wingbeats, then rising fast at the target, swooping back down again as the finch jinked out of the way several times to escape. Really fantastic, tenacious, the Merlin just wouldn't give up. Across the saltmarsh it came and right past the hide and over the footpath, then behind some bushes where I think the finch somehow made its escape ... maybe into the bushes ? Anyhow before flying south across the river by the road bridge, the Merlin circled around which gave me an excellent view of it's heavily streaked chest & underwings, it's sleek sharply pointed wings, light chin area against a darker upper head area, and dark brown topside. From my id book, the colour and size indicate it was female. One of, if not the, most memorable of my sightings.
Some other good / noteable bits :
Little Egret x 7
Greenshank x 2
Knot x 1
Curlew Sandpiper x 1
Common Tern x 1
Sandwich Tern x 1
Followed by breakfast of black coffee & chorizo eggs