Ickburgh

A New Discovery For Us & Long Tailed Tits – Saturday 24^th January 2015

We love finding new places to have a mooch around and today we found a beautiful piece of hidden Norfolk. It was new for us anyway. We have often passed this particular road many times on our way to other places but I have often wondered where it went to and today we found out.

We left home just after 2.30pm, it was quite bright and although the temperature was a balmy 7˚C (not bad for late January) the wind was what we quite often say in Norfolk: “A lazy wind,” because it goes right through you and it certainly made the temperature feel a couple of degrees lower.

Our original plan was to go to Lynford to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Hawfinches or Crossbills that frequent that area but we never got that far. As we entered Ickburgh I asked Jan to take a left down to St. Peter’s Church. I just assumed the road would fizzle out after going through the village. The reality of it was that as we went further along Ashburton Road the scenery just got better.

Ashburton Road Ickburgh

Like lots of places in our area the M.O.D. Stanford Training Area ran along one side of the road but that just enhanced the beauty of the area.

We got to one part of the road after St. Peter’s Church and we could see a number of small birds flitting between the hedge on one side of the road and the trees on the other. Most just went into the deep cover of the trees without us being able to identify them but we did see a large flock of Long Tailed Tits (collective noun – a zephyr, in New Zealand it’s a volery and generally it’s a banditry of Tits. Personally for Long Tailed Tits, I rather like a tangle of), Jan said there were about 30 of them. They are so infuriating to film or photograph because they never stay still and quickly move onto new ground, it’s often a case of catch up, sometimes it’s better to get ahead of them and wait for them to come to you but there was no chance of that today.

River Wissey

We also saw Great Tits, Blue Tits, Wood Pigeon, Blackbirds and later a Magpie and a Grey Squirrel. Eventually we came to the River Wissey and although there were no birds there today, I’m sure this location is going to be very fruitful later. It’s the sort of place that would be rather nice for a riverside picnic. Already I’m beginning to get excited about thoughts of what invertebrate and insect life there will be there later in the year.

River Wissey

We spent some time there but we didn’t pick the best place to park up because the sun was directly in our eyes so we made our way through Thetford Forest to do some shopping at Thetford. We did see a Muntjac Deer as we travelled through the forest.

River Wissey

On our way home we made a couple of detours through the forest and via Thompson and Merton hoping to see an Owl but no such good fortune today. However it is encouraging that the days are getting longer with dusk coming now around 5pm. 

It won’t be too long now to Spring. Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.