Rain, Raptors & Rooks

A Local Afternoon - Wednesday 8th October 2014

Autumn is well and truly with us this week and the weather has become more changeable. The weather was quite atrocious in the morning, wet and windy and I didn't think there was much hope of us getting out so I was glad when Jan said that we had to get some bird seed and do some shopping. We went to Swaffham and the afternoon brightened up, the temperature rising from about 14 to 16C.

Our first stop on the way home was the Ford at Hilborough on the River Wissey. As you drive down to the Ford it is like entering another world. The trees gather together over you and seem to shut the outside world out apart from the muffled sound of the traffic of the nearby Mundford to Swaffham Road but even that adds to the other worldliness of the atmosphere. There was more water in the river  than of late but there was still plenty of fly life on the surface of the river. Being a little deeper the Ford had obviously got some larger fish in residence and there were several swirls and takes on the surface of the river.

The first bird that Jan saw was a female Kestrel in a tree in an adjacent field. I didn't really get to see it because of our position it was hidden by the trees and hedgerow but Jan got a couple of shots of the bird.

It wasn't too long before a Grey Wagtail turned up and made the most of the abundant fly life. Then as we were sitting there Jan said she could hear the call of a Buzzard and it wasn't too far away. This is not unusual in this location but we rarely get to see the bird that is making the call but this afternoon was slightly different because right in front of us and through a clearing in the tree canopy a Buzzard, at treetop height turned in before flying off from our sight.

Unfortunately after that the first of two dog walkers turned up which normally means that everything goes quiet for a while. This is the first time in our lives that we haven't had a dog or dogs and we know just too well how precious good dog walking sites are especially in the quieter areas. The second turned up shortly afterwards but she was more chatty and told us of the wildlife she had seen at the Ford and gave us a pointer to another spot that we might like to try in Hilborough.

The only downside to the Ford is that with each visit there appears to be more and more rubbish that has been dumped in the lane. It makes me so sad that some people's only appreciation of such a lovely site is that it is a spot to dump their rubbish!

We decided to move on and we checked the second site that the lady dog walker had told us of. It was Hilborough Church and although we didn't stay there long, it may well be a place that we return to in the future. Moving on to the small lane that cuts between the Swaffham and Watton Roads we parked in our usual place. Once again this is a location which is so beautiful. Although you can't see it from the roadside the River Wissey runs along what I think is one of the most beautiful valleys in Norfolk.

It wasn't too long before we saw hundreds of Rooks and Jackdaws take to the air and move to pastures new, in the far distance I could see a Buzzard soaring on the thermals but then I became aware that a few Rooks were mobbing what at first I thought was another, closer, Buzzard over the river. As we observed the unfolding action we could see that it wasn't a Buzzard at all and there wasn't just one of them there were three of them; they were Red Kites such elegant masters of the air. They just rode the thermals before disappearing into the distance. There was plenty of other birdlife about; Wood Pigeons in their hundreds, the odd Crow dotted about and the now brightly coloured cock Pheasants which are aliens to our countryside but provide such a splash of welcome colour to our fields and forests.

We moved on to the bridge over the Watton Brook at Little Cressingham. A few weeks ago this location was buzzing with small birds topping up their reserves before they began their migrations. Today it was very quiet other than a Hare in the field right in front of us. We are very fortunate in that in our area there is an abundance of Hares but in many parts of the country they are now totally absent from the countryside. They are such magnificent creatures it would be such a travesty if they disappeared altogether. There is a video of this Hare on our YouTube Channel, just click on the relevant icon in the top right of this blog. We moved onto the Watermill at Little Cressingham and it was quite obvious that the hedgerows, along the way, that only last week were alive with small birds now had a much smaller and widespread number of occupants. There were still plenty of fruits in the hedgerow so I can only assume the the colder nights we've had over the last few days have encouraged the birds to either begin their migration or just move on. Sometimes the birds that we think are local are often birds that have moved down the country from more adverse conditions in the north and the local birds that were here have moved a bit further south. Also many of the small birds will have begun their massive migrations to the warmer climes of Africa.

At the Watermill it was much the same story very little evidence of birds moving in the hedgerows although Jan could hear birds she couldn't see them, we did see several Blackbirds moving about. To our left we could see another Buzzard beginning to ride the thermals before disappearing towards the Watton direction. Just a few poles down from us we could see a male Great Spotted Woodpecker looking for insects on the pole, again there is a video of this on our YouTube Channel.

We then decided to make our way home via Threxton and once again we could hear birds but couldn't see them until we came upon a group of Long Tailed Tits flitting about in the hedgerow keeping just in front of us. As we approached Saham Tony we came across another female Kestrel perched on top of a tree. We were denied a closer look at the bird because as we pulled off the road a rather impatient motorist passed us giving his engine a rather throaty roar which obviously alarmed the Kestrel and the last we saw of her was as she disappeared over the fields.

A very rewarding few hours spent in the local countryside, the weather looks much better for tomorrow, I wonder if we'll get out.

Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.