A single day Brecks Tour, the first of back to back tours this weekend. It was a lovely, sunny early spring day with lots of blue sky and nicely warm, with temperatures up to 17C by early afternoon.
We met at Lynford Arboretum. A couple of Nuthatches were calling from the trees in the car park and a Treecreeper appeared above our heads briefly. There had apparently been a Hawfinch reported, coming down to the food from the gate sporadically yesterday morning, the first here for over a week. We decided to have a quick look here first.
As we walked in down the track, a couple of Siskins flew over calling. It was a bit quiet from the gate. There doesn’t seem to have been a lot of food put down recently and the fatball feeder was empty. Several Yellowhammers were down on the ground at the back and a Nuthatch came in repeatedly. There were a few Chaffinches coming in and out but no sign of any other finches this morning, no Bramblings now. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming behind us. A Stock Dove was perched in the trees just beyond.
We decided to move on. Driving deeper into the forest, we stopped at the start of a ride. As we made our way across the road and in through the gate, a Redpoll flew over calling. This is normally a good area for Woodlark, but they have been strangely quiet this week. We walked up the track a short way but there were very few birds at all here today. We eventually found a pair of Stonechats feeding out on the open grass, perching on the tops of the gorse bushes.
Back over the road, there were a few more birds. A Treecreeper was singing in the trees and we heard Great Spotted Woodpecker calling. We looked over to see three Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the edge of the pines, chasing each other through the branches. Two males landed opposite each other on a trunk, presumably a territorial disagreement. Another male Stonechat was singing by the fence further down.
There were a few finches in the trees here. The pine cones are opening on the warm days now and shedding their seed, a free food bonanza, and the finches fly into the pines to take advantage. There were mostly Chaffinches flying in and out today, plus a few Siskins, Goldfinches and a Greenfinch. We heard another Redpoll again briefly.
A couple of Common Buzzards circled up in the distance. It was already starting to warm up, so we decided to head straight over to look for Goshawks now. As we arrived and got out of the minibus, a Woodlark was singing. We looked over to see it fluttering up over the edge of the field in front of us.
Before very long, we spotted the first Goshawk of the morning. It was rather distant though, away to the east, circling up with a couple of Common Buzzards. It started to display, flying with exaggerated deep wingbeats over the trees, and was joined in the air by a second Goshawk now. They gradually got more worked up and one started to rollercoaster display, swooping down and back up, stalling at the top, before swooping down again repeatedly.
The Goshawks disappeared from view behind the trees. We were still looking off to the east when one of the group announced “what are these” and we turned to see two more Goshawks now circling up over the firs right in front of us, much closer. A significantly better view, we could see the birds’ puffed out white undertail coverts as they started to slow flap display above the trees too.
We were treated to quiet a show, before the Goshawks drifted off right and dropped down below the line of the treetops. We turned our attention to the other birds now. There were several Common Buzzards up, including a very white one, and a couple of Red Kites.
Looking out over the field in front of us, we could see a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls by a muddy pool, along with a Lapwing. A small group of Linnets flew round a couple of times. We could hear Skylarks singing from time to time and see one fluttering up behind us, then another couple flew across in front of us.
The Woodlarks had gone quiet since we arrived, so we decided to walk down the road to see if we could pick one up in the field further down. We hadn’t gone far when one suddenly flew up from out of view on the ground immediately the other side of the verge. It fluttered up singing right in front of us now, so we had a great view of its short tail and rounded wings. We could see the boldly marked black and white pattern on the bend of its wings too, as it fluttered.
The Woodlark dropped down into the branches of a nearby bare tree where we got it in the scope, still singing quietly. Then a car came past and it took off again, flying round over the road and behind the trees the other side. We could still hear it singing, but we couldn’t see it now.
We walked back and we were just getting into the minibus when the Goshawks came up in front of us again. There birds now, presumably one of the resident pairs and an interloper, which they had come up to see off. We stopped to watch them circling up displaying before we lost sight of them high in the sky.
