Window to Wildlife

Tuesday 11 February: Bird survey at Knepp estate Knepp has been in the news a lot recently as a rewilding project which is attracting a lot of interest related to climate change. For several years we have undertaken a quarterly survey in a small group, noting our observations and monitoring seasonal changes and developments over time as the landscape evolves. Two years ago Hannah accompanied us on our winter survey and played a key role in getting the rest of our group onto a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. We failed to locate any of this  declining species last year, but I was delighted to find another bird this year in almost the same location. Wednesday 12 February: Family Walk Fresh from her recent trip to Sri Lanka,  Nicola came to visit and as well as hearing about her adventures and bird sightings, we enjoyed a lovely walk up to the downs and then back along the river. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Yellowhammers we had found on my birthday, but a bonus was a lovely Bar

I travelled to Dorset by train on Saturday morning for a weekend with Sue and Nicky. Sue was keen to get some more ticks on her annual list, so I managed to take my scope with me in my bag with the tripod on my back - a first for me, and worth the effort since it gave us some very good views of some brilliant birds before the rain set in for the rest of the weekend! We took the dogs for a walk overlooking The Fleet and Sue added Red-breasted Merganser, Mediterranean Gull and Brent Goose amongst others. A fabulous Great Northern Diver was a new tick for all of us and we eventually had good scope views, although it took a while - they're called divers for a reason!! In the afternoon we visited Lodmoor nature reserve in Weymouth. There were plenty of ducks about, allowing Nicky to practise her ID skills and a beautiful Black Swan gave us some great close views. These birds are not on the official British list, as they are not deemed to be a self sustaining population.  However, it

Our last day in Norfolk, and we spent the morning at Titchwell where we found Pintail and Black tailed Godwits as well as Marsh Tit and Coal Tit on the feeders. We departed for home around lunchtime and found a flock of Redwing and Fieldfare as we drove across the local farmland - our first of the trip. Finally, a small detour from the main road on the outskirts of Norfolk near Welney led us to several fields full of grazing Whooper Swans and a further two Great Egrets. Despite the weather, we ended on a respectable 97 species across the weekend, slightly down on our best tally of 102, with a splendid eleven new ticks for the annual list! Whooper swans

The forecast was for rain in the morning so we decided this would be a good day to travel further afield towards Cley marshes. A striking feature of the morning was the number of Barn Owls out hunting in the daylight- we saw around half a dozen as we drove east. It had been a wet night and therefore they presumably had not been able to feed adequately overnight. I was thrilled to manage to capture one sitting on a post with my bridge camera. At Salthouse we struggled to locate the Waxwing - another birder said he had been there for an hour and also the previous day and had not seen it. He pointed out the bush where it had been feeding, which looked severely depleted of juicy red berries! We checked the lane to the church, but no obvious sign and it was still drizzly so we headed to the visitor centre at Cley to see whether it was worth paying to go round the reserve (no was the answer!). I then checked Birdguides on my phone and discovered the Waxwing had been reported 20 minutes ago

We set off early for Holkham beach as it is a site that is popular with dog walkers, which can cause some disturbance to the birds, despite a fenced off area to protect them. On our way we scanned a field of Pink-footed geese in search of a Bean Goose which had been reported, but these were quite flighty and flew to the far end of the field as Tim got out of the car. We drove slowly on, and looking through a gap in the hedge identified a possible suspect, but without a scope it was impossible to get a clear id. The one that got away! We hoped to try again the following day, but unfortunately by morning they had all flown to pastures new. A gorgeous Barn Owl was quartering the fields and offered substantial compensation. Then, as we approached Holkham freshmarsh, a flock of White-fronted goose were feeding close to the road giving excellent views. We parked the car at Lady Ann's drive. The adjacent fields, which are always wet and muddy were this year flooded with water, attra