Just A Couple Of Hours, Locally, After Shopping

Local Area - Wednesday 24th September 2014

A trip to the Doctors for us this afternoon as one of my old problems had flared up. An ear infection not just in one ear but in both coupled with the usual 3 tones of tinnitus ringing in my ears meant that my hearing had become like my head was immersed in water, even my own voice was hard to hear and the volume on our TV has been so loud just lately, I'm sure our neighbours are contemplating taking out an ASBO against us. There was a bit of comedy in the Doctors Surgery when the Doctor asked me if it was affecting my hearing and I genuinely didn't hear her and just like the old joke, I said; "Pardon, I didn't hear what you said?" Well the Doctor and Jan thought it was funny anyway. My hearing hasn't been that good over the last few years but with this current bout of infection it's probably the worst it's ever been. It has made me realise just how much profoundly deaf people must feel cut off. Anyway I was packed off from the Doctors with two weeks worth of antibiotics and some steroid spray for my ears. In the two years we've lived here in Watton I've never been to the Doctors Surgery so many times!

After our trip to Swaffham to stock up on bird seed we just had a poodle around our local area around Watton.

Our first stop was the Ford at Hilborough. The insect life on the River Wissey was tremendous but when we arrived there was no discernible activity other than the fly life. While we were sitting there, Jan could hear two Buzzards, they must have been quite close because even I, with my defective hearing, could hear them. It wasn't too long before a pair of Grey Wagtails turned up, they are such a beautiful little bird. I was going to put a picture of one on the blog but after my recent re-install my iPhoto library has all been muddled up, so I'll have to give that a miss for now. There were plenty of other small birds moving about in the trees and bushes but we couldn't get a clear sight of any of them. Just before we left the Ford we moved position a little bit and observed a Crab Apple Tree in a field. There were 4 birds flitting about, 2 of them were Blue Tits but the other two we were a bit unsure about. We think they were of the Flycatcher family and were probably female or juvenile Red Breasted Flycatchers but we didn't get a good enough look at them to be 100% sure.

We moved onto the Watton Brook at Little Cressingham and parked up by the bridge. As we got there, there was a Hare, several Partridges and Pheasants but they all soon disappeared. We were watching a group of about 40 - 50 Starlings (collective noun - murmuration or chattering) in a dead tree, every now and again they would take off and do a few circuits before settling down again. I wouldn't have thought that this would have been their final roosting place for the night. While we were watching the Starlings I noticed a Buzzard on the far side of the field high up in one of the trees. It just glided down and disappeared just behind a ridge in the field, I think it must have just taken one of the many Rabbits or Partridges that were present in the field.

Leaving the Watton Brook we crossed the main Watton Road and made our way up to the firing range gates but stopping short of them we saw three Roe Deer in the Sugar Beet field and then immediately in front of us at the top of a tree we saw a Mistle Thrush, which is a rare treat nowadays. When I was a young boy Mistle and Song Thrushes were much more common than they are today.

Moving around to The Arms looking at the Hedgerows there were plenty of birds moving about but it was very difficult to get a good look at them. There was certainly an Autumn chill in the air this evening as the skies cleared and the many Rooks and Jackdaws made their way to their roosts, so we decided to wend our way home.

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.