Day 3 of a 3-day Summer Tour in Norfolk. A warm and bright day with some sunny spells. The patchy cloud thickened enough early afternoon for a couple of short showers but it was not enough to distract us. We spent the day down in the Brecks and Fens.
Our last day, we drove in convoy down to Swaffham, so those who wanted to could make a quick getaway at the end of the day. Then we all piled into the minibus for the short drive on to Weeting Heath.
The visitor centre at Weeting is now permanently closed, so we couldn’t get an update. We headed straight on, out to the hide. Scanning the grass, we found several Lapwings and a couple of Stock Doves. Then we noticed a single Stone Curlew further back. We got it in the scope for a better view.
The pair of Stone Curlews had raised an early brood on the cultivated area in front of the hide. Unlike last year, when they hung around with the fully grown young all summer, this year they all departed once they fledged. For a couple of weeks, there was no sign of any Stone Curlews from the hide but one or two birds had reappeared. Still, it sounds like we were lucky – people who visited on Monday failed to find any.
Otherwise, we could only see a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls over the pig fields beyond. A Common Buzzard and a Kestrel circled up. Mission accomplished here, we walked back to the car park. On the way, there were some Long-tailed Tits in the trees. We could hear a Coal Tit calling too, and managed to see it in a pine by the old Visitor Centre briefly.
From Weeting, we headed on to Lakenheath Fen. The Caspian Tern had flown off last night, so we were not expecting to see it today. But now we saw a message to say it had reappeared on Hockwold Washes but had been flushed by one of the wardens as they went out to open a sluice. As we walked up towards the Visitor Centre, we got another message to say it was still there. So after checking in, we headed straight over to the Washland viewpoint.
The Caspian Tern was still there when we arrived, out on the mud. It was distant and there was quite a bit of heat haze. It was asleep too at first, with its back to us, but did have the decency to wake up from time to time and flash its monster of a red bill.
The Washes are mostly dry now. There were a few Lapwings and a couple of Redshank on the bare mud. A Cuckoo flew across in front of us and disappeared off towards East Wood. We could then hear it calling over there. A Grasshopper Warbler started reeling in front of the viewpoint. It was perched up in the open but quickly dropped down out of view. When it started reeling again, we found it again and this time managed to get it in the scope for a great view.
We figured we might get a slightly closer view of the Caspian Tern from further up along the bank. From there, it was also more side on. When it woke up, we had a better look at it now. The largest tern, the size of a large gull, it totally dwarfed a nearby Common Tern and juvenile Black-headed Gull. Impressive!
When the Caspian Tern went back to sleep, we walked back to the Visitor Centre. Several Scarce Chasers were flying around the new raised pond-dipping pool. Then we headed out onto the reserve.
The New Fen viewpoint was quiet at first. A single Little Grebe was diving out on the pool in front. There were a few Coot, one probably still on the nest while another pair were feeding two well-grown juveniles. A pair of Reed Warblers flew in and out from the small island of reeds in the middle, collecting food.
A male Marsh Harrier came in high before dropping down to the reeds below. We could hear a male Cuckoo calling in Trial Wood and then a female bubbling before it flew out past us. A Bittern flew across right at the back, disappearing behind the far end of Trial Wood.
Walking down the raised path alongside New Fen, there were lots of dragonflies, damselflies & butterflies in the vegetation. A male Scarce Chaser posed nicely on the reeds beside the path. Another Cuckoo flew across in front of us, over the reeds before disappearing into Trial Wood.
A male Marsh Harrier circled low over the reeds to our right. A distinctive bird, it was already moulting its inner primaries. When it started calling, we looked up to see a second male Marsh Harrier descending steeply from high above. This second male then started skydancing, swooping and turning in tight turns, as it lost height. Great to watch, presumably it was advertising to its rival that this was its territory. The moulting male seemed to drift off.
Up towards the far end of the path, our first Hobby of the day circled overhead.
There were several family groups of Greylag Geese feeding on the path ahead of us. They were already squabbling amongst themselves, lots of argy bargy when one family got too close to the next one. We tried to shepherd them on ahead of us, so we could turn off back to the main path. One of the ganders tried to stand his ground and protect his family, turning round and hissing repeatedly at us.
Back on the main path, the walk out to Joist Fen was fairly uneventful. Another Cuckoo was calling in West Wood. The main path is then closed beyond, so we had to take the smaller path alongside the wood. Several Red-eyed Damselflies were in the vegetation along here.
When we got to Joist Fen viewpoint, we were told by another group leaving that pair of Common Cranes was in one of the paddocks over towards the railway. We walked straight over but could only see see one now. We got it in the scope, but it was busy preening.
It was time for lunch, so we sat down in the shelter looking out over Joist Fen. The cloud had built up steadily. Now there were some darker grey patches and it began to rain. It was only light but blowing in on the wind, so we went round to the other side of shelter, where the view isn’t as good. The rain quickly cleared through.
It was lucky we were on the ‘wrong’ side because looking out, we picked up a Bittern flying straight towards us. It kept coming until it was almost in the shelter! When it was just about to fly right over our heads, it suddenly saw us and did a sharp about turn. Quite a close-up view! We watched it fly back and drop down into the reeds by West Wood.
After lunch, we went back to check on the Cranes and found the two of them together now. They had come out of the grass a little too, so better views through the scope. There was no sign of any young, and apparently they had flown in earlier, so presumably this pair are not breeding or have failed.
While we were watching the Common Cranes, a Great White Egret flew past. We watched it drop down into the reeds over by West Wood, close to where the Bittern had dropped in earlier.
We made our way slowly back to Mere Hide now. We managed to find seats in the hide, which normally means the Kingfishers are not coming in regularly (and the ‘toggers’ are not camped out for the day!). Lots of Four-spotted Chasers were chasing round over the water and one or two landed from time to time on the cut reeds below the hide. A Little Egret stalked along the back edge. A Hobby was hunting back and forth low over the reeds out to the side.
After a rest in the hide, we walked back to the Visitor Centre. It was another warm day and the sun was out again, so we stopped for an ice cream break. Rhubarb & ginger was this correspondent’s flavour of choice today. Delicious!
We still had time for one last stop. On our way back towards Swaffham, we stopped in the Forest at the head of a ride. As we got out of the minibus we could see dark grey clouds approaching but we hoped for the best. We hadn’t gone far when it started to rain. We sheltered for a time in the edge of the trees and thankfully it didn’t take long to blow over. A Yarrow Plume moth was resting on the brambles next to us.
The sun came out and we quickly dried out as we walked on to the clearing. As soon as we arrived on the edge, we could hear a Tree Pipit singing. We looked over to see it in the top of a nearby tree. After having a look at it in the scope, we walked in further. We found several Tree Pipits now, at least six, with four different birds singing. They seem to be doing well here this year.
Several Yellowhammers were up in the trees too. Everything seemed to have flown up to dry out in the sunshine, after the earlier rain. It took us a while to find a Stonechat though. Eventually we found a single female down towards the far end of the clearing. A Sparrowhawk circled over and a couple of Common Buzzards came up out of the trees.
Then it was time for us to head back to Swaffham and say our goodbyes. It had been an interesting three days of Summer Tour, with some great birds and other wildlife.
