May Day Farm (1 Viewer)

[Reader]

May Day Farm can be found on Landranger Map No144
Grid Ref: TL795 835

This is one of the better places with which to have clear views of Goshawks.

If you arrive at Mayday Farm Driving south (from Brandon) the car park will be on your right. Drive up the track and you can park along there or turn right after a couple of hundred yards and park along there. Once parked up your walk should be a continuation of the way you originally came in. In the distance you will see a radio mast and by here is a bird hide on your left. the Goshawks can be seen here but a better spot is about 500 yards further on.

At this point you will come to a junction where, on your right, you will see a small corner fence. At the back of this fence is a well hidden pool of water. If you stand back by 20 yards away from this you should have a feast of birds visiting the pool. Whilst I was there we had Brambling, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Coal Tit, Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Blue & Great Tit. It is also here that we had great views of a pair of displaying Goshawks.

This site is well worth including in any itinery in the Southern reaches of Norfolk. In fact you can start of around this area before going on up to the north Norfolk coast. It is also a good point to move down into Suffolk via Bury St Edmunds.

 

[andythomas]

Hi John,

Sorry to be a pedant, but isn't Mayday Farm in Suffolk?

 

[Reader]

I think your right Andy. I keep on forgetting the Norfolk / Suffolk boundary as there are no signs telling you that you are in Suffolk.

 

[Jonny Rankin]

May Day Farm can be found on Landranger Map No144
Grid Ref: TL795 835

This is one of the better places with which to have clear views of Goshawks.

If you arrive at Mayday Farm Driving south (from Brandon) the car park will be on your right. Drive up the track and you can park along there or turn right after a couple of hundred yards and park along there. Once parked up your walk should be a continuation of the way you originally came in. In the distance you will see a radio mast and by here is a bird hide on your left. the Goshawks can be seen here but a better spot is about 500 yards further on.

At this point you will come to a junction where, on your right, you will see a small corner fence. At the back of this fence is a well hidden pool of water. If you stand back by 20 yards away from this you should have a feast of birds visiting the pool. Whilst I was there we had Brambling, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Coal Tit, Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Blue & Great Tit. It is also here that we had great views of a pair of displaying Goshawks.

This site is well worth including in any itinery in the Southern reaches of Norfolk. In fact you can start of around this area before going on up to the north Norfolk coast. It is also a good point to move down into Suffolk via Bury St Edmunds.

This is the best bit of info I have ever gleamed off the internet, thanks a lot Reader - I saw the following in 20mins at this spot on Saturday Morning:

Yellowhammer
Siskin
Brambling - c20 birds!
Redpoll - c15
Chaffinch
Coal Tit

Was excellent!

No Goshawks, but I am not complaining! :t:

 

[ikw101]

It's also a good site for lesser spots, long-eared owls and the more common deer

 

[stuarta21]

Hi,

Apologies for bumping an old thread but seeing as my question relates to this location I didn't think it was right to create an entirely new post.

I've visited Mayday Farm this morning (in albeit not great weather) but struggled to find the well hidden pool. We walked past the Radio mast and got to an obvious crossroads (turn left to follow the Goshawk Trail) were we in the right place or had we missed it? On the way back to the car we followed the path to screen 1 (which I think is where the hide used to be?) and could saw some pools from here, is this where the Redpolls have been seen recently?

Thanks in advance, once again apologies for bumping an old thread.

 

[KatTay]

Hi Stuart, I saw this post prior to my first visit on Saturday and was keen to find the pool also. I did find the small pool of water but it was very hidden and only saw one blue tit go down to the water. Going past the radio mast and the sign to screen one, we went past the first crossroad and it was at the 2nd crossroad where we found it. I think the recent photos from what I could tell were at screen 2 which is directly east to the screen 1 but again this was very quiet and nothing at the water's edge. I don't know where the recent photo's were taken so I'm just guessing on their location. Hope this helps.

 

[stuarta21]

Hi Stuart, I saw this post prior to my first visit on Saturday and was keen to find the pool also. I did find the small pool of water but it was very hidden and only saw one blue tit go down to the water. Going past the radio mast and the sign to screen one, we went past the first crossroad and it was at the 2nd crossroad where we found it. I think the recent photos from what I could tell were at screen 2 which is directly east to the screen 1 but again this was very quiet and nothing at the water's edge. I don't know where the recent photo's were taken so I'm just guessing on their location. Hope this helps.

Yeah the locations have been a bit confusing for anyone that haven't been to it before. I could see that some of the recent photos were from screen 2 but couldn't find the pool at the crossroads from the main track (just the 3 pools in front of screen one). Presumably the birds have moved on now as I've not seen any reports on RBA since 5/2

 

[KatTay]

It was well hidden under trees/bushes next to a sign on the back right corner of the crossroad. Maybe next time you will find it. We stayed for a little while but it was very quiet. Few birds about but sadly no crossbills or redpolls that I was hoping for. Did manage to spot 4 bullfinches in the distance which were lovely to see!

 

[stuarta21]

It was well hidden under trees/bushes next to a sign on the back right corner of the crossroad. Maybe next time you will find it. We stayed for a little while but it was very quiet. Few birds about but sadly no crossbills or redpolls that I was hoping for. Did manage to spot 4 bullfinches in the distance which were lovely to see!

Interesting. I've attached 2 pics taken at the crossroads just along the main track from the radio mast, whereabouts is that pool in relation to these please?

 

[KatTay]

Your photos are the yellow spot in my attached photo. Keep going to the next crossroad and you see the red X on my photo where you'll also be able to see the pool of water. I am guessing this is the one spoken about in this thread but like I said it was very quiet.

 

[stuarta21]

Your photos are the yellow spot in my attached photo. Keep going to the next crossroad and you see the red X on my photo where you'll also be able to see the pool of water. I am guessing this is the one spoken about in this thread but like I said it was very quiet.

That's brilliant thanks so much, wish we had had more time to explore we didn't go past the first set of crossroads. Will definitely be back in the future though we really liked it, we always stay in Brandon so it's a perfect place to spend a couple of hours (hopefully when it's not raining next time!)

 

[KatTay]

No problem, happy to help. Yeah I agree its a nice spot which I'd like to explore more and who knows we may get lucky and see a goshawk!

 

[MikeInPA]

Years ago, sometime in the mid 90's I suppose, the Forestry Commission as it was then organized an evening walk for Nightjars and Glowworms. We saw several nightjars and loads of glowworms!

 

[stuarta21]

Years ago, sometime in the mid 90's I suppose, the Forestry Commission as it was then organized an evening walk for Nightjars and Glowworms. We saw several nightjars and loads of glowworms!

That's interesting. I'd love to see a Glowworm, would be a first for me!