Barn Owl

Giving good views from the kitchen window in the fog this morning.

Weekend

With the weekend spent doing home improvements, the welcoming news of confirmation of a trip to Poland in April resulted in a more renewed effort to get stuff done before spring!! At home we had a return of Siskin on the feeders (the first for a couple of years) along with Goldfinch and of course our Barn Owl.

Siskin

Goldfinch

Norfolk Tick

An appointment at West Beckham late afternoon fortuitously ensured that I could go from my office in Aylsham via Barningham Hall. Not usually a big deal, apart from this time there's been a Cattle Egret over the past couple of days here feeding behind a plough. As I pulled up with a couple of other cars a scanned the back of the field and immediately saw the bird flying towards us, scrambling for my unprepared camera, the bird flew virtually over or heads and plonked itself on the roadside verge! The greyness of the afternoon was crap for pics, but a couple of shots for posterity were snatched before the bird flew to the opposite side of the field. This was a first in Norfolk for me, having had a couple of half-hearted attempts previously, and looking back, only the second in the UK, the first being at Pagham Harbour (I think) in 1985!!!

was it or wasn't it?!

I was stopped dead in my tracks yesterday as I walked up a customers path at the western end of Holman Road Road in Aylsham - hearing a dry, rolling trill immediately lit up the name Serin in my brain! Unfortunately my customer had already spied me as I arrived, so I had to dutifully go through the motions of work before, half an hour later, I could grab my bins from the car and scan the row large trees next to the road where I heard the call. Nothing there except a small group of fat green peanut-buzzards (Greenfinches!) though there were a few birds flitting about in the area, including more finches (Green and Chaff) I left, convincing myself I'ld miss heard a Greenfinch-it niggled for the rest of the day!

Barn Owl

The Barn Owl has been fairly prevalent during the daylight hours this weekend, and by the looks of the ringed leg, it is likely that its the same bird seen at the beginning of the autumn. This is good news because we had noticed him by his absence since returning from our hols.

Wednesday

With the garden thermometer reading -6 C, I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere fast! A slow drive to Caister via a Waxwingless North Walsham was uneventful. A brief visit to the beach at Caister did not result in the ad Med Gull I often used to see here. On the way back via Ludham the flock of Bewick's Swan near the bridge here were feeding on the marshes, albeit fairly distant.

Bewick's Swan

.