Roger picked me up at around
06:30 on what was very chilly morning and as we drove to David’s we had a Barn
Owl fly over the road not too far from home.
When we arrived at David’s we transferred our gear into his car and set
off to pick Ken up in Uppingham.
Our plan was to go to Santon
Downham where we were hoping to see some Parrot Crossbills that have been
present for a few days. On route we had
a Red Kite and a Buzzard as we approached Peterborough and another Buzzard and
four Kestrel between Peterborough and Guyhirn and a Whooper Swan flew over the
road whilst we were queuing at the Guyhirn roundabout. We then had another couple of Kestrels
between Downham Market and Santon Downham.
As we approached the St.
Helen’s Picnic Site we could see a group of birders looking at a group of pines
on the edge of the car park. After
putting on more layers we walked over and joined the other birders where we
were able to see three or four Parrot Crossbills intermittently as they fed in
the pines. A Great Spotted Woodpecker
flew over and a few minutes later the Parrot Crossbills started to fly out of
the trees towards the river and we were surprised when we counted twenty-six as
we had only been seeing three or four at any one time.
We walked over to the stream
and found several Redwing and after a party of Goldfinch flew out of one of the
willows and I then picked up a male Parrot Crossbill and then realised that
there were a few in the tree. They
didn’t stay too long but flew towards a group of pines between the stream and
the road. When we checked the pines,
there was no sign, but we did see four Little Grebes and a Grey Wagtail on the
river.
As Roger and I walked away
from the stream we could see Ken still in the car park area but couldn’t see
David. He them appeared on the road and
indicated that there were at least some crossbills in the pines they flew
towards from the stream. Again, they
were quite difficult to see, often picking a cone off the tree and then
dropping out of sight, or at least partially, whilst extracting the seeds from
the cones. With patience several did
reveal themselves and I was able to get a few shots of both a male and a
female.
Male Parrot Crossbill
Male Parrot Crossbill
Female Parrot Crossbill
The cold eventually began to
get to us and we went back to the car park and took shelter near the toilet
block hoping the crossbills might return to the original trees. Ken decided to go back to where we had been
seeing them and a few minutes later returned to say they were down on the road
drinking.
I followed him back to the
road seeing two males drinking but as I pressed the shutter they both flew, and
I thought the chance had gone but fortunately there were several others a
little further along the road still at a pool and I did manage to get a few
shots off.
Male Parrot Crossbills
Male Parrot Crossbill
Female Parrot Crossbill
Female Parrot Crossbill
Female Parrot Crossbill
They eventually all went back
into the trees and we suspected that it might be some time before they might
come back down to drink again and we decided to head for Lynford Arboretum in
the hope of finding a Hawfinch.
It wasn’t too far and after
parking we walked to the feeding station in the arboretum where we had several
Blue and Great Tits, a couple of Coal Tits, a Marsh Tit, several Blackbirds and
a couple of Chaffinch.
With no Hawfinch at the
feeders we walked down to the meadow where we have often seen them in the past
but was a little surprised by the general lack of birds as we walked down. When we reached the meadow, there was no sign
of any Hawfinch and during a forty plus minutes wait we had seen very little
with two Jay and a Marsh Tit being the best.
David had heard Siskin on a couple of occasions, but we couldn’t locate them
and eventually returned to feeding station and then the car.
Male Kestrel at Lynford
It was now approaching
lunchtime and we decided to go back to Santon Downham for lunch and perhaps
further views of the crossbills. There
were still a few birders on the approach road to the picnic site and after a coffee
Ken went to join them whilst David, Roger and myself remained in the car for
our lunch. After finishing our lunch, we
discussed what to do next and David came up with a plan that I thought was a
little ambitious and after picking up Ken and seeing two Parrot Crossbill we headed
off towards the Ouse Washes. As we
crossed the bridge towards Santon Downham David spotted an Otter downstream of
the bridge. Ken and Roger saw it briefly
from the car but Ken, Roger and I got out for a better look. I saw the Otter dive twice and when it
surfaced for the second time it appeared to be eating something but then dived
again and disappeared.
We continued towards the Ouse
Washes turning off the A10 to Ten Mile Bottom and after passing through the
small hamlet I saw a Curlew in a field. As
we approached Welney we saw a large flock of swans in a field, which were
rather distant but appeared be just Whooper Swans, so we continued towards the
Welney Reserve. We didn’t stop at the
reserve but just after passing the centre found another large concentration of
swans, that were a little closer. Again,
they all appeared to be Whooper Swans, but Ken and I risked the elements and
got our scopes out to get a better look.
Ken said he thought he had a Bewick’s Swan and provided directions and I
got on the bird I thought he meant and confirmed that it was a Bewick’s and
David and Roger then got out of the car to look. We couldn’t find any more but many of the
birds were not identifiable due to their position in the flock and there could
have been others, although the single Bewick’s wasn’t tending to mix with the
large flock of Whoopers.
We had seen another Kestrel at
Welney and then another between there and March and another two were then
observed before we turned and headed for the car park at Eldernell.
It was bitterly cold here, so
we observed the washes from the comfort of the car. Other than a large flock of corvids and a
constant stream of Woodpigeon and a single Kestrel perched near the sluice gate
there didn’t appear to be a great deal else. I then picked up a distant Marsh
Harrier and David had a Kingfisher fly over which nobody else saw. He then said I got a Short-eared Owl, which
disappeared prompting the rest of us to get out of the car and rushed to the
bridge to view the large meadow to the east.
Initially we didn’t see anything but then Roger picked it up as it flew
west and after watching it briefly we went back to the car, where we had
further views both in flight and on the ground.
David then said we will give it another ten minutes and then head off as
the light was beginning to fade. A few
minutes later he said get on these I think they are Cranes flying west. We all got on the birds and confirmed that
there were four Cranes heading west. As
I watched them disappear behind a nearby tree I noticed two more on the
ground. Ken was now out of the car and
rushed back grabbing his scope and saying they are on the ground. Whilst he was out of the car the two Cranes
became three as one, a juvenile, had been hidden by the two adults. When Ken came back to the car he said he had
seen two adults and a juvenile but hadn’t realised that they were different
from the four we had seen first.
Whilst we hadn’t got a big
list today seeing Parrot Crossbill, which was a year-tick, and also finding our
first winter Bewick’s Swan and seeing seven Cranes and a Short-eared Owl at
Eldernell and an Otter at Santon Downham made it an excellent day in what were
very cold conditions.
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