Even though we dipped on the Great White Egret at Sparham Pools this morning, we still had an excellent day.
We did get both a male and female Goosander instead, which started the day well and things took a dramatic turn when everything went up over the nearby slope and hill. The 100 or so Fieldfares present, suddenly found themselves one less when an adult Peregrine swooped in out of nowhere and plucked one out of the air about 20 feet from the ground and flew off over the hill with it. We also heard a Water Rail and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming, enhancing what was already a very peaceful and enjoyable morning.
Later on, further along the river valley and completely unplanned, just in passing, we casually stopped off at Bylaugh Church and the adjacent sewage works for a quick look. This turned out to be the best decision of the day and we had a good solid hour of quality birding at a place where you might normally just drive straight past.
First off here, there was a Chiffchaff in the bushes by the sewage works gate. Always nice to get one in winter but when it flew onto the slurry pit to feed it was followed by not one more, but two! Three Chiffchaffs all feeding within yards of each other out in the open in the middle of winter.. a fantastic sight. But the birds did not stop there. Shortly after, five Bullfinches flew in together, three females of which showed excellently at the top of a tree. We saw lots of Bullfinches in general today and I have seen dozens already this year at various sites which is really heartening. A Little Owl began calling in the distance and three Common Buzzards flew over. Just when we were about to leave, the bird which we originally pulled in to hope for suddenly appeared.. a smart looking Grey Wagtail with a tremendously long tail to be proud of. Finally, back at the car a Treecreeper trilled ending a superb hours birding.
We checked out some more lakes in the area and apart from Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks and a couple of Pochard, these were generally quiet but on the way home from the last site, along a narrow country lane, we spied a Sparrowhawk in the road which had just caught some prey. Luckily for us it flew onto a branch overhanging the road just a few yards further along so we drove the car up towards it slowly and were treated to stunning views of this beautiful male as he hurridly and completely consumed his prey. He was coming into superb breeding plumage and the undertail coverts were just starting to come through and wrap around the uppertail. Some lovely pencil thin flecks were noted in this area which I have never seen before. When he had finished his meal he had a quick spruce up, cleaned his bill on the branch and was off, straight down the lane again. Thinking about it, we watched him for several minutes and it was amazing luck that during this time, not one car came down this lane. Because there was no room to pull in anywhere, that would have meant we would have had to cut this fantastic sighting short prematurely but fortunately our luck was in on this occasion. Excellent day!!
