Wensum Valley Birdwatching Society

The carpark was filling up rapidly as we arrived at Lynford and a later count revealed 34 members had turned out for this popular walk. The weather was fine but cool. We set off past the Arboretum, ears and eyes on alert and the list soon began to mount. Our target birds were Hawfinch,Crossbill and Firecrest but anything could turn up. We spent some considerable time around the paddocks trying to locate the elusive Hawfinch with little success. As we continued around the paddock perimeter we had several sightings of Crossbill flying over but no Hawfinch. A pair of Buzzards were circling high in the thermals and then a good close view of Siskin and Crossbills;and an even closer views of a male and two female Crossbills as we came back over the bridge. Although we 1 sent out scouting parties ahead we didn’t manage to locate reported Firecrest either. Back to the cars for lunch and then down to the lake. As we neared the hide we added Marsh and Coal Tits to our list.(I think we already had them on our list from around the Arboretum?) Then a loud shout went up “Red Kite!”and above our heads floated this magnificent bird with the unmistakable forked tail and seemingly unfazed by the attentive corvids. It soon disappeared behind the trees but not before we had all had a great view. What an unexpected bonus!.  Around the lake we added Sand Martins,Tufted Duck and others but we were all still buzzing from seeing the Kite.

We decided to head for Weeting Heath not knowing if the reserve was open yet but planning to carry on to Lakenheath anyway. We duly arrived at Weeting to find the gates locked. However our intrepid Secretary ventured in and located the warden who kindly allowed us to come into the carpark with the news that 5 Stone Curlew were in and might be seen from the west hide. Regrettably ,wherever they were they were out off sight and after a frantic search it was decided that we should carry on to Lakenheath. We reported to the RSPB Centre to be told that Garganey and Ferruginous Duck had been seen. Again,despite thirty-four pairs of eyes scanning every nook and cranny we had no joy. We did however see lots of great birds with good, close views of Marsh Harriers and were just in time to catch a Crane floating away from us over the reeds. We had an excellent day’s birding with 70 species being recorded. Many thanks to our event leader, Richard Norris, for organising and leading the walk.

P.S. We later heard that one of our party (some way ahead of the main group) had seen Hawfinch in the paddock area but the message didn’t get back. So the final ,impressive,total seen is 71. If you wish to see the full list of species just ask one of the Committee.

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