Wensum Valley Birdwatching Society

As we left Cherry-Tree carpark just after 9 a.m on June 28th it was already warm and sultry.  We got to Weeting Heath reserve even before the warden had arrived and opened up.  He soon got organised and told us the latest news.  We approached the West hide quietly and were rewarded with a good view of one Stone Curlew with another pair just visible.  A Stoat was racing around up to no good and a Buzzard was in the far trees.  On walking on to the Woodland hide we saw a good number of birds in the trees either side of the path.  We moved on up the road to a spot recommended by Glenn for Tree Pipit and, sure enough, had a good view together with a number of other species, mainly Warblers. 

As we arrived at Lakenheath a Bittern was seen briefly flying across the river and a Lesser-whitethroat was at the entrance to the reserve.  It was now very warm.  On the pond outside the Visitor’s Centre we saw Emperor, Four-spot Chasers and Brown Hawker dragonflies.  A Cuckoo was calling and we later had good views of it.  We set off around the pathways in a clockwise direction stopping at the various view-point stations on the way.  Bitterns were booming and our birdlist kept growing. 

Our target bird was, of course, the Golden Oriel which had been showing well recently while feeding its young at the nest.  However, the young had flown and it was now a case of finding the birds amongst the poplar trees.  Easy you’d think, but it’s amazing how a bright yellow and black bird can be almost invisible in the green of the trees.  But this was our lucky day.  After a short time at the recommended spot we had great views of a male; firstly foraging and then flying across the gap in the trees opposite where we were gathered. 

After all the excitement had died down we continued around the reserve picking up Marsh Harriers and Hobby at the Viewpoint and finally came to the river bank path leading back to the carpark.  In all we spotted 63 species.  The nineteen members had a thoroughly enjoyable, if somewhat sweltering, day and many thanks must go to our Event Leader, Colin Fenn, especially for his immaculate timing of the rain storm.

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