Friday 4th March fresh N Very sunny and
cold
The target
today is the rough-legged buzzard at Choseley barns near Twitchwell.
The bird was seen last night and it is obviously an important bird to
get for the year list. If I do succeed today then it may save me many
miles of cycling later in the year.
It is cold
today and the wind is fresh though from the side. There is almost no
traffic as I cycle west, which is a blessing.
Lots of
partridge, red-legged and grey, are in the fields as I proceed and
two barn owls are daylight hunting again. So many barn owls in the
last few days; eleven so far, I wonder why they seem to be doing so
well in Norfolk compared to other counties?
I search
the Choseley area for a couple of hours but only see partridge and
yellowhammers. I even count the hares, over a hundred in order to
keep searching.
Lunch at
Titchwell and a walk down to the sea to look for eider. None there
but plenty of common scoter and a few goldeneye. The bar-tailed
godwits are here in good numbers and close too. Good to compare them to the black-tailed seen on the way up the path.
Out on the
freshwater marsh the water level is extremely low so that a predator
proof fence can be built around the large islands to improve wader
breeding productivity.
Back to
Choseley.
Three
hours of pushing the bike along roads and bridleways. There has been
a couple of common buzzards and yet another barn owl. This one was
sitting on a garden fence. What a garden bird to have!
The sun is
setting and I watch as a small group of greylags flies over.
What's
that beneath them?
It's a
'there it is!' moment.
Rough-legged
buzzard on the list.
So the
year list is 180, twenty five ahead of this time last year.
31.16
Miles 970 feet elevation up 970 feet elevation down
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