A Day in The Brecks

17th February 2020

The Brecks have been fairly quiet this winter with no reports of Crossbills, Otters or Great Grey Shrikes, although there have been good numbers of Hawfinches at Lynford Arboretum. The coast was ruled out today due to low tides and gusting strong winds, so we settled on The Brecks where there might be some shelter from the wind.

First stop was the St Helen's car park at Santon Downham where last year there was a flock of 400 Chaffinches and Bramblings feeding on the Beech mast, but not a single bird today. In fact the whole area was quiet. A stroll along the Little Ouse towards the white bridge did produce a flock of about 20 Siskins, all of which remained high and mainly obscured in the Alders. Also, no sign of any Otters.

We crossed the road and continued along the river path towards the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, but then I heard a Wood Lark calling over by the railway, so we diverted our route and joined the circular path to the railway underpass. We soon located the solitary Wood Lark which, unlike previous visits, was intent on feeding in short wispy grass which made focusing difficult. The second photo shows quite clearly the supercilia meeting on the nape.

Now on to Lynford Arboretum and headed for the tunnel feeding station. Last week this site was really buzzing with Bramblings and Yellowhammers as well as the usual suspects, but today it was absolutely dead as the feeders looked as though they hadn't been filled up for days. Only this Robin was attracted to a handful of seed that I threw out.

At the paddocks I was distracted by the lovely herd of Highland Cattle. How on earth can they see where they are going with that haircut?

There were 15  Hawfinches feeding on the ground under the Hornbeams, but tricky to photograph as they were frequently in long grass and were at a range of 75 yards (as measured on Google Earth), which is a long way for a passerine.

This particular individual looked totally out of place perched on a tree guard!!

Well, enough of that excitement for one day and time to set up the bird photographic studio, camera on the tripod.......and wait. First up was the reliable Robin, quickly followed by both male and female Chaffinches.

An unexpected visitor was this male Reed Bunting as, although I have seen them at this site before, they have never come along to have their photograph taken. Word must be getting around!

Nuthatches were much more shy than usual and only paid a visit on a couple of occasions, whereas they normally hog the food taking way several sunflower hearts at a time.

By way of compensation the tits today were very active and four species paid a visit.The most numerous bird today was the Blue Tit and they were happy to share with no fighting.

I think this individual was being a little optimistic.

The second most common was the Great Tit. This is a male as the black band extends right out to the legs.

You have to have your wits about you to catch the cheeky little Coal Tit which zips in and out in the blink of an eye. I just lovely that biscuity colour and the beautiful markings.

But the star of the show as is often the case was the Marsh Tit. Marsh Tits used to be fairly common in Hertfordshire but are now declining, but here in Norfolk they still seem to be doing well and long may it continue.