A Day off then off to Kings Lynn.

Sunday 6th March fresh N Cloudy and cold

Time to head off for Lincolnshire. I feel a little light-headed after such a late night drinking brandy and red wine, very rare for me to do so, with a great group of Spaniards. Why is it that Spanish people have these times when friends, couple and families get together on a holiday somewhere? In Peru it was the same, wonderful to be taken in as a new friend and share the laughter and comraderie. Another similarity was the way the ladies retired whilst the men carried on until the early hours.

Another barn owl, the route today is inland to cut the north west corner and I reach Wolferton for another attempt for the golden pheasant. Yes I know that the best chance of seeing it is at 7:00am but at the moment I feel too tired to camp there. I will camp later in the year if I don't get it today.

I don't!

Instead I see a couple of green woodpeckers and explore Dersingham Heath hoping for woodlarks. They haven't returned yet so that's another reason to be here again in May.

So the year list is still at 180, which is twenty four ahead of this time last year.

29.58 Miles 1318 feet elevation up 1308 feet elevation down

Rough-legged Buzzard after a lot of effort!

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

Last week maybe but still interesting I hope

Thursday 3rd March light W Very sunny until late PM

Staying in the excellent Wells Youth Hostel means that the ride to Blakeney Marsh for a target bird, lapland bunting, is easy in the early morning sunshine with a light breeze behind me.

There's a lot of duck on a poll at Blakeney Quay; blue-winged teal, garganey, ross' goose, hooded merganser, puna teal and a male ferruginous drake but as they are within a fence I may not count them!

The laplands couldn't be easier as a group of ten or so birders are watching as one by one the birds come up onto the fence and although views are brief and not that good due to the birds being in line with the strong sun. 

Two barn owls are hunting in the area and I see another as I cycle towards Cley along the redone sea wall.

After the iconic views of Cley's famous windmill and after passing the famous house that was the site for Nancy's cafe, still sorely missed after all these years, I go to the large Cley Marsh visitor's centre for a drink and cake. I am invited to sit down by two strangers as all of the tables are taken.

Out onto the reserve, I cycle along the East Bank, also with it's path redone, and push the bike along the shingle searching for the reported snow buntings. Not finding them, I chain the bike to the fence and proceed down to Salthouse. It is amazing to see how far the shingle was taken inland during the terrific storms of two years ago. In some places the shingle is two hundred yards away from its original position. I am interested in why areas of shingle have been moved so much where as in other places it hasn't. Also interesting are the brick walls and posts revealed which I presume are from WW2 defences.

Back to the bike I can see three people who have binoculars trained down on a shingle depression near to it. The snow buntings are next to my bike!

A couple of bird photographers ensure that the birds don't stay too long and the flock flies off down the beach.

They return though and I sit down rest against a fence post and watch fascinated as they feed by flicking over small pebbles in search of seeds. Occasionally individuals squabble but a wonderful privilege to be able to sit quietly and watch them close by.

So the year list is 179, twenty four ahead of this time last year.

23.63 Miles 699 feet elevation up 699 feet elevation down

Hail, New Year Ticks and a RSPB Legend

Wednesday 2nd March light NW Heavy hail showers

Heavy hail showers occasionally hit me as I cycle back to the North Norfolk coast. My shower cap over my cycling helmet protects my scalped scalp from the hail.

Another try for the lone golden pheasant male at Wolferton is as successful as when myself and the Coppice 'Birding Clams' group used to try every time we went birding to Norfolk in the 80s and 90s, that is not successful at all. I just hope it doesn't become a piece of Norfolk roadkill before I can get back here in May.

To Titchwell RSPB reserve to ask fr new RSPB logo laminates to put on the bike. I like people to know why I am doing this, to raise the profile, to advertise and hopefully raise some money (hint!) for the RSPB. To my great surprise I am offered not only a coffee but cake and a chicken roll as well! Thanks Richard and Frances, Sue and Pam.

