Grey Partridges

This week I have seen a couple of Grey Partridge Perdix perdix in or adjacent to our fields. We regularly get Red-legged Partridge, but I don't really regard them as 'proper' birds. They are probably released for shoots, like all the influx of dozy pheasants we get each year.

I saw a couple of Grey Partridge when we first moved here. These are the first ones since then. Hopefully they will hang around. The species is undergoing serious declines in numbers and distribution. So any birds are good news!

Today we also had a nice male Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula eating the buds in the Blackthorn hedge along our front garden. Always nice to see.

On the insect front, there are a few Harlequin Ladybirds Harmonia axyridis about. Not sure if this is something to celebrate or not!

More anon...

Stockton, Norfolk

Well, after a delay, here is some more about the new house and grounds!

The photo shows one of a pair of very tame Pied Wagtails that frequent the garden. Though a young male seems intent on chasing off the male of the two.

So far the bird list includes:

Robin, Wren, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jay, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Moorhen, Mallard, Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge.

I don't think that's a bad list for a few weeks of intermittent visits and not looking properly yet.

Several Mallards seem resident on the pond and the Moorhens come very close to the house. Large flocks of winter thrushes in the field.

Young birds fledging

There has been a lot of activity on the bird front around our garden. Several nest-boxes were used. The young have been feeding away from their nests.
As well as the usual robins, tits and starlings, we have had a few slightly more out-of-the-ordinary fledglings.
For the first year, the swallows nested in our barn. A single bird showed interest last year. A pair returned this year. They laid eggs in the artificial nest, but only one hatched. We were worried about that one at first, but it did fine.
We also found a stock dove chick in our field. It let me approach very close for a photo before flying off. The green woodpecker was on our telegraph pole. It is an adult, I just liked the photo.

Fathers' Day

On Fathers' Day I get to choose what we do as a family. So this year on 15th June we headed to Weeting Heath in Norfolk http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature%20reserves/map-links/weeting.htm and Lakenheath RSPB Reserve http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lakenheathfen/index.asp in Suffolk.

The former was for Stone Curlews. We just saw the one, but there was plenty about including nice views of Woodlark and a family of Spotted Flycatcher just by one of the hides. I took a photo of the Drinker Moth caterpillar above. These are quite impressive beasts. They are named after their habit of drinking dew in the mornings from grass.

Lakenheath was a bit wetter, but still plenty about. We did not manage to see the Golden Orioles.

Several Dragonflies about, though, including this Hairy Hawker, Brachytron pratense.

North Norfolk and a Twitch(!)

We went as a family to North Norfolk for a long weekend. The weather was glorious and birdwatching was good. We visited Titchwell RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/t/titchwellmarsh/index.asp, Snettisham RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/snettisham/index.asp, Cley NWT http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature%20reserves/map-links/cley.htm and Pensthorpe http://www.pensthorpe.com/. We even fitted in time for our second ever twitch - the long staying White-crowned Sparrow at Cley.

As this is supposed to be an insect blog, I will mention the insects we saw. Some 7 spot Ladybirds were around at Snettisham and most sites had various Bumble Bees (Mainly Bombus terrestris, with a few Bombus lucorum).




This cheeky little Robin was in the car park at Titchwell RSPB. It was very tame and came right up to us.

Numerous other birds were around at all the reserves we visited. Lots of Brent Geese, as well as Pink-footed at Snettisham.

Stonechats were much in evidence and we got good views. On the beach at Cley, a birdwatcher kindly pointed out a flock of Snow Buntings to us, much to the children's delight.

Eleanor was practising her filming again and seems to be improving all the time. She got good footage of Redshank, ducks and Egrets, as well as some Marsh Harriers.

We rounded of the trip with a visit to Pensthorpe to see the Cranes and Corncrakes.