Tales From An Essex Birder

Today was to be the first full day birdwatching in Norfolk - and where better to spend it than one of my favourite reserves in existence; the wonderful Holkham. I usually make an annual pilgrimage to this wonderful place to pick up Norfolk's winter specialities and this year was no different. After waking up at quarter to 7, I made my way towards Lady Anne's Drive underneath the red sky of sunrise.  The first port of call was to be the A149 lay-by just before Lady-Anne's Drive where a sizeable flock of White-fronted geese had been hanging out. Having only seen this species once (this one sighting was also coincidentally at Holkham) I couldn't resist having a go at seeing my favourite species of goose. As I pulled into the lay-by, a large flock of geese was immediately in sight, I raised my binoculars and BOOM - there were the flock of White-fronted Geese .  White-fronted Geese As I was admiring the sizeable flock, a flash of something white and very Owl-like caught my e...

 After finishing my final uni assignment the previous morning, I was finally a free man. This only meant one thing. More time to go birding. It was my favourite haunt of North Norfolk that really wet the appetite, so I decided to book a b&b in Hunstanton for the weekend and have a mooch around a few reserves. Having seen both the long-staying Hume's Leaf Warbler and Long-billed Dowitcher already, I instead decided that I would try and have a bit more of a chilled visit in which I would not do too much chasing. So, after an early start I set off in the beloved twitch mobile (aka the Mini Cooper) in the direction of Norfolk. However, I had in mind a slight diversion on the way. I planned to cross the border into Cambridgeshire to Eldernell where there had been reported an insane 4 different species of Owl over the past few weeks. This was simply too much to resist and only added about an extra half hour or so onto the journey.  I arrived at Eldernell at around half 9ish and ...

 It's been a rather busy end to 2022 and beginning of 2023. As a result of mounting uni assignments, birding has unfortunately not been top of my priority list since the new year. However, a trip to North Norfolk in late December rewarded Hume's Leaf Warbler, Shorelark, Velvet Scoter etc.  But alas, I managed to get a free afternoon on the 6th January so endeavoured to get my year list off to a decent start. After debating whether to filthily twitch the Swalecliffe Pallas's Warbler, I decided that a trip to Abberton Reservoir was the order of the afternoon. Uni work meant that I arrived at the reservoir just after 12 - the first call of the day was the Layer Breton causeway. Upon arrival, a huge raft of Tufted Ducks was immediately evident, in amongst them were a scattering of Pochard whilst a couple of Goosander  lingered behind them. However, I was unable to pick out any Scaup, but a male Goldeneye fairly close in kept me fairly entertained. In the distance, the ora...