WOW!!! A Fantastic Day – Friday 12^th September

We don’t normally go out on a Friday because Jan usually works but this week a colleague asked her to swap their days.

It began as it carried on; I was typing our latest blog entry and I could sense Jan standing beside me, I then felt her tapping me on the shoulder and I ignored her, the tapping became harder and more insistent. I turned to her and said: “What?” She replied, “What’s that bird?” I turned to look into the garden to see the tail of a Sparrowhawk disappear into the field behind us. Jan then noticed a Vole feeding on the seed she scatters for the birds. I was glad about that because I hadn’t seen our Common Voles or Field Mice for a while. When we had put our Bushnell camera out the other night the only wildlife it captured was three cats!

I wasn’t feeling terribly well and I wasn’t too sure about going out but Jan was insistent and suggested we went to RSPB Lakenheath. This reserve isn’t too far away from us but I didn’t feel very comfortable about it so I suggested that we just stay local.

We left home about 1pm, Jan asked where I’d like to go, I’d already said rather facetiously Holyhead just because it was on the weather map on the TV (I’m not always the most helpful person) but I said I don’t mind.

Off we set driving from Watton towards the Mundford to Swaffham Road. We hadn’t got very far out of Watton when we saw a Roe Deer in the middle of a field. Jan suggested we try a road we hadn’t been down before. It is marked as Smuggler’ Road on Google Maps it is one of the many roads in our area that leads to one of the firing ranges on STANTA (originally known as Stanford Battle Area) which is an extremely large Army training area in Norfolk. We stopped a little way down the road and all we could see was a field full of Rooks and Wood Pigeons so we moved further down the road to the gates of the Firing Range. We sat there for a while and although we could hear birds singing away in our vicinity we couldn’t see them. We did see a Buzzard over the Training Area and a Wren but nothing else until we decided to move on when we noticed a Hare just on the other side of the gates. As we moved back along the road we came across a small flock of mixed birds feeding on the Blackberries and Elderberries, like all of the similar flocks in our area they were highly mobile and flitting about. There were about 10 birds all in all but the only ones we could see clearly were Yellowhammers and juvenile Greenfinches.

We decided to move on towards a village called Cockley Cley, which is about 10-12 miles from Watton, we’d seen many Hares in this area before. We had gone very far when we came across a Kestrel sitting on some power lines. We sat and watched it until it flew off. Not very far along the road we pulled into one of the many rides looking into the forest, which is called The Quadrilateral Covert. We could see a Green Woodpecker busily looking for food.

Kestrel

Green Woodpecker

Moving on towards Cockley Cley we passed the Pig Farm where there some young piglets (we were to see some even younger later on) and Everetts Farm Campsite pulling in every now and again to scan the fields but all we saw were juvenile Gulls, Rooks, Jackdaws, Crows, Squirrels, Rabbits, Pheasants and Partridges.

Further along the road we stopped for our lunch looking into a ride into the Forest. It was quite a pleasant day not too hot with long bright spells. We saw quite a few Speckled Wood, Large and Small Butterflies here battling for the sunny spots before ascending to the treetops. We also saw a Robin and a Long Tailed Tit, lots of Garden Spiders and Dragonflies. I’d noticed further into the ride what looked to me like Honeysuckle. Jan said she would go and investigate. She was gone for about 15 minutes but I could see her moving about. I’d asked her to look out for Hawk Moth Caterpillars but she came back with far more exciting news. First she confirmed it was Honeysuckle, she’d found a strange worm type creature in a tree then she said quite matter of factly that she’d disturbed two Goshawks who rapidly disappeared into the forest. I questioned her about this but she was adamant that they weren’t Buzzards or Sparrowhawks but were definitely Goshawks. While all this was going on I had noticed back in the car that there was loud rhythmic bellowing going on which I assumed was some sort of Farm machinery until Jan said did you hear the Deer bellowing, then the penny dropped (I’m not always the sharpest pencil in the box) it was a Red Deer Stag attracting his Hinds and warning off other suitors.

Wild Honeysuckle

Not Quite Sure, Yet, What This Creature Is

Now for anyone else that would have been good enough for anyone in one afternoon but as we sometimes do when we’re out we said what would we like to see next. I started off with an elephant but we both ended up by agreeing on a Fox!