There had been lots of thrushes in the fields this week, so we drove round now to try to see them. The first field we looked in was empty. Another a bit further on has been more reliable, but we could only see a couple of Fieldfares and two Starlings in the stubble at one end as we drove past and nothing from the layby at the far end where we could pull in. The third field we tried had just a couple of Mistle Thrushes now. Hard to tell whether the birds have moved on already in the warm, sunny weather.
It was midday when we got back to Lynford Arboretum. We decided to have a quick look from the gate again first. There seemed to be even fewer birds coming down now than there had been earlier this morning, and still mainly Chaffinches and one or two Yellowhammers.
A couple of Bank Voles climbed in and out of one of the low stumps. Speaking to other people standing there, it didn’t sound like they had seen anything different. We were rewarded though with a couple of Treecreepers which came in to investigate the dead tree right next to the gate.
It was time for lunch now, so we walked back to the picnic tables in the car park. A Brimstone butterfly fluttered up and down past us a couple of times. After lunch, we walked back into the arboretum. Taking the path in through the trees this time, we found a Goldcrest singing and watched it fluttering round in the branches of a fir above our heads. Three Long-tailed Tits chased each other round through the branches of a bare tree and a several Coal Tits were feeding low in the branches.
A Comma butterfly was basking in the sun on the side of a conifer.
Back out on the main track, we walked on down to the bridge. There was no food out here today so very little activity. We put out a couple of handfuls of sunflower seeds and a couple of Blue Tits and Great Tits came in to investigate. A Treecreeper worked its way up the trunk of a tree deeper in. We decided to check round on our way back.
The Little Grebes were laughing at us as we walked down beside the lake and one was lurking under the overhanging trees on the edge of the small island. The Mallards had come out on the path and the drakes looked stunning in the sunshine. The two Canada Geese were waiting for food too, on the edge of the water just beyond. A Common Toad had stopped in the middle of the path so we helped it over to the edge of the lake, out of harm’s way.
There was no food out on the bridge at the back of the hotel either, so we turned up along the back edge of the paddocks. We could only see a few Chaffinches and Goldfinches coming in and out of the trees in the middle. There was a bit more of a fresh breeze along here and a Common Buzzard seemed to be enjoying it, circling up over the grass and then swooping round through the tops of the trees. We walked down along the edge of the next block, but despite it being very warm and sheltered here, it was rather quiet.
It was about time for the Hawfinches to appear, so we walked back to the paddocks. As we came out, we could see people over the far side look up and point, so we hurried further along and looked back up behind us. A Hawfinch was in already, perched in the top of one of the fir trees. We had a nice view of it in the scopes before it took off and flew out and round behind us, but it came straight back and landed now in a tree right on the edge in front of us. Even better views now!
When the Hawfinch eventually flew back into the trees, we walked on round to the far side of the paddocks. There was a continual stream of finches flying in and out of the trees in the middle, up into the pines beside us, mainly Chaffinches, plus a few Siskins and Goldfinches. A Brambling landed briefly in the ash trees but dropped down before we got it in the scope, and all we could find were two Greenfinches. Then at least three Bramblings flew out in succession, disappearing over the path and up into the pines. A Marsh Tit appeared in the pines above us too, feeding on the cones.
We were just walking back to the bridge when we received a message that there were some Stone Curlews in a field about ten minutes drive away. So we hurried back up to the car park and piled into the minibus. With the warm weather, we had been expecting the first Stone Curlews to appear here any day. We had even checked the fields on our way down first thing, but they were feeding the pigs and we hadn’t seen anything then.
Several Stone Curlews were dozing on the bare ground in the pig field, on the edge of a patch of taller grass. They were facing into the wind, away from us at first. Further over, we could see a few more along the low edge under one of the electric fences. Seven Stone Curlews in total. They were starting to wake up – they normally get more active later in the day. Then, as the pigs moved around, some of the Stone Curlews ran off ahead of them. A much better view of them now they were awake and running round, we could see their large staring eyes and yellow irises (irides!).
An Oystercatcher flew over calling and several Shelducks flew round over the middle of the pig field. A Red Kite drifted over. A nice way to end the day, watching the first of 2025’s Stone Curlews back in the Norfolk Brecks.