Sue is a World big lister, that is she travels the world seeing as many birds as possible. Sue is off to Estonia and Lithuania next week. Here's a link to her blog for more information.

http://www.freewebs.com/suebryan/ 

The red-crested pochards are said to be out of the reedbed and on view on Patsy's Pool so I make my way there. Nine of them are on the pool, another for the list. A RSPB volunteer, Paul Fisher, is sitting there and we talk about birds and I realise that I am in the presence of an absolute legend. Paul is a lovely man who has a proud history with the RSPB, helping to create so many reserves around South Essex, as the regional project manager.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/uk/wr-canveyisland.html#cr

Interested in my quest, Paul asks me what else I need for the year list and as I say “hen harrier” blow me if one appears in front of us. The moment went like this:

“What else do you need?”

“Hen harrier, like that one there!”

Brilliant. This photograph of the ringtail doesn't do it justice but it soon goes behind some trees and is gone.

Maybe I should have said pallid harrier.

We talk for over an hour in the cold before deciding that the conversation could be carried on more comfortably in the cafe.

Both of us are old men, both of us long time birders but we stop when there is a robin at our feet quietly singing away to itself.

We chat until we are thrown out! A wonderful, inspirational man.

So the year list is still at 177, twenty two ahead of this time last year.

44.68 Miles 1247 feet elevation up 1243 feet elevation down

A Day Off. - Downham Market Library plus February Statistics.

Tuesday 1^st March light NE Heavy rain all AM, occasional showers PM

The Polish white stork is 'plastic!' It seems the stork was brought over from Poland by plane to recuperate from an injury. So a dip for a plastic bird is a new experience when Biking Birding.

The day I spend catching up with things on a computer in the library in Downham Market.

So the year list is still at 175, twenty ahead of this time last year.

February statistics

28 year ticks

643.33 Miles (average 27.971) Year total – 1,366.89 miles

25,583 feet elevation up 25,596 feet elevation down

A Welney White Stork from Poland?

Monday 29^th February light N Sunny 5 to 7C

The Polish white stork is still at Welney as I cycle towards there. It is another day when I am enjoying the cycling and progress is quick enough to get me to Downham Market by 11:00am.

A text from the oracle, Phil Andrews tells me that the stork has gone. Then another that it is present in front of the Friends hide.

I arrive at the visitor's centre and am greeted like an old friend. With a keen twitcher from Heathrow I go to the hide not expecting to see the stork as the staff at the centre believe the message sent to the Easy Anglia birdline was erroneous. They think the birder who reported a stork saw a great white egret. 

At the hide we can see neither stork or GW egret and after two hours or so we decide to go back to the centre and hope that the bird comes in to roost.

It doesn't.

So the year list is still at 175, twenty ahead of this time last year.

51.04 Miles 1277 elevation up 1323 elevation down

Another Day . Seventy Three Birds in a Norfolk day

Sunday 28^th February fresh NE Sunny intervals 5 to 7C

Another long push along the beach in search of shorelarks follows an early morning barn owl. Waders on the beach won't be roosting for long despite the high tide; dog walkers are on their way.

I meet a fellow birder, Steven Holloway, at the start of the Burnham Overy broadwalk. We chat for half hour or so about birds, Norfolk's birding history and birders old and new and Steven's present unemployment status.

News of a possible white stork at Welney WWT reserve has me cycling towards Hunstanton. The bird has rings that show it has Polish origins. I need to see it and the adrenaline of a really good bird clicks in. I try to remember the last time I saw a white stork in Britain. A group of five in Oxfordshire not too long ago had The Birding Clams heading that way. We crashed on the motorway though as heavy rain caused the car to aquaplane.

As I cycle through Thornham the phone text tells me that the stork has flown off and I turn around to bird at Titchwell instead.

Bramblings at the feeders by the cafe, waders on the shore; the birding is superb in the wonderful clear sunlight and the the day list goes past seventy.

Common scoter on the sea, a year tick, and water pipit are the highlights but then again having a robin come onto my hand to collect some cake is just as much of a thrill.

The stork is back at Welney! Plans change and I am off again.

So the year list is still at 174, nineteen ahead of this time last year.

18.53 Miles 448 elevation up 386 elevation down

OK! I will catch up the blog asap. Yeah, you got me . . I am a week behind

Saturday 27^th February fresh NE Sunny 5 to 7C

Out to cycle to Burnham Overy via Chosely Barns, near Titchwell, I see a head of a bird poking up from a crop field on the edge of Hunstanton. Grey partridge goes onto the year list.