We carried onto Cockley Cley and we came across a Pub called Twenty Churchwardens (which is very apt as I am a retired clergyman). It all then became quite exciting because we didn’t know where we were going. As we didn’t have any other plans and we weren’t in a hurry we just meandered about down various side roads and byways occasionally stopping scanning the forests or trees. We came across another Pig Farm and here the Piglets were tiny no more than 1 or 2 days old. If anyone saw us filming them, I’m sure they would have accused us of being Pig Rustlers! While Jan was filming the Piglets I noticed a rather beautiful piece of wood beside the road, which was a wonderful natural sculpture. We carried on our Magical Mystery Tour not quite knowing where we were or where we were going to come out, lost in beautiful Norfolk. We did see a Sparrowhawk pass over the road.

Newly Born Piglets

Natural Artwork (Tree Bark)

Natural Sculpture

 We eventually came out at the Mundford to Swaffham Road at Hilborough. Normally we would turn right here and go back to Watton but I said to Jan if we turn left and then take the next right we can go down to the Ford on the River Wissey, which we did.

Now if the day hadn’t already been exciting enough it was to get a lot better. Jan was trying to get me out of the car and to sit on the bridge over the river but I still wasn’t feeling that great and I was adamant that I was going to stay in the car and in any case who knows what we would see if we just sat here quietly, so Jan reluctantly agreed. I did point out to her that looking at the abundant fly life on the river we would be eaten alive.

The first bird we saw was a juvenile Moorhen then very quickly she said what was that? It was a Grey Wagtail and it was quite happy and not in the slightest disturbed by us sitting in the car no more than 10 metres away from the river, in fact a little later another Grey Wagtail joined it. It was quite dark at the Ford as there are lots of trees overhanging the river. The whole time we were there, about an hour I suppose, we were surrounded by bird song, we could hear Greater Spotted Woodpeckers and it’s at times like this that you wish you were an expert in bird songs.

Grey Wagtail

We were sitting there in the car quietly talking and I was saying to Jan: “We’re going to be sitting here and in a minute we’re going to see a Kingfisher whizz by and then a couple of Otters are going to come up the river and then we’re going to see some Daubenton’s Bats.

While we were sitting there, there was some odd things happening in the Ford; every now and again there was a terrific bow wave or large ripples but bearing in the mind that there were no splashes and that the Ford is no more than 2 inches deep. If it was a fish after the flies it couldn’t have been a very big one. The water was gin clear and every time it happened we couldn’t see what was causing it. A mystery.

Then it happened! I saw a bird whizz upstream and Jan saw it go back downstream but neither of us saw any blue. I remember seeing a TV programme some time ago called Halcyon Days about Kingfishers and I remembered that they’d said in that programme that the Blue colour of a Kingfisher is iridescent due to the difference between the pigmented and structural colouration and if you place a Kingfisher into shade its true colour, a murky brown shows up. Shortly after that Jan confirmed it was a Kingfisher because she saw the russet brown of its chest as it crossed the river.

Neither of us were prepared for what happened next! At first I thought it was a Water Vole but from under the bridge after the disturbance appeared an Otter, like a Leviathan steadily moving upstream neither looking to the left or right and then a second following nose to tail. They were quite oblivious to our presence.

The whole episode lasted no more than 5 seconds and even if we had been quick witted enough to get our cameras filming we’d have missed it. It was one of those moments when you just took a deep breath and time stood still. Now we’ve seen Otters in the wild many times, in Mull, Strumpshaw and other places but you never expect it on your own doorstep. We both felt incredibly humbled and privileged to witness such an event, yes it would have been nice to have got a video but it was just good to be there.

I said we have to go now before the Daubenton’s Bats turn up and so we went filled with awe and wonder. We hadn’t gone very far toward Great Cressingham when we said what are we going to see next, a Barn Owl, we both said. However, we didn’t see a Barn Owl but we did see another Kestrel sitting on the wires at Church Farm, Threxton.

We returned home feeling very satisfied and blessed with our 6 hours with nature.

As I always say to Jan; “If you don’t go, if you don’t look, you won’t see!” Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting wherever you are.