David, Malcom, Roger and I,
had planned for a day’s birding in the Brecks and after picking Malcom up just
before 07:00 we headed for the A14 and then east towards Huntingdon. Malcolm had suggested that we came off the
A14 at Huntingdon and head east to Mildenhall, which turned out to be a god
idea as the traffic on the A14 was at a standstill as we went over it at
Huntingdon. There were two Great Spotted
Woodpeckers calling at home and we had seen a couple of Buzzards before we
picked Malcolm up, after which we saw just two Kestrel before reaching
Mildenhall. On reaching Mildenhall we
headed north through Brandon to Santon Downham and parked in the car park at
the Forestry Commission, which was free.
Our target here was Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker and after reaching the Little Ouse we walked west for about
a mile to reach the site where the birds were being seen. The news as we walked out was promising, as
two had been seen but when we arrived they had disappeared. We were there for about an hour and
forty-five minutes by which time there were quite a few birders present. We had considered calling it a day after
about ninety minutes with no further sightings but thankfully we didn’t as both
Malcolm and Roger found one feeding amongst some other birds in a small
tree. As I started to scan to look for
it, it flew out of the tree and flew towards us and landed in another tree but
closer. It then flew several more times
coming even closer but failed to stay perched anywhere for more than a few
seconds before heading off west along the line trees and we eventually lost
it. I had managed to get on it twice
whilst it was perched but the views were very brief and a little disappointing
after the long wait. Other birds seen
during our stay were two Chiffchaff, a Nuthatch, several Siskin and two Lesser
Redpoll and we had also heard Mandarin, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted
Woodpecker and several more Nuthatches.
We had also seen four species
of butterfly, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma and Brimstone and narrowly
missed out on Otter, which had been showing as we walked back to the car.
Comma
Small Tortoiseshell
Female Siskin
Female Siskin
Female Siskin
Female Siskin
However, relieved we had at
least seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker we headed north to Cockley Cley in the
hope of seeing Goshawk. When we arrived
on site the wind was gusting and it was
noticeably colder and overcast.
We intended staying whilst having lunch but we felt the conditions were
not that favourable for Goshawks to display.
We soon noticed several Buzzards displaying and we eventually must have
at least ten birds during our stay and I also picked up two Sparrowhawks, with
one displaying briefly. As we continued
to scan I picked up another accipiter that was just gliding into the wind low
over the wood and as I tried to get the others onto it and I was sure it was a
Goshawk by the time they had found it, it dropped into the wood causing a large
number of Woodpigeons to burst into flight.
We made our way back to
Munford and Lynford Arboretum where we were hoping for Crossbill and
Hawfinch. After parking, we walked down
towards the paddock but stopped and joined several other birders viewing a
feeding station. There didn’t appear to
be too much initially with just a few Chaffinch and a Nuthatch but I then found
a couple of Bramblings and a few minutes later a Hawfinch dropped onto the
ground.
Nuthatch
Hawfinch
Hawfinch
Having got the first of the
target birds we started to walk on towards the paddock, seeing several Redwing
and two Mistle Thrush in a field to the left of the path. When we reached the paddock, other birders
hadn’t see any Crossbill, although they had been present earlier. As we walked further along the path there
were a couple of Marsh Tits and four Long-tailed Tits and a party of birds in
the pines further along induced to go even further down the path. We didn’t see any Crossbills, although David
was certain he had heard them calling, and so we stopped down that end of the
track hoping they might appear. As we
did so, there was quite a lot activity, mainly Redwing and Chaffinches but we
did find five more Hawfinches in the trees in the centre of the paddock. I also then thought I heard a Crossbill but
wasn’t certain and nothing materialised but we continued to see plenty of
Redwings and a Sparrowhawk.
As we walked back Malcolm had
gone on ahead hoping he might be able to get better photos of the Hawfinches at
the feeders and Roger was some way behind David and I, when he called and
pointed. David and I looked and in one
of the trees in front of us were a male and female Crossbill. We managed to alert Malcolm who came back but
unfortunately managed to flush them as he tried to get a better view. David said we should perhaps stand back from
the tree and see what happens and the strategy paid off as the pair of
Crossbill returned almost immediately.
We were then able to get better views of the birds and a few photos of
the male.
Crossbill
Crossbill
Crossbill
We now appeared to be on a
role and David suggested that we should go to Lakenheath Fen where there had
been a pair of Garganey yesterday.
Malcolm and I stopped briefly at the feeding station again where I
picked up a couple of Brambling and then two Hawfinches. The Hawfinches appeared to drop behind a wall
and after a couple of minutes without any sign I set off back to the car but
Malcolm called me back and we then had both Hawfinches on the ground.
Hawfinch
Hawfinch
Hawfinches
We eventually got back to the
car and went to Lakenheath Fen and after parking walked the short distance to
the visitor’s centre. The volunteer on
the desk confirmed that the Garganey were still present and we went to view the
Washland. We scanned the water several
times, where there were plenty of Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler but there was no
sign of the Garganey and so I walked a little further north to get a different
view but had the same result, although I did see a Little Egret and a
female-type Marsh Harrier. Another
birder then arrived and said one of the volunteers had indicated that the birds
were in the south-west corner and so I suggested that we should have a look
from the western bank to make sure that they weren’t tucked under the near
bank. David needed to make tracks for
home but we agreed we might as well have a look but again drew a blank. As we were about to leave I had one last scan
of the water and was surprised to find the male Garganey well away from any
vegetation and in clear view. I alerted
the others and whilst getting them onto it looked at the nearby birds for the
female. I hadn’t seen it when David said
is that the female next to the male, which it was but it certainly wasn’t that
close to the male when I looked a few minutes before. Why we hadn’t seen either of them earlier was
surprising but David did see six birds drop in but they could also have swum
out from the vegetation around the edges.
It was a good end to an
excellent day, that had started slowly, but we had seen most of our target
birds four of which, Garganey, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Crossbill and
Hawfinch, were all year-ticks.
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