Abbey Farm – Flitcham – Tuesday June 9th 2015
Eyeball To Eyeball With A Muntjac Stag
Home Update: Just before we left we noticed that the 3rd of the 6 Privet Hawk Moths had emerged. Hopefully weather permitting we’ll release them tomorrow, it was a bit chilly tonight.
We left home at 6.10pm it was quite overcast with a moderate breeze and the temperature was 14˚C but it felt far colder than that. After a short stop at Swaffham to do some shopping we arrived at Abbey Farm at 7.25pm and although the cloud had begun to break it still felt quite chilly.
Our observation began this evening with a Muntjac Stag wandering quite lazily in front of the hide. There will be a video of this eventually but at the moment I am about 3 blog entries behind with the videos.
At first we had the hide to ourselves but we were joined by a birder from Barnet who had been to see the Marsh Warbler at Narborough. It was his first visit to Abbey Farm so we more than glad to share our limited amount of knowledge with him. I know sometimes I am over critical of other birders in hides but it was a pleasure to share the time with him.
It was a shame that the Oystercatcher with 2 chicks who were clearly visible never came close enough to get any decent footage of them and in the same way there was a pair of Shelducks with at least 1 duckling who were never in full view for long enough to get any footage of them. It was recorded in the book that earlier a Gull had taken one of the ducklings.
I always say that Abbey Farm never ceases to surprise us and tonight was no exception. It was Deer night tonight at the Farm and all in all we saw 7 Muntjac Deer including a group of 4 just as we were leaving, they were a strange bunch. There was an adult hind with quite a young fawn, an adult stag and a juvenile stag. Normally Muntjac are solitary creatures who only meet to mate or to nurse their young but these seemed rather cosy together and the fawn was certainly full of the joys of life and was trying to engage all of the others in some form of Deer play whereas the others were more interested in food.
We had another first for us at the Farm as well tonight. We have seen plenty of Chinese Water Deer before but never one at Abbey Farm. It came in from the roadside so we got a good view of its tusks and as it made its way down towards the bottom of the field, we could tell by its ears and coat it was clearly a Chinese Water Deer. Unfortunately it was always going away from us so we couldn’t get any footage.
Young Muntjac Stag
There were also 4 Hares in the field tonight, normally we see 1 or 2 but not normally that many. We saw another 5 driving down the lane on our way home.
As usual there were a number of Greylag families in presence and they had a school of goslings from quite small to almost fully grown. There was one thing of interest in that one of the adult Geese had a large swelling on its neck but it didn’t seem to be bothering it.
We left the Farm at 9.15pm it was getting quite chilly and the temperature was dropping quite quickly and by the the time we got home it had fallen to 7˚C. On the way home we saw a Tawny Owl fly up from a roadside verge into a tree near South Pickenham and when we were nearly home we saw a Hedgehog crossing the road.
A Brown Rustic Rusina ferruginea Waiting For Us At Home
Another late night though with a post midnight bedtime.
What we saw:
Buzzard
Lapwings**
with chicks
Oystercatchers**
1 with 2 chicks
Shelduck** 1
pair with at least 1 chick
Crow**
Jackdaws**
Wood Pigeon*
Stock
Doves**
Mallard**
several with chicks
Greylag
Geese* several pairs with goslings ranging from small to quite large
Pheasant*
Little Owl
Tawny Owl
Coot** some
with older chicks
Moorhen**
some with older chicks
2 pairs
Tufted Duck
9 Hares
Chinese
Water Deer
7 Muntjac
Deer (including 1 fawn)
Hedgehog
* = Too many to count
** = Several
Keep your
eyes peeled and good spotting.
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