As there was little about
locally and as the weather was forecast to be better in the east we decided to
go to the Brecks and possibly go to on to Titchwell if a Pectoral Sandpiper was
still present.
Roger and I collected David we
headed for Market Harbour to pick up Malcolm before heading off to Cavenham
Heath in Suffolk. As we approached
Market Harborough the heavens opened and we became quite concerned about the
weather but the rain had stopped by the time we reached Malcolm’s, where
surprisingly there hadn’t been any.
We had a Little Egret fly over
the A14 near Kettering and a Red Kite near Molesworth but hadn’t seen anything
else by the time we reached Cavenham Heath.
Having reached Tuddenham we
turned left along The Green to reach the reserve and after parking in the small
car park found we could drive further along the lane to view the heath. However the track soon deteriorated and so we
parked in an area off the track. As we
were getting our kit on we heard a Woodlark singing but we were unable to
locate it and began walking further along the track. Five Shelduck flew over and we could hear a
Cuckoo but it didn’t put in an appearance despite it being heard several times
during our visit. Roger then located a
rather stunning male Stonechat, which appeared to have significantly more white
in the wing than normal. Our target bird
here was Stone Curlew but the grass appeared quite long and we soon realised
that they wouldn’t be easy to see. We
spent quite some time scanning the heath, hearing and being unable to locate a
second singing Woodlark. David though he
might have a Stone Curlew but it was quite someway off and we eventually
decided that it wasn’t one. I turned and
scanned the area to the north-west with the bins and was pretty sure that there
was a bird not too far away. I got the
scope on the area and after confirming it was a Stone Curlew alerted the
others. As we watched in moving through
the grass we realised that it was accompanying a young bird and then Roger
located a second adult. We watched them
for a while and also seeing a female Stonechat before walking back to the car
and heading off to Lakenheath Fen.
I had noted that the RSPB were
doing a moth trapping session this morning but when we arrived they had
partially emptied the trap with a group of young visitors. However several were still resting on the
building and included a Ghost Moth, an Eyed Hawk-moth and Swallow
Prominent. There were also a number of
other moths in pots on the table and included a White Plume Moth, a Chilo
phragmitella; a Schorenobius gigantella; a Barred Umber, a Maiden’s Blush, a
White Ermine and a Burnished Brass. The
moth trap also contained a number of moths and so we set about potting and
identifying them and found a Clouded Border, a Middle-barred Minor and a
Pale-bordered Brocade. We finished
identifying fourteen moths with the White Plume Moth, Schorenobius gigantella
and the Barred Umber all being new species for me.
Having completed examining the
moth trap we set off along the southern track to Joist Fen Viewpoint, seeing a
Great Spotted Woodpecker just after leaving the centre. A little further along the track whilst still
close to the railway line we had a couple of Whitethroats and a male Blackcap
and a Kestrel flew over. As we
approached New Fen we had another Whitethroat and a Reed Warbler a little
further along the track and a female Marsh Harrier passed over the fen.
We eventually reached the
Joist Fen Watch point only to find out we had just missed a Bittern, two Cranes
and a Bearded Tit. However we settled
down on one of the benches overlooking the fen hoping that they might
reappear. There was a Bittern booming
not too far away and it wasn’t too long before I saw the first of two Bearded
Tits and then David picked up a Bittern flying in the distance, which remained
in fight for several minutes before dropping back into the reeds. We continued to scan seeing several male and
female Marsh Harriers and a single Hobby and we had almost given up on the
Cranes when Roger said he thought he had just seen the head of one. We scanned the area and it wasn’t long before
we could see the heads and necks of both birds and eventually most of one of
the birds before they disappeared again.
Malcolm then cried Kingfisher but we all failed to get on it before it
disappeared.
It was no lunchtime and so we
made our way back alongside the Little Ouse River, which is a little further
than the way we came but provides a different view of the reserve. As we approached New Fen there was a male and
a female Marsh Harrier quartering the reeds but they both eventually dropped
down into the reeds. A little further
along the path I noticed a bird in flight over the reeds and initially thought
it would be one of the harriers but when I got the bins on it realised it was
actually a Bittern. It flew almost the
length of the fen before dropping down giving us all time to have reasonable
views.
The area of water near the end
of the path proved disappointing with very little in evidence and Gadwall being
the best.
After a bite to eat in the car
park we had some debate as to whether we should go to Titchwell as the Pectoral
Sandpiper was still present. However on
checking the distant and likely time of arrival we would probably have had less
than an hour before we needed to set off for home and as it appeared to be a rather
elusive, we decided not to go.
We therefore decided to go to
Santon Downham and headed for the St. Helen’s car park. When we arrived there were quite a few people
present but we walked to the river and then along the river bank towards Santon
Downham. As we started walking along the
bank it was obvious that there had been a major emergence of Banded Demoiselles
and we must have seen over five hundred during the walk. Males were considerably more numerous than
females but there was a healthy population of both and they were a magnificent
sight. As we continued along the stream
we found a female Mandarin escorting a brood of six ducklings and a Siskin flew
over calling. We had almost reached the
road bridge when David saw three birds fly into the vegetation and thought that
they were Grey Wagtails. After a brief
wait one of the birds showed and we could see that it was a juvenile Grey
Wagtail but it them sat motionless in the bush with just the occasional flick
of the tail and not surprisingly we didn’t see the others.
We retraced our steps back to
the car park hearing a Treecreeper, which David managed to see, and seeing two
Marsh Tits. I decided to have an
ice-cream whilst the others went off in the other direction to look for Siskin
and I heard a Nuthatch before they returned not having seen a Siskin. It was now time leave and we drove back via
Cambridge on the A14 seeing two Buzzards over the A43 junction at Kettering and
then another from the A6 after leaving Market Harborough.
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