Saturday 20 June 2020

Wood Larks at Santon Downham

15th June 2020

My first long trip since lock-down and what a better place to start than Santon Downham. The St Helen's car park was absolutely packed, but everywhere else was deathly quiet and not a birder in sight. A short walk along one of the trails produced a female Broad-bodied Chaser, a beautiful stand of Viper's Bugloss and, a first for me, a Sharp-angled Carpet moth.






Then, back at the car we could hear the wistful song of a Wood Lark drifting along on the light breeze. The problem with Wood Lark song is that it is very difficult to work out how far away it is, or even whether the bird is singing from a perch or in the air. A bit of detective work soon located it to the top of a tree. Unfortunately it had picked the highest tree for miles, but at least it didn't move and was not obscured by vegetation.




It then transferred to the top of a conifer.................




....................and then to a dead tree.










On the other side of the road a second bird was also enjoying the sun and singing from the top of a bare tree.




So not the usual close-up shots of birds feeding on the ground, but a reasonable selection nevertheless. Santon Downham rarely disappoints.









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