HAPPY 2018 EVERYONE!!!
For the last few days of the Christmas Holidays, I decided to spend a weekend in the wildlife-rich county of Norfolk. It was a tiring, three hour drive from London to my first reserve, Wolferton Triangle, which is very famous for its Golden Pheasants (the 'Triangle' is a patch of greenery between two roads). Due to my bad planning, and not reading the most important line from the Birds of Norfolk website ('Switch off your engine and wait: they usually graze by the road'), I left immediately, without seeing a single bird.
I went straight to a much better reserve, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, where I saw hundreds of waders and wildfowl:
Two Marsh Harriers in the distance- there were five in total
Migrant Brent Geese settling on the main lake
Pink-footed Geese, (I call them 'Pinkfeet') coming in to roost
Redshank
More Pinkfeet!
Probably my best photo from this trip: a Black-tailed Godwit
A Curlew in the sunset
A Turnstone on the beach- the next few photos are from what some of the other birders called 'A hell of a spectacle'
Mixed flock of gulls
Sanderlings and a Turnstone
Black Headed Gulls
Sanderlings up close
These starfish reminded me of Patrick from SpongeBob!
Little Grebe in winter plumage
Shelduck feeding
29th December 2017
This day was a very bad day for birding, as it rained heavily throughout the day. Even the weather forecast was very unpredictable, as it said it would stop raining at 11:00, then 12:00, and eventually stopped at 5:00. Nevertheless, I made an attempted pilgrimage to the great Cley Marshes, a reserve famed for it frequent rarities (sounds ironic, doesn't it?). For half an hour, I gazed out from the Visitor Centre at the vast expanse of reedbeds, saline pools and lakes, where the only birds I saw were Mallards, Gulls and Curlews.
As soon as I set foot on the reserve, I realised that it was 12:00- and still raining. I picked up my pace and headed towards the sea because I heard of reports of all three species of divers and Snow Buntings, but realised that it was too far to walk in those weather conditions. Instead, I ran hurriedly to a hide which I forgot the name of, where I met a local photographer, who had travelled from RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk to Cley, and not taken a single photo. We chatted for a bit, and I took some shots of the lake in the rain:
As soon as I set foot on the reserve, I realised that it was 12:00- and still raining. I picked up my pace and headed towards the sea because I heard of reports of all three species of divers and Snow Buntings, but realised that it was too far to walk in those weather conditions. Instead, I ran hurriedly to a hide which I forgot the name of, where I met a local photographer, who had travelled from RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk to Cley, and not taken a single photo. We chatted for a bit, and I took some shots of the lake in the rain:
A Shelduck, some Avocets and a Black Headed Gull
Male Shoveler
Another terrible photo of Gulls and Wildfowl
Back at the Visitor Centre, I found the photographer again, who showed me his first photo of the week. He told me that as soon as I left the hide, a Water Rail came! I quickly got over my disappointment, bought a signed copy of Bill Oddie's Tales of a Ludicrous Bird Gardener and saw thirteen Marsh Harriers from the Centre's huge windows! I quickly visited Cley Beach, only to find many Black Headed Gulls. Fortunately, as I was heading out of Cley, a Merlin swooped over my head!
Just like last time, I briefly visited Holkham National Nature Reserve, specifically Lady Ann's Road, for a rarity, the Black Brant. Sadly, I did not see it, nor did I see the vast flocks of Pinkfeet that are usually there.
30th August 2017
This was the day I was to leave for London, but since today was a much better day than yesterday, I set off on a proper pilgrimage back to Cley. This time, I walked all that way to the sea, and visited the Bishop's Hide, where another birder helped me spot a Snipe!
MORE PINKFEET!
Little Egret up close
Teals
Marsh Harrier
After walking around the reserve, I visited the gallery, where there was a free exhibition called 'Reflections of Birds'. The gallery was inside one of Cley next the Sea's very own chain of optics shops, CleySpy. When I saw a couple of Opticron scopes fixed to a table, onlooking the reserve, one word came to mind: digiscoping. Digiscoping is a modern technique used by birders, where they put the camera of their phone against the eyepiece of their scope, and take a photo through it. With practice, it can be very rewarding, so I decided to try it out:
A painting from the exhibition of a Short-toed Eagle
Painting of a Bittern
Some Lapwings and Teals
A view of most of the reserve
Great Black-backed Gull with Black Headed Gulls
Different wildfowl sharing one island- can't humans do the same with the world?
Although I did not see a rarity, I am extremely happy that I can say I have been to arguably the greatest reserve in Norfolk, if not Britain. I have seen some beautiful birds, seen wonderful landscapes and met brilliant birders.
wonderful birds and a truly peaceful and beautiful setting: Dịch thuật Hà Nội, Dịch thuật TPHCM, Dịch thuật Bắc Ninh, Dịch thuật Thanh Hóa, Dịch thuật Cần Thơ, Dịch thuật Hải Phòng, Dịch thuật Đà Nẵng, Dịch thuật Nghệ An, Dịch thuật Bình Dương, ........
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