There is almost absolutely nothing at Choseley, just a few yellowhammers and a couple of hares. I push the bike along field edges to search for the reported rough-legged buzzard but have no joy.

February 26th A Rdie to Hunstanton

Friday 26^th February fresh N Sunny 5 to 7C

A day of cycling into Norfolk from Wisbech to get to Hunstanton along the side roads to avoid the very busy main road until Kings Lynn.

A couple of muntjacs are quietly walking beside a railway line.

The first attempt of what will probably be many attempts for the lone male golden pheasant at Wolferton is unsuccessful and a long walk over the adjacent heathland is beautiful but the woodlarks here last year haven't returned yet.

The amount of roadkill today is sad; muntjacs, hares, badger, fox, song thrush, collared dove, red-legged partridge and the most commonly seen squidged, pheasants. Car-nage!

A red-tailed bumblebee is on the floor and I am sure it appreciates it when I pick the sleepy creature up and put it onto a flower.

To the cliff edge at Hunstanton, the tide is at its lowest and huge sandbanks are out in The wash.

So the year list is still at 172, still nineteen ahead of this time last year.

32.80 Miles 993 elevation up 936 elevation down

February 25th 2016 Cranes and Whooper Swans

Thursday 25^th February light to fresh N Sunny 5 to 7C

A message on facebook from David Gray tells me that there are five bean geese about five miles from me. I am surprised that I haven't received any text messages from the oracle.

Two miles out of Whittlesey I receive six messages on my mobile in quick succession. Bean geese at Nene washes RSPB reserve, I pedal there as quickly as my short, fat, hairy legs can go.

It is a beautiful clear sunny day and the cold accentuates the sound of whooping from a pair of cranes quite a distance away.

No sign of the bean geese unfortunately, the list grows though as a couple of whooper swan family parties flies by whooping.

In beautiful sunshine and a cool northerly breeze I explore around a gravel pit that has a lot of duck on it and disturb a couple of muntjac. The way they dash off with their tails held vertical is interesting, making them very visible amongst the tall vegetation.

A couple of peregrines buzz around too disturbing large flocks of golden plovers and lapwings.

I leave to go search of a rough-legged buzzard at Thorney. Three hours of searching gives me only a single common buzzard and a very distant barn owl.

So the year list is now at 172, nineteen ahead of this time last year.

37.96 Miles      417 elevation up      429 elevation down

At Last . . A Place with Wifi! Norfolk and a few new Birds and a Few Days updated 24th February .

Wednesday 24^th February light to fresh N Sunny 5 to 7C

The frost is thick and the air is cold as I cycle along the A10 north. A bird flies over becoming a year tick that I had expected to have on the year list weeks ago, a male yellowhammer. It lands on one of the very few bushes to be seen some distance away. This chalky landscape is dominated by immense cereal fields with few, if any hedges.

Through Royston and on towards St Ives. A green form of transport passes me with a hello and turns further down the road, a speedy horse and cart.

Into St Ives I am just about to enter a shop when a lady comes up to me and inquires as to whether I recognise her voice! I did and the memory of meeting a couple who were waiting for their cycling son to pass a roundabout in Cheshire last April came back. Their son was cycling for a homeless charity in Cambridge called Winter Comfort.

“John,” I asked. I had remembered. We, Janice and I, went for a coffee and a chat. Janice was in St Ives to look after her 90 year old mother whilst Jon was at home in Dorset. I love lucky meetings like this and an hour passed before we said goodbye.

Trying to get out of St Ives I took a wrong turn and ended up on a large maze of a housing estate. On asking a passerby for directions I was told by her, Chris, that she looked after orphaned hedgehogs. She took me to her house, introduced me to her husband, Errol and shown the cages where the sleeping hedgehogs lay. 

They had helped hedgehogs for over twenty years, returning them to the wild once fit and well. They supported the nearby Hinching Country Park. Kindly they added to the menagerie on my bike by giving me a cuddly hedgehog, Wilfred Prickles!

So the year list is now at 170, eighteen ahead of this time last year.

53.51 Miles 1442 elevation up 1686 elevation down