Iphone pictures

 Drinker moth

 Kingfisher through the scope

 Swallow through the scope

Great silver beetle, a poor flier from our observations

week 20

14^th May  Les & I visited Fowlmere, two hobbies quartered the reed beds but nothing else of interest, there were no turtle doves, the first time we have failed to find one at this time of year,

15^th May  Les & I went to Rye meads. We found a gropper reeling from the warbler hide and I got some video of the kingfishers thro’ my scope on my iphone. The parents were busy feeding the fledglings and posing. There were also an impressive number of various ducks present but no waders or cuckoo

16^th May  An early start to Minsmere with Les in perfect weather. Britain may not be booming at present but the bitterns certainly were! Highlights were Little tern, Whimbrel, stone curlew, bearded tit. There were a number of common waders. We found Dartford warblers on Westleton heath and a family of stonechats hunting. Interesting insects were a Small copper, a Great silver beetle attempting to fly and Drinker and Garden tiger caterpillars.

17^th May  we watched the blue tits fledging from our box by the kitchen window, I saw the first one emerge at about 0650, there were already a couple out, Les shot out of bed to see the next ones emerge when told they were on their way out. There was a possible ring necked parakeet over the house but it caught me without my bins........... Then back to house hunting.

18^th May  I took the abandoned tit box down to clean it out and found three dead babies in it and sadly another that had fallen into the pond. Back to house hunting.

19^th May  i had an early walk around Nortonbury on the patch, young mistle thrushes were on the lawn at the farm, looking bigger than the parents. I videod yellowhammers and greenfinches thro’ the scope again.

20^th May  Little time for birding, but we did have a leucistic collared dove in the garden but it had vanished by the time I got back with my camera. We had never seen one before.

patch week 20

7^th & 8^th May  House hunting

9^th May  A walk around Nortonbury produced my first Pied wagtail and Great spotted woodpeckers for some time, swallows were hawking over the flooded meadows behind the farm but the anticipated waders I had seen here in the past had still not materialised or  had missed them. I also saw one of my first large red damselfly’s of the year and managed to get a passable picture with my phone.

10^th May  House hunting in Norfolk we saw a Red kite over the car near Brandon and stopped at Weeting heath  and saw the stone curlews during a lull in our search. Later we popped in Lakenheath fen for a cuppa and had our first decent views of swifts for the year

11^th May  the incessant rain may have kept us in but the blue tits in our box outside the kitchen window were going hard at it all day feeding their offspring

12^th May  We were busy at home but we saw a trio of buzzards high over our house and the first swifts of the year on the patch                                                                     Patch list 88

13^th May  A visit to the lagoon was accompanied by multitudinous warblers in song, with skylarks and yellowhammers and a few more thrown in for good luck and a sparrowhawk wafted past. I noted some Agrimony growing on the lip of the chalk cliffs. A four spot chaser was seen by Les and I along the greenway, a male kestrel kept apace in front of us using the telegraph poles as hunting posts

Patch week 18

30^th April  was the warmest day of the year so far and found Les and I waking between Nortonbury to Radwell. A female kestrel drifted over us making lazy circles over our heads. We were surrounded by ducklings at Radwell all looking for a hand out. We heard most of the warblers singing and a number of swallows hawked over us around Nortonbury. Lots of butterflies were in evidence but no new ones for the year. The rabbit population seems to have just about recovered from the scourge  of Myxomatosis, this dreadful disease was imported from France to a private estate in East Suffolk in 1953.

1^st May  rained all day

2^nd May  Tim & and I did our big day out at Minsmere, sadly without Ken whose knee is no longer up to the rigours of lots of walking. A cold Northerly wind stifled a lot of our quarries on the day, nothing seen on the sea except kittiwakes and very few warblers were singing. The highlights were a sparrowhawk swooping to try and catch a sedge warbler, a Dartford warbler and a pair of stone curlews.

3^rd May the only sighting of interest was a pair of crows sparring with a sparrowhawk over Radwell, one would harry it for a short while and then its mate would go on the attack, they eventually went their own ways with honours even it seemed.

4^th May Les and I went to Lakenheath fen on a warm and sunny day, quite a few cuckoos were flying about, we saw four bittern flights in our first twenty minutes from the first view point. There were about eight hobbies hawking and I saw my first swift of the year

5^th May  Les and I went to Little Paxton. A few nightingales were in song as were a good selection of warblers. Common terns were fishing over the lakes. A brief glimpse of Kingfisher and a fly over cuckoo.

6^th May  house hunting