A Special Day

Little Cressingham & Hilborough - Tuesday 30th September 2014

Today was a special day for us as it was our 42nd Wedding Anniversary. We had planned to go somewhere special and take a picnic with us but my stomach problems put the damper on that so we decided just to do a little local spotting.

We didn't go out until the afternoon when the day had brightened up considerably and the temperature was a comfortable 21 C. Our trip started off in Smugglers' Road, Little Cressingham, a small country lane that goes down to STANTA (The Stanford Training Area) and the firing ranges. As we entered the lane we came across a covey of Red Legged Partridges numbering about 20 it was the first of several we saw during our little expedition. There were a large number of Rooks, Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons on the fields on both sides of the lane.

We were about half way down the lane when Jan noticed a Buzzard land in a tree on the far side of the left hand field. It took me a little time to find it even with Jan's guidance but it sat in the tree for quite a while before flying off. Jan's guidance is legendary on our Whale Watching trips we were taught to use the clock face as a guide to the direction to look but Jan has steadfastly refused to use that, preferring rather to use there's a bird in that tree while pointing towards Thetford Forest. But to be fair to her, my misunderstanding of what she is saying is also legendary. Once at Lackford Lakes I searched intensively for about half an hour for what I thought she said was a Deer, she was beginning to get quite upset at me for not seeing the Snipe she had pointed out to me! Well after 42 years we can read each other like a book, I don't think so. We carried on down the lane until we came to the range gates where we parked up for a while. We could hear birds in the trees around us but couldn't see them although as we were leaving this spot Jan saw a couple of Thrushes in the tops of the trees. 

A short way down the lane we saw about half a dozen birds flitting into a large bush where we have seen birds before. At first we couldn't make them out but we crept forward slowly until we could see them clearly. They were a small flock of Yellowhammers (collective noun - guttering, menorah or Peterson). These are lovely birds which we get in our garden particularly in the Spring and Winter. Their name derives from the male's yellow head, hammer is apparently the Nordic word for head. We watched these birds for a while before continuing back down the lane, there was one male and five females or juveniles. We'd got about halfway back down the lane when I saw a Kestrel at the top of a dead tree in the field which was now on our left. Again it sat there for a little while before flying off. We parked by the trees near the top of the road and again we could hear birds but we couldn't see them until a Sparrowhawk flew out of the trees and further up the lane. We saw the Sparrowhawk again as we were leaving the lane flying towards Bodney. There was a really large covey of Partridges in the field on our right.

Driving back towards Watton we turned left into Cressingham Road where at the junction we again saw another large covey of Partridges. We parked up by the bridge on the South side of the Watton Brook. In the newly ploughed field in front of us we could see large numbers of Pheasants, Partridges and Rabbits. In and around the brook we could could, again, hear birds but only saw the occasional bird move. I did think one was a Crest but they were moving so fast it was difficult to identify them correctly. There were quite a few White Butterflies flitting about in the brook and I did see one alight on some vegetation quite near us it was a Green Veined White, I'd never seen one of these before.

We moved off towards Great Cressingham and we saw a few birds flitting about in the hedgerows but just before we came into the village we disturbed a large bird from a roadside tree on our left, it was another Buzzard but this one was quite pale underneath, we saw it again about 100 metres down the road.

Carrying onto the Ford on the River Wissey at Hilborough we parked up and had our coffee. Again there were plenty of birds moving about in the dense foliage of the bushes, Jan did see a couple of Long Tailed Tits (collective noun - a volery). After waiting there for some time we saw a solitary Grey Wagtail turn up to feed on the abundant flylife around the river.

We carried on to Swaffhan to do some shopping before heading off back home. It was now about 7.30pm and darkness was closing in and the mist was beginning to rise but we decided to use the cut through lane between the Swaffham and Watton Roads. We pulled up at our usual spot where we frequently stop during the daytime. We hadn't been there very long when the ghostly form of a Barn Owl appeared moving along the far side of the field, this started the Tawny Owls (collective noun - bazaar, parliament, glaring, hooting, stooping or wisdom) and we heard at least three in this location, which was a male and female and one other calling to each other and then a different pair a bit further down the lane. Unfortunately while we there we could hear someone not too far away from us on our right firing a .22 rifle (probably poaching the Pheasants in their roosts or Rabbits or Hares).

Anyway the Owls were a great way to end our special day.

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.