David, Malcolm, Roger and I were off to the Brecks today and Roger picked
me up at around 06:00 and we saw a Western Barn Owl just before turning to
Newton Harcourt. We transferred our gear
into David’s car who was the nominated driver today and then headed to Market
Harborough to pick up Malcolm and were on our way back 06:30. When we reached
Huntington the A14 to Cambridge was congested and so we decided to take another
route, although we weren’t sure that it saved us any time, although we did keep
moving for most of the journey. There
was a single Common Buzzard near the first roundabout on the Huntington bypass
and another as we approached Mildenhall.
Santon Downham was to be our first port of call where we were hoping to
connect with Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, which had been reported several times
recently. After parking in the Forestry
Commission car park, we walked the short distance to the footpath to Brandon, where
we found notices that it was closed. The
temporary barrier looked as though it was being ignored and we debated whether
to go through and on to where we had seen the woodpeckers last year. However, doubt then arose as to where the
they had been seen and even more so when Malcolm said his pager was reporting
them and Santon Warren. We weren’t sure
were that was and so Malcolm and I went back to the Forestry Commissions office
to try and establish where Santon Warren was.
The lady on reception indicated that it was over the other side of the
level crossing and so we went and parked there and found the warren signed on
the opposite side of the road.
As we went through the gate we saw a Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Common
Buzzard soaring almost above us, but other than another Common Buzzard we
hadn’t seen anything else as we approached the next gate. We also felt that the habitat wasn’t suitable
for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and began to feel we were in the wrong area. As we started to walk back we heard a
Woodlark sing briefly but it didn’t sing again, and we were unable to locate it. We did see a couple of Eurasian Jay and a
Common Kestrel but on reaching the car and talking to another birder we decided
to head for our second target of the day, Northern Goshawk.
We arrived at the site near Cockley Cley and were surprised we were the
only birders there. We got our scopes
out and started to scan the wood seeing quite a few Common Buzzard and a single
Red Kite and it wasn’t too long before we had our first Northern Goshawk, but
it was quite distant. We then had
several sightings up to about 11:00 after which we only had brief and very
distant views. In the past at this site
we have had some good views but today they were quite distant and weren’t on
view for very long, although I did watch one for well over a minute but
couldn’t get the others onto it.
With no further sighting after 11:30 we moved off just before 12:15 to
another site just the other side of the village where we had seen Woodlark last
year. As we walked down the path to the
area where we had seen the Woodlark we had a Eurasian Treecreeper and heard a
Eurasian Nuthatch and a little further along the track circa twenty Eurasian
Siskin flew over. When we reached the
fenced off area, we spent about thirty minutes scanning but there was no sign
of any Woodlark and we had to be content with a single Eurasian Jay and a
Yellowhammer.
After a brief discussion we decided that our best option would be to visit Lynford Arboretum, which wasn’t too far and on our way home. We stopped briefly a couple of times on the road back to the A1065 seeing a good number of Fieldfare and a Redwing at the first stop and a selection of water birds at the second that included a Common Shelduck and two Eurasian Oystercatcher.
After parking at Lynford we walked down the path seeing four Eurasian
Siskin before observing the feeding station, where there was a selection of
common species that included Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Common
Blackbird and Common Chaffinch. We
continued along the track towards the meadow seeing a Mistle Thrush before
reaching the meadow. David walked off to
the right to view the lake where he had heard a Little Grebe and as I started
to follow him when Roger said he had a Hawfinch in one of the trees in the
meadow. We alerted both David and
Malcolm and as we watched the Hawfinch, several flocks of Redwing flew into the
trees. Roger then saw the Hawfinch drop
to the right and Malcolm then said he had one in the tree to the left. David got his scope on this identified it as
a male and I walked along the path to see if I could locate the first
bird. I didn’t find it but did hear both
a Little Grebe and Eurasian Nuthatch.
When I got back to the bridge the others had gone further along the path
and had been watching two Hawfinches, but they had flown further along and so I
walked further along the path to few the end bushes and trees. We didn’t find the Hawfinch, but we did have
a Goldcrest, two Eurasian Bullfinch, four Lesser Redpoll and two Eurasian
Siskin.
As we walked back towards the bridge there were quite a few birds coming
down to feed on seed that had been placed on top of some posts supporting the
bridge. We stopped to observe these and
had a Coal Tit, a Marsh Tit, several Blue and Great Tits, a Eurasian Nuthatch
and a Common Blackbird. Two other
birders then approached the bridge and they asked what we had seen and during
the discussion we found out they had seen the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker where
we had seen them last year and both Parrot Crossbill and Red Crossbill. The Parrot Crossbill had been seen near the
level crossing and the Red Crossbill from the road as they were leaving Santon
Downham. We established where they had
seen them and decided we should go back and see if we could find either of the
crossbills.
We turned off the A134 towards Santon Downham and stopped at the bend in
the road where they had seen the Red Crossbill but there was no sign, but we
did have another Marsh Tit. We continued
along the road and parked near the level crossing before walking down the road
towards the river. I had assumed that
they had been seen in the conifers but there weren’t many and certainly no crossbills,
but David then found several perched in a deciduous tree and we could see
several females and a single male and were able to confirm that they were
Parrot Crossbills. There were more in a
smaller tree and after seeing one drop to the ground, I walked further down the
road to see if I could see them any better.
David and Roger joined me but as we started to focus on them they flew
and headed north but we were able to see that there were twelve birds,
including at least two males.
It had been a bit of a mixed day, disappointed with missing the Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker and only hearing Woodlark, although the late sighting of the
Parrot Crossbills helped save the day.
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