Abbey Farm, Flitcham & South Pickenham-Little Cressingham – Thursday 30th April 2015
Abbey Farm Front View From The Hide
I was really glad that Jan had finished work this week and the feeling of stepping out of the house for the first time in 3 days was nearly indescribable. The feel of the wind and the fresh air on my face and in my nostrils was like a natural high, not that I have ever taken drugs (other than those prescribed or bought over the Chemist’s counter) but it felt as if all of a sudden my body and senses had just been elevated to another level.
We had to get some new supplies of bird food from Swaffham and then it was onward to Abbey Farm, Flitcham on the outskirts of the Sandringham Estate. For once there were no great sightings on the way other than the usual Corvids, Wood Pigeon and Game Birds. There is always a sense of excitement, anticipation and apprehension as make away along Abbey Road to the farm car park; what will we see and how many people will be there. Sometimes, when we’ve arrived at the car park there may have been several cars parked and then a decision has to be made; do we go on to somewhere else or wait around to see if anyone leaves. The reason being is that there is just one hide and it comfortably holds about 9 people but we have been there when there have been considerably more and it becomes definitely uncomfortable.
We first discovered Abbey Farm several years ago when, during a visit to the Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve at Sculthorpe Moor, Fakenham, one of the volunteers told us about Abbey Farm and the resident Tree Sparrows in the area. It took us a few attempts to find it but it has been a constant joy to visit the farm on innumerable occasions (too many, to remember how many). We and I’m sure many visitors to the farm have been eternally grateful to the Cross family who have farmed there since 1958 and encouraged wildlife there and given access to the public to share it. They still have plans to develop the diversity of the wildlife there in the future as well. You read more about Abbey Farm, Flitcham on their website, which can be found here:
We arrived at the car park just before 2.30pm and fortunately there was just one car there, although it was trying to pretend it was two by parking in the middle of two spaces. As I entered the hide the owner of the car was just leaving. We have found that in our many visits to the farm that most visitors only remain in the hide for a short time and are only looking for three criterion: Are the Little Owls/Kingfishers/Tree Sparrows visible and if not they move on. Mind you they probably criticise us for being “Hide Blockers” as we tend to stay there anything from an hour to several hours. Whatever you may first find at the farm it has a tendency to develop into an almost magical experience as more and more surprises are pulled out of it’s hat and today was no exception.
When we arrived it was bright and breezy and the temperature was 14˚C although the wind did freshen during the afternoon and there was one rain shower. At first scan there didn’t appear to be much about, just the usual Coots, Moorhens, Jackdaws, Rabbits, Mallard, Pheasants, Black-headed Gulls, Blackbirds and Wood Pigeons. The Visitors’ Book had no entries for the day and the last one was for the 28th. Although the Little Owls had been mentioned frequently there had been no mention of Kingfishers for some time. We settled down and hoped the farm would produce her magic.
The hide sits in front of a Spring fed pool which in past years has almost dried up, in fact the farm sits on the most easterly, regularly flowing springhead of the River Babingly and this year, so far there is plenty of water in front of the hide.
View Towards The Right Of The Hide
Jan was trying out a new external mic for her camera as both our cameras seem to have inaudible noises which make the use of the ambient sounds unusable, hence the backing tracks we put on our videos. At first look at the videos Jan made of the general area it doesn’t appear to have been too successful but we’ll see when we look at the videos in more detail. The hope was that we could record a general soundtrack of the days filming that we could use as a backing for our videos and although the new mic has eliminated the wind noise it still appears to have picked up the camera’s noise so that is still very much work in progress.
As we looked out from the hide the first thing that was apparent, was the number of chicks about. Moorhens, Coots and Mallard all had various numbers of chicks and there was also a fair sprinkling of young rabbits about. In fact one of the adult Rabbits first drew my attention as although it had all the attributes of a Rabbit, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large Rabbit and until it got up from its prone position I was sure it was a Hare.
The more we scanned the panorama in front of the hide more sightings popped up. There were Shelduck, 3 pairs of Gadwall, Red Legged Partridges, Robin, Wren, several Oystercatchers, Lapwing, 3 Hare (1 on the farm and 2 in adjoining fields), Greylag Geese (which increased in number as the afternoon went on), Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Song Thrush, Goldfinches and a Blackcap singing in the trees behind the hide.
Then a rather comedic event developed; a Stoat, but it was being chased by a Rabbit which sent a Grey Squirrel scuttling for safety up a tree. We can only assume that perhaps the Stoat was young and inexperienced as the Rabbit certainly wasn’t an adult and that it had perhaps lost its nerve in its first attempt at a kill but who knows we may have got it completely wrong. We have seen Stoats doing their dance before and enticing its prey ever closer but this one was certainly running for its life.
