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So on the second of January we all piled into the car at 7am to head for the North Norfolk coast. It took us 2.5 hours. On the way as the sun rose on  a cloudless sky we saw flights of Lapwing and Golden Plover feeding on the Lincolnshire fields Red-Legged Partridge and Pheasant grazed in the furrows. We arrived at Hunstanton to see the golf course covered with Curlew and Oystercatchers.

We headed for Cley first and then worked our way back along the coast. We arrived at the visitors centre just after it opened and got tickets. We then pottered off to the centre hides where the Western Sandpiper was displaying amongst Dunlin, Lapwings and Ruff. It wasn’t the most exciting bird in the world as it looked very similar to a small Dunlin at such a distance, but from the press of birdwatchers in the hide had raised considerable excitment. It was standing room only in the hide and we felt compelled to utter almost continuous apologies as we attempted to avoid the telescopes of the massed birdwatchers. On the way out of the hide we saw another rare Norfolk specimen, Brian Bland wrapped up and heading for the hide with the sandpiper. I hope the sandpiper is conscious of the honour bestowed upon it.  Just outside the hide we paused to view the Western Sandpiper again (as with only 8 seen in the UK it isn’t a bird we will see often). As we watched a Marsh Harrier flew up from the reeds and the whole flock of waders took off. In flight the sandpiper was much more obvious as the small size was more apparent and the different plummage meant it stood out from the flock, it also flew faster than the associated Dunlin. As we walked back to the car, the sound of Bearded Tits was heard in the reeds (but that was it, just the sound). A flock of Pink Footed Geese flew over us, whilst across the road from the centre a group of Brent Geese were busily feeding on the field, indifferent to the line of birdwatchers with their telescopes trained in their direction.

We decided to go to the beach and try the North hide for birds. 20 minutes of sea watching yielded about 20 Red Throated Divers some of them very close to the shore, 3 Common Scoter bobbing about in the waves, Guillemot , Turnstones and Black Tailed Godwits. A seal kept a wary eye on us from close to the shore. Avocets were paddling off North hide. Widgeon, Teal, Shoveler and Pintail were happily feeding in the shallows whilst a Little Grebe meandered up and down the neighbouring channel. As we walked flocks of Golden Plover wheeled above us and massed Lapwings took off flew around and settled again. A flock of Goldfinches scattered along the dunes as we walked, moving from clumps of seedheads to the next patch, their colours enhanced by the bright sunshine. A Skylark perched on the fence and although it was cold and windy we felt exhilarated. Following a lunch break we drove towards the RSPB reserve at Titchwell. On the way we found at least 2 White Fronted Geese in a field adjacent to Lady Annes Drive at Holkham with a dozen Greylag Geese, but couldn’t pause long on the busy coastal road.

The car park at Titchwell was bulging but we managed to find a place to park after driving round twice. A flock of birdwatchers were gathered in the picnic area looking at the  trees trying to find the Arctic Redpoll that had been seen earlier. After a few minutes the Lesser Redpolls flew into an alder tree across the picnic area accompanied by the paler Arctic Redpoll. At once the group was hushed as 30 pairs of eyes were trained on the bird. Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Long Tailed Tits, Great Tits and Blue Tits all flew across the clearing unheeded (except for me of course). Dunnock, Blackbird, Wren and Robin lurked in the foliage whilst Redwings gorged on hawthorn berries. From the first hide a female Scaup headed into the nearby reeds but a pair of Scaup on the lagoon made up for the brief view of the first Scaup. Amongs the Black-Headed Gulls on the water a Mediterranean Gull was concealed, its characteristic eye-ring, thicker bill and pale ends to primaries eventually seen and identified. Snipe were hiding in the foliage on the islands and a Goosander swum amongst the islands at the back of the lagoon. As we moved to the new hide we saw 2 Spotted Redshank feeding in the brackish lagoon. They were clearly identified by their greater height, longer slightly upturned beak and habit of rushing around in circles like particularly ditsy waders.

On the sea 2 Whooper Swans swum in the distance and Red Throated Divers bobbed about. A Goldeneye caused a brief flush of excitment until it was positivly identified. The shoreline contained a smattering of waders including Grey Plovers, Knot, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Bar- and Black-Tailed Godwits. The light was starting to fade as we trudged back to the car park weary and cold, but very happy with the day. We thought that was the end of the day, however as we drove home a Woodcock suddenly emerged from the ditch at the side of the road flew towards the car saw the obstacle and wheeled off back into the darkness over the fields. A wonderful end to a great day. After 2 days birdwatching we had seen 101 species with 28 of those being added in Norfolk of the 82 species for the day.

Well

I started the blog with the best of intentions wanting to write about the plants and their biology which I have found fascinating for years but the pressure of work and then the stress of redundancy in September rather destroyed that. I plan to carry on in 2012.

