Well January has sped by and I have enjoyed every moment of it!
I confess that at the beginning of the month I felt a tad guilty having given ourselves a year off whilst others carried on working, but a bigger confession is how quickly I got over it!!! It’s a bit like being at school and all day being ‘play time’.
We have been out birding almost every day and eaten most lunches from our flasks, in fact I think we may have forgotten how to work the oven! I have concocted more variations on veggie casserole than I thought possible and discovered new ways to make pasta tasty. I don’t think I have seen a sandwich all year and all this thanks to the gift of food flasks!
The moth trap has been very quiet producing three moths and a wasp through the whole of January, just wait till the spring and summer that will be a different story!
We have been very lucky with the weather, some frosts and plenty of rain but rarely enough to keep us in. These are a few shots taken one very frosty morning.
Yesterday after trying to see the Golden pheasant we went on to Titchwell and Sculthorpe and saw four more new birds for the year, Fulmar, Merlin, Common and Velvet scoter.
We ended the month by doing the Big garden bird watch, this Blackbird was the first to find a fat ball that had been hanging for a while.
Lunch today was not from a flask but with some very good friends (still my oven takes a rest!) and was a smashing time catching up with them.
It has been unfortunate that this has been a time when Ian’s knee has been really troubling him and his heart playing up a bit too, so we are realy hoping that those things improve as the year goes on, but if plans have to be modified so be it. Ian and I have spent more time together these past few weeks than in a long time it has been lovely and we haven’t fallen out so that can’t be bad!!! This photo shows him battling the elements at Sheringham one day.
Reflecting on our month has it been what I hoped for and expected? Honestly I have enjoyed it considerably more than I ever anticipated, it has been brilliant and we have seen many more birds than I thought at this stage of our year. ( A full list appears at the end of this blog.) Have there been any negatives? Really the only one has been that in totally leaving ourselves free to go for any bird it has made arranging to see friends and family more difficult, but I will get better at it I am determined.
I include these pigs just for fun and to show them sharing ‘their’ farm with hundred of birds!
What will tomorrow bring? Maybe a rare bird will arrive, maybe a fox will run through the garden, maybe I will stop at home and do some housework (I doubt that!), or maybe new moths will come to the trap who knows?
Stranger of the month…I think this award goes to the elderly gentleman at Wells, (see Family came too) he had lived there all his life and loved it. I think he would have stayed and chatted all day, and into the night, if we had the time. He was a pleasure to meet!
Bird of the month…I want to pick two, the Serin and the Penduline tit but if I am harsh with myself and had to chose one I would go with the Serin. They were both life ticks but the Serin was slightly more cooperative and let me at least take a few snaps!
Read on to see the list of our sightings so far or stop here if you don’t like lists. Either way thank you for reading these blogs and I hope you will carry on with us through the year.
Birds seen in January (those in bold have been added since last list) 129
- Mute Swan
- Bewick Swan
- Whooper Swan
- Pink-footed Goose
- White-fronted Goose
- Greylag Goose
- Canada Goose
- Barnacle Goose
- Brent Goose
- Egyptian Goose
- Common Shelduck
- Mandarin Duck
- Eurasian Wigeon
- Gadwall
- Eurasian Teal
- Mallard
- Pintail
- Shoveler
- Red-crested Pochard
- Common Pochard
- Tufted duck
- Greater Scaup
- Common Scoter
- Velvet Scoter
- Goldeneye
- Goosander
- Red-legged Partridge
- Common Pheasant
- Little Grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe
- Fulmar
- Cormorant
- Shag
- Little Egret
- Great Egret
- Grey Heron
- Red Kite
- Marsh Harrier
- Eurasian Sparrowhawk
- Common Buzzard
- Rough-legged Buzzard
- Kestrel
- Merlin
- Peregrine Falcon
- Moorhen
- Coot
- Oystercatcher
- Pied Avocet
- Ringed Plover
- European Golden Plover
- Grey Plover
- Lapwing
- Knot
- Sanderling
- Dunlin
- Ruff
- Black-tailed Godwit
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Curlew
- Spotted Redshank
- Common Redshank
- Common Greenshank
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Grey Phalarope
- Mediterranean Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Common Gull
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Glaucous Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Rock Pigeon
- Stock Pigeon
- Wood Pigeon
- Collared Dove
- Barn Owl
- Tawny Owl
- Short-eared Owl
- Green Woodpecker
- Shore Lark (horned lark)
- Meadow Pipit
- Rock Pipit
- Water Pipit
- Pied Wagtail
- Wren
- Dunnock
- Robin
- Black Redstart
- Stonechat
- Blackbird
- Fieldfare
- Song Thrush
- Redwing
- Mistle Thrush
- Common Chiffchaff
- Goldcrest
- Penduline tit
- Long-tailed Tit
- Marsh Tit
- Coal Tit
- Blue Tit
- Great Tit
- Nuthatch
- Treecreeper
- Great Grey Shrike
- Jay
- Magpie
- Jackdaw
- Rook
- Crow
- Starling
- House Sparrow
- Tree Sparrow
- Chaffinch
- Brambling
- Serin
- Greenfinch
- Goldfinch
- Siskin
- Linnet
- Twite
- Lesser Redpoll
- Mealy Redpoll
- Bullfinch
- Snow Bunting
- Reed Bunting
- Corn bunting
.
