Local Kingfishers & Roe Deer – Wednesday 10^th September

Normally when we go shopping to Swaffham we do our Nature Watching on the way back but this time we had a slight change of pattern. We were being nosey and rather than driving around Ashill as we normally do we decided to drive through the village. We didn’t realize what a big village it was but more importantly it changed our route and we found ourselves going along Peddars Way along the bottom of Houghton Hill. We often travel this route but normally the other way round. We had a couple of stops but didn’t see anything of real consequence other than a large gathering of Rooks (collective nouns – Parliament, Building or Clamour) on a field in South Pickenham. It was only when we crossed the River Wissey, as you enter South Pickenham, did things change.

Jan normally slows down or even stops, traffic permitting of course, as we go across the bridge. We have seen a Dipper and a Sparrowhawk taking off a Moorhen Chick there before. As Jan stopped I saw the unmistakable flash of Blue followed by a second one across the river, two Kingfishers! As we paused there for a moment I could see quite clearly one of the Kingfishers sitting in the bottom part of a tree peering down into the water. Unfortunately we had to move on because a car was coming along behind us. Still it was a great start to our shopping trip.

On the way home we decided to take some of our normal back road detours beginning with a cut through to The Watton Road at Hilborough. Jan described this as “Quintessentially an English landscape.” As beautiful as it was we didn’t see anything other than Sheep, the local Swallows seem to have departed for South Africa.

We made a stop at another bridge over the River Wissey on the Watton Road but by now it was late afternoon and the river was in shadow so not much sign of the usual Dragonfly or Damselfly activity.

Turning off the Watton Road onto the Cressingham Road we pulled up at the bridge over Watton Brook. There was lots of bird activity here; we could see at least two large flocks of small birds, one in the brook beside us busily going back and forth into the bushes and reeds feeding on seeds and insects. This flock was made up mainly of Long Tailed & Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Whitethroats and Reed Buntings and Warblers. The other flock was on the other side of the brook going back and forth from the hedgerows on both sides of the road. Jan also saw two Jays in a field on the other side of the brook. There was a third flock, which was travelling along the side of the field on the other side of the brook. The two latter flocks were a bit far away to identify the birds but there was no problem identifying the bird that turned up next. It appeared from nowhere from behind a hedge, it made one glorious swoop at the birds there but then disappeared as quickly as it appeared across the fields empty clawed, it was a Sparrowhawk, such a magnificent bird.

Sheep and Pheasants at Watton Brook

Everything quietened down so we decided to move over towards the hedgerows on the other side of the brook. We could see now that this flock was much the same as the flock on the other side of the brook but with quite a few families of Pied Wagtails amongst them. As we sat there the Pied Wagtails began to gather around the car and a couple of the juvenile birds were on the bonnet and roof of the car. They almost appeared to be saying: “Me, me, photograph me!” Of course as soon as Jan got her camera out they were gone.

We then made our way along Cressingham Road and then Fairstead Lane towards Little Cressingham, we saw Partridges, Pheasants and two Hares. We stayed a little while at the Mill but then decided to try the other side of The Watton Road at The Arms at Bodney.

As we approached The Arms we could hear the intermittent boom of large artillery on the ranges but we could also smell the cordite from the shells. For me it brought back memories of my time as a Police Marksman on the ranges and the many rounds I had fired.

As we turned the corner to go up to the range gates we pulled up and looked over the large Sugar Beet field. There were two Roe Deer in the middle of it, they were contentedly tucking into an early evening supper but then they became agitated. At first I thought they had seen us but then a man came along the road from the range, walking his dog. As soon as the Deer saw him they were off bounding across the Sugar Beet, over the fence and into the trees on the M.O.D. Land. We decided to go up to the gates of the range anyway. We sat quietly there for a while when over a ridge in the Sugar Beet field the head of a Roe Deer popped up, was this one of the two or another one, we wouldn’t know because we didn’t see it again.

It was past 7pm (our shopping trips can last a long time sometimes – we’d set off about 2pm) so we decided to head home but we decided to go via Threxton and as we were travelling along the road we first saw a Roe Deer and then a Hare but by now the light was quite poor. We did manage to get some video of the Roe Deer but my attempts at videoing the Hare became quite farcical I managed to get some shots of it but my attempts to get a few stills of the Hare ended up in me ejecting the battery on my camera – Rob Mellowship 0 Hare 1!

Roe Deer & Sunset At Threxton

Time was now getting on and Jan’s tummy was beginning to rumble so we headed home for supper. All of this happened within 6 miles of our home. We feel so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of Norfolk.

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.