Just as a start my family are mostly ecologists some are professional and some are amateur. On the first day of every year there is a race to find as many species of bird as possible. It is as if we have never seen a bird before and all bets are off. This year we broke with tradition and instead of rushing to the North Norfolk Coast we concetrated our seach at Rutland water. This is nearer for us and as our income has halved, money for fuel is in short supply.

We started the day as it was just getting light on the North shore at the fishermans car park looking for the long tailed duck that had been reported. There was one other birdwatcher there who was looking for an otter and had seen the duck. We stood around for an hour during which time we saw, siskin, robin, wren, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit, a jay was a colourful sight, great crested grebe, goldeneye, tufted duck, coot, widgeon, mallard and a buzzard in the field opposite. We decided to return later and went to the visitors centre which was now open. from the comfort of the heated viewing area we saw the four bewick swans that had been reported earlier. Teal, little egret,grey heron, mute swan,  Canada geese, gadwell, pied wagtail and pheasant were all appreciated and it was lovely to get warm again.

We moved on round the reserve heading for the lagoon hides. We checked the bird feeders but the presence of Tim Appleton’s dogs in the van had scared off all the birds. Thankfully before we reached the first hide in the small fields we found a song thrush with fieldfares and redwings. quite a few flew over our heads making their characteristic call. We found 2 bullfinches in the trees and saw most of the common corvids carrion crow, rook, magpie and jackdaw. The numbers of lapwing and golden plover in the lagoon hides were fantastic and when they all took off simultaneously it was quite a spectacle. We noted a kestrel hunting over the fields. As we made out way round in lagoon 1 and 2 we caught up with shoveler, pochard, pintail and shellduck. Lagoon 4 gave us all of the common gulls not only the ubiquitous blackheaded gull but common gull, herring gull, lesser and a greater black backed gull. As we were thinking of moving on three goosander flew into the lefthand side 1 male with the lovely plummage of this species and 2 females. On lagoon 3 we searched for the whooper swan that had been reported without success. However we did find a couple of waders redshank living up to its name and dunlin. One of the best highlights of the day were 4 female smew on logoon 3, we spent quite a while watching them. We headed back to the visitors centre to get lunch. Getting up at 6am makes you hungry by 1pm. We stopped off at the feeders and were treated to repeated sightings of a willow tit coming to feed as well as many of the other common garden birds, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, robin and in the trees above the feeders a great spooted woodpecker was highly visible. Following food we went back to look for the long tailed duck, which we located amongst the great crested grebes. Once we had all examined in in the telescope and seen the goldcrest that obligingly stayed moving around the trees in the car park. We decided to finish the day with a visit to the old hall ares to look for the snow bunting. We eventually found the area and walked around the pathway when on the shoreline a group of small birds was sighted. We moved closer and were treated to the sight of a group of meadow pipits and one female snow bunting feeding by the shoreline. Happy with this success we were prepared to go home when we were told of a little owl roost at the edge of the eyebrook reservoir. With only an hour of daylight we drove to eyebrook walked to the tree indicated and set up the telescope and immediately found the little owl looking very cross as little owls always do. Bridwatching doesn’t get easier than that. Then having been told that up the hill was a short eared owl we drove a short distance and went to look at the rough grassland a favourite hunting ground for this bird. We found red legged partridge and lots of hares in the fields, 4 in one field alone, but no owl. We decided to head for home and were just settling into the car when ahead of us the owl flew across the road. We were out of the car in record time and were up the hill watching the owl quarter the field and then perch up. After a few minutes and with the light starting to fade we decided to leave we drove past the reservoir but a group of parked cars by the side of the water made us stop and ask what was about at the edge of the reservoir was a green winged teal feeding with a group of standard teal its white flank stripe clearly visible. We drove home tired but very happy. We had seen 73 species in the day that is quite astonishing for the first day of the year.

Next time my trip to North Norfolk and the species we saw

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Well, it is the Autumn officially and as that is the time of theyear when I feel new challenges should be attempted I am aiming here to document my changing lilfestyle.  I enjoy making my own jam, chutney and cakes and biscuits.

 

I cook things from scratch and rarely use prep prepared food.  I have about 1/6 acre of garden and I have a very small greenhouse and a tiny lawn.

 I also enjoy knitting mainly socks and making quilts. My aims are to be more green and less involved in the rat race to slow down. My first steps were the usual ones everyone makes

Recycling

I recycle bottles, cans, paper and cardboard, vegetable peelings, eggshells, tetrapacks, batteries, clothes, shoes. I shred important documents and add them to the compost heap.

I bought 2 compost bins to take the garden waste and set up a wormery, I made an additional compost bin out of a blue tub.

Reducing energy.

I sent off for a free electricity monitor so I could monitor what energy is used. I had a new boiler and central heating system installed as this is more efficent and our old system was over 25 years old.

I bought a second hand breadmaker so we can make our own bread easily this is less costly than buying bread.

