I again joined Brendon this time back to Norfolk. Our first stop was Baldock model aircraft to look for Wheatears that’d been present for the week but they’d gone but great views of Corn Bunting were nice to see.
A quick stop at Cavenham Heath produced 2 Stone Curlew then it was on to Santon Downham where we walked along the river path. Good numbers of Redpoll (at least 30) including some nice pink males, 2 pairs of Mandarin and year ticks of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer were noted. After a while we joined a small group of birders and quite quickly got onto a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a few Crossbill and a nice Marsh Tit.
Also on the water was an adult Little Gull which I failed to see last year.
The next few days things were added to the list whilst at work including 3 Redpoll, 2 Egyptian Goose and Peregrine.
After a message from George Moreton letting me know he’d had as many as 6 Jack Snipe at his local patch I decided to join him the following night to see if we could find any. I arrived first and added Stonechat and Tawny Owl to the year list before we wandered out into the flooded field but sadly despite it being dark and below freezing a woman was walking her dog right through the area as we arrived! With the use of my thermal monocular we still managed to pick out 2 birds along with a couple of their common cousins.
Way back in July 1982 my mum bought a house that she still lives in to this day. The garden is only about 30ft long and about 15ft wide so doesn't exactly look like a magnet for wildlife but at one point we were visited by a very lost Badger that took delight in smashing its way through the neighbourhood fences to get in the various gardens!
If our garden wasn’t very big the old man next doors garden was strangely enormous compared to all the others in the road. The old man was a compulsive hoarder with numerous cookers, bikes and washing machines in the garden. No gardening had been done in many years and so it was full of brambles and self set trees creating an oasis in the middle of houses. With this it brought in a fair few birds most of which we didn’t know what they were. So some cheap binoculars and a bird book were purchased and over the following years numerous species were identified including Redpoll and Siskin and so my love of birds began.
Fast forward to the early 2000’s and with local trips and the occasional coach trip I’d reached about 240 species. Along with the late Bob Harris I started twitching further afield for new species gradually hitting 300 with a Bluethroat on St.Agnes, 350 a Pine Bunting in Worcs, 400 a Brown Shrike at Staines, 450 a Red-eyed Vireo on St.Mary’s and then 475 a Black-browed Albatross in July 2021. By now it was getting harder to add new birds but I set myself a target of hitting 500 species before my 50th birthday which was this August.
2 more were added in 2021, 6 in 2022 and 2023 certainly helped with an amazing 11 ticks. 3 further species were added in 2024 but then we all lost 2 species of Redpoll so the Booted Eagle in February should’ve been my 500th species but wasn’t. August came and went being stuck on 499 so I now hoped I’d reach my target before the end of the year.
Finally I’d just like to thank all those who have driven me or joined me on my adventures and raise a glass to those who are sadly no longer with us.
