Back in the Brecks again today, not wanting to be beaten I had to go back and try again.
The day started very well with a Norfolk tick in the form of 2 Willow tits calling away, I only got annoyingly brief but good views of one of the birds but they were calling non stop which was perhaps a better id feature anyway! Very pleased with this one, as some of you know I have been trying for willow tits for quite a while, these were the first I have seen for at least five years, shocking I know.
I then went to a Lesser Pecker site and had a walk alongside the river, after waiting patiently for about an hour I heard drumming and calling from around the corner. I thought great, gocha, until I walked toward the sound and found a group of 4 people walking away, when I enquired about whether they had seen the bird that was calling a guy sheepishly said it was a tape (mp3 nowdays of course). So I was a little annoyed a) because I hadn't heard a lesser pecker and b) because I think its wrong to tape lure a rare breeding bird on its main territory.
I then decided to check out a Goshawk site, a very pleasant walk resulted in 2 Displaying common buzzards and a very distant accipiter which was probably a Gos, brief and not particularly satisfactory.
Black necked grebe was picked up on the flashes at Lakenheath, a nice looking bird which is still in winter plumage, the bright sunshine picked out the eye really well, it looked like it was on fire glowing bright orange-red. A slight attack of the conscience has struck me now, what list to put it on? I keep a Norfolk list and BNG is a good Norfolk bird but I was standing on Suffolk soil, the bird however was in Norfolk ie North of the river, what to do? I know if it were the other way round it'd be on the list.
From here I thought seeing as the weather was so good (and Lakenheath Steve put my mind at ease (thanks!)) I'd try for Goshawk again at a different location, amazingly I connected with a displaying male showing reasonable well for 3 display flights, the last sighting was about 14.30, not bad for a 'morning bird'. Feeling pleased with myself I headed home.
A great day out, its always good to get to the brecks and especially seeing Goshawk, a real buzz bird for me. Willow tits obviously the most satisfying bird of the day due to the fact that iv'e wanted to see them for ages, I think I've double checked every Strumpshaw Marsh at least three times now!
No comments:
Post a Comment