I lined all the curtains and hung a floor curtain in front of the front door to stop draughts.

I turned down the temperature in the bedroom radiators and turned the thermostat down to 19 degrees when we are at home and 15 when we are out. We put a sweateron if we are cold.

I grow my own fruit raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries, rhubarb, pears, apples, plums, damsons redcurrants and blackcurrants and I grow some of our vegetables. my garden is small and not too sunny with all the fruit I grow.

Reduce

I reduced the amount of meat and fish we eat and the amount of waste we produce. I attached guttering to the shed and put two linked water butts fed from the guttering to collect rainwater and reduce out water usage. I reduce the amount we spend on food and I buy locally sourced food where possible.

My aims for the future

For the immediate future I would like to buy a large water butt and link it to water collected on the house roof. I would like to grow more vegetables next year. I am planning to put a water saving device in the toilet cistern to save water.

I am planning to learn about beekeeping and possibly get my own hive.

 

For the longer term future I would like  keep bees, to have our own chickens for eggs and our own rabbits for meat. and possibly our own pidgeons for meat. Ideally I would love to have the space for livestock but at the urban fringe I think this is the best we can manage.

If  I am made redundant I would like to get an allotment without being made redundant I don’t have time for this

Well in a few weeks I will be out of a job. I have been working full time for years. I am just wondering what to do with the rest of my life.

There are no jobs in commutable distance that I am either qualilfied to do or have a hope in hell of getting at the moment. 100 people applied for one position in admin where I work and they were all capable well qualified people. I am nearly 50 and not attractive my chances are not that great. In addition I am very well educated so it frightens peopls and makes them wary. So I had better get used to working for myself or not working for a while.

So let me make a list of what the positives are so I can look forward to this time.

So here are my musings what do I like doing well I will have time to clean the house and cook proper meals from scratch  and we won’t have to spend all weekend shopping and doing washing as I can do it during the week.  

I will have time to bake my own bread something I used to love doing.

I will have time to sit in the park in the sunshine and read a book

I could sit at the castle eating an ice cream

I could visit an art gallery

I will have time to go to the library.

I will have time to sew and knit.

I will have time to make sloe gin and jam and chutneys and elderflower cordial.

I would like to go walking more but I am a bit wary of going out into the countryside on my own. If I lived somewhere posher it might not be  such a worry but on the edge of a huge town there are a lot of  undesirable people about and it can be unsafe or at least rather scary.

Perhaps I could join a walking group. I want to keep my subscrition to the leisure centre up for a pound a day I get to swim several times a week and I love swimming.

I can practice my music and really get to grips with the Bach two part inventions.

I could volunteer and put something back into society.

I could start my own business or work from home.

I can really look after my garden I will have time to do a bit every day not just the emergency stuff once a week.

I could get an allotment.

I could make quilts which I absolutely love.

I can concentrate on losing some weight and doing more exercise.

I could learn a new language

I could learn to live more sustainably, do more for myself and save money and help to sustain the planet.

I could visit the city farm I have always wanted to go there.

I could write a book

I could learn to be a real botanist rather than a plant scientist.

I could visit all the trust nature reserves

I could write my blog regularly and make it interesting.

Thats all for now lets see what other things I can come up with. What will I miss.

The salary, the chance to use my brain and education, the company, the banter, the feeling that I am part of society and am contributing to the family and society.

How can I minimise those negatives? I need to give this some thought

 

 

Due to working 12-16 hours a day I haven’t been able to keep up with the blogging however I have bought myself a new camera so I thought I would add a few pictures of the garden a couple of weeks ago before work became so mad.

 Then there is the space for the cat to sit in the shade with his own private bench.

 

Finally here is the herbaceous border. In reality the garden is rather overgrown but it all looks rather lovely in pictures.

The garden tends to grow trees and fruit bushes as they are easy to grow and look after themselves most of the time. The sweet cecily in the right tastes lovely at the momane a real hit of aniseed if  you are working in the garden.

Well I enjoyed sharing my garden. Back to work now

Dandelions are a food plant for a number of butterflies and moths. These include the spectacular Giant leopard moth  Hypercompe scribonia

The Geometridae moth caterpillars that feed on dandelions including the riband wave Idaea aversata

and the small fan footed wave Idaea biselata.

In addition the caterpillars of the orange swift Triodia sylvina  feed on dandelions.

Many Noctuidae moth caterpillars feed on dandelions including those of the Grey Chi  Antitype chi

 

 and The flame  Axylia putris,

The shark Cucullia umbratica,

The nutmeg  Dicestra trifolii,

The satellite  Eupsilia transversa,

The gothic  Naenia typica,

The Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba,

and the Setaceous hebrew character Xestia c-nigrum

In addition dandelions are also an important food plant for bees especially in early spring when pollen and nectar of few other food sources are available. They are also used as a nectar source by the pearl bordered fritillary  Boloria euphrosyne