Another scene developed later on when a Mallard led her 8 very young, perhaps 1-3 day old, chicks from the pool across the field when it attracted a Jackdaw who followed them. Last year we saw a couple of Jackdaws kill young chicks in a similar situation but this time another unusual scene developed. As the Jackdaw approached the chicks the mother did make an attempt to ward off the Jackdaw but even so he did pick up one of the chicks but then was immediately set upon by a Lapwing who shewed the bird off and every time it tried to get back to the chicks the Lapwing renewed its attack until eventually the Jackdaw gave up. The protective instinct must be strong in Lapwings to protect other species of birds. We drew our breath again a little later when 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls landed in the pool where the Mallard was shepherding her chicks around. Fortunately they left before they saw the chicks which would have been less than a mouthful for them. It makes you wonder how the young birds ever survive but I guess that is why they have so many chicks. 
On our last visit we saw about 8 or so Ducklings that appeared to have no parent bird with them, they were almost as young as these ones we had seen today. Perhaps the parent bird had deserted them or fallen prey to a predator of some kind. Today we saw three unattended chicks in different locations and wondered whether these were all that remained of that original clutch. They had certainly grown enough to be the right size but they had still a lot more growing to be done before they would be safe.
In our last home, in Bressingham we used to have Ducks either nesting in our garden or visiting our pond with their chicks and over time, the number of chicks diminished in some cases from 14 to 0 and in one case a mother disappeared off a nest with about a dozen or so eggs in it. Life is hard for these birds but in some cases there are predators who rely on them for their own young, that is apart from the Cats which is a case in point that you don’t want me to rant on about!
Little Owl In The Tree Roots
During the afternoon a Little Owl appeared in the tree roots a couple of times but didn’t leave the tree. One can only assume that it was either a lone bird or that eggs were being incubated as otherwise there would have been the need to collect food for the owlets.
Again - Little Owl In The Tree Roots
Also 2 Red Kites floated over the farm, they were untagged birds and appeared to going through a rather graceful display of bonding or pairing up. Always a lovely site as I consider Red Kites to be the masters (or mistresses) of the skies. They appeared to have no interest in swooping down to make a kill.
Red Kites (Sorry For The Poor Quality - They Are Grabs From The Video)
Shortly after the Kites appeared the first Buzzard appeared riding the thermals high in the sky to our left with another one much lower down beneath it and then out of nowhere another Buzzard appeared much lower in front of us being mobbed by 6 Jackdaws. The Buzzard didn’t appear to be bothered about them in the slightest as it searched for a thermal and gradually ascended eventually leaving the Jackdaws behind and at the very same time another 2 Buzzards appeared high in the sky to our right so this happened almost simultaneously. I was only just thinking that only on Friday I was bragging to Nikki Wheetman, an experienced Falconer that we rarely see less than 5 Buzzards when we go out and Jan said after I spotted the first one, that she was only just thinking that we haven’t see any Buzzards yet today. We saw another 3 (whether they were the same or not, we don’t know) before we left.
At various times in the afternoon the pool was visited by several House Martins and we saw a couple of Swallows fly over.
We left shortly after 6.30pm once again thoroughly enjoying the delights that Abbey Farm had revealed to us most of which the 3 visitors to the hide never saw because they all stayed so briefly.
The Light Was Constantly Changing Throughout The Day
I was most surprised when Jan suggested we eat out again as we had done last week but this time it was nothing as salubrious as the Olde Windmill at Great Cressingham but MacDonalds on the A47 at Swaffham, still we enjoyed it.
We decided to make our way home via North Pickenham hoping to pick up a few other sightings on the way. We saw a Magpie just before North Pickenham and then going along Peddars Way in South Pickenham we stopped on a Beet hard standing of a field where we have seen many Hares over the last few years but now the growing crop was at a height that would only allow us to see a Hare if it sat up or moved. As we pulled in 2 immediately sat up just up to our right and various Pheasant and Partridge heads became visible. We also saw a dark Muntjac stag making his way from us along the hedge. There was also a Cockerel near the hedge which gave a Pheasant the scare of his life when the Cockerel flew at him, the Pheasant quickly fled.
We carried on along Peddars Way seeing another 8 Hares, 3 Greylag Geese, 20+ Rabbits and numerous Pheasants and Partridges.
This is what we saw:
Little Owl
2 Red Kites
8 Buzzards
8 Lapwing
7 Oystercatchers
12+ Greylag Geese
Mallard (too many to count, although 1 with 8 chicks & 3 separate chicks)
Moorhen (several with chicks)
Coots (several with chicks)
Black-headed Gulls (too many to count)
2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Wood Pigeon (too many to count)
4 Stock Doves
3 Prs of Gadwall
5 Shelduck
Several Blackbirds
Song Thrush
3 Goldfinches
Robin
Several Chaffinches
Corvids (Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws & 1 Magpie)
Pheasants (too many to count)
Red Legged Partridges (too many to count)
Blue Tits
Great Tits
6 House Martins
2 Swallows
Blackcap (heard only)
2 Muntjac Deer
15 Hares
Red Tailed Bumblebees (several)
Common Carder Bee
Garden Bumble Bee
A really welcome day out. Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.
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