Had bit of a 'jammy' day today
I decided to go somewhere different today. My mother last year when we had the Ring Ouzel bonanza saw several ring ouzels (striped oozels Chris M!!!!!:-O) at
NWT Ringstead Downs, so I decided to see if I could find my own this morning. I am ashamed to say that I have not been there since I was Connor's age!!!!!, basically because its a bit of a lonely place to go on your own really, so I won't be making a regular habit of it. Its very annoying being female and not feeling comfortable in certain places, but there we go thats the way it is.
http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature reserves/map-links/ringstead.htm
Arrived Ringstead Downs at 7.20am. I have very fond memories of the downs as a child, my mother and I used to go there early morning and record on an old tape recorder the dawn chorus and also we used to climb up the valley slopes and watch Hawfinchs!!!!!!!! We used to cycle there in the summer (with my 2 sisters) and have picnics and there used to be goats grazing on the slopes. Anyway I am rambling now. It was sunny first thing which is why I was lucky I think! It all looked very promising and there seemed to be quite a bit of bird movement, several chiffchaffs were singing, chaffinches chirping away, lots of wood pigeons erupted from the trees. A willow warbler was singing away, song thrush singing, mistle thrush, great tit, blue tit, jackdaws, pheasants in the fields. It is quite a long walk through here all the way to the farm/pond area, I had forgotton how long it was! Heard a green woodpecker, 1 pied wagtail was sitting on the farm buildings, 3 goldfinches in the bushes next to buildings and 1 Muntjac deer. As I walked back round the biggest bend on the track a
ringtail hen harrier soared over the valley, seconds after that a
stunning male black redstart sat on a tiny hawthorn just to the right of the track!!!!! (8.25am) AND 5 minutes after that an equally
stunning male redstart was sitting on the track in front of me and then flew across to sit on a hawthorn and then flitted about in the sun, couldn't believe my luck, I was grinning all the way back to the car
and there was nobody here but me! 2 pied wags flew over, 2 linnets sitting in bush and almost back to the car a jay bounded over and also a great spotted woodpecker. 2 long tailed tits were sitting prettily in the blackthorn close to the carpark.
Went through Ringstead, picking up newspapers for parents at Holme and then on to
Titchwell to meet up with Pete, Graham and Glyn (Lesvos crew in May) for holiday meeting. (10am) Walked round the Fen trail where a
blackcap was singing,
brambling sitting in a bush with house sparrows. It was a bitterly cold wind now. As we walked along main path, we heard
bearded tits 'pinging' and it was so cold when we got to the sea and didn't see anything either, we walked straight back! Had our meeting and then went to
Choosely Road, Thornham (1.30pm) to see the ring ouzels but only saw 1 flying distantly! but did have a lovely
yellow wagtail sitting in the ploughed field. (we should have stayed longer as a crane was seen from here shortly after we left!!!!!).
Went to
Holme Reserves and had fantastic views of both
male and female redstarts in the same bush in the paddocks behind pay hut. We had
2 whimbrel fly over near the 5-bar gate. We walked round
NWT Forestry and saw absolutely nothing! Then drove down to carparks and went for seawatch where we only saw a few
common scooter sitting on the sea! A
tree pipit had been seen, but we didn't see it when we went back to look. We then parked by public loos and walked through village carpark to try and find the
cuckoo that had been seen earlier, but sensibly the cuckoo was tucked up somewhere in a bush, bitterly cold wind cutting right through us. But we did have lovely views of a
white wagtail and a
pied wagtail together by T8 (golf flag). Back to car for cup of tea and then Pete decided to drive home. Glyn and Graham (from Leicester) and I then went back to Ringstead Downs as they had not been before and asked if I would show them where it was.
Arrived Ringstead Downs for 2nd stint of the day! 6.20pm. I must admit I didn't think we would see anything, dull and cold and late in the day, but we had a few suprises! Best ever views of a
barn owl coming right at us carrying a big vole!!! Glyn then very sharpely spotted a
male ring ouzel (6.30pm) on the far side of ploughed field by fence sitting there quite happily (and still there when we came back). We saw a sparrowhawk, kestrel,
20 linnets sitting in tree behind the farm buildings and a
swallow which Glyn was very pleased about as it was his first this year. Also a pair of red leg partridge in the fields. Walked back to car, very, very sleepy now, all had a cup of tea and then G and G went back to Leicester and I went back to King's Lynn. Phew!!!
Work tomorrow - bother! and its mean't to be milder tomorrow, it the sun does come out, there will be some goodies popping out of the bushes for you all.:t:
Best Wishes Penny:girl:
Just come up on the pager that someone had a firecrest, redstart and a tree pipit at Ringstead downs too!
