16th February 2012
As a change from Whitlingham I went out to the west of the city. Starting at Colney Gravel Pits I had a scan for Smew or anything out of the ordinary, but saw nothing scarcer than Teal. Walking back along the road I then went onto Bowthorpe Marshes. On the river a Little Egret briefly raised my interest (a Great White Egret was seen in the area earlier in the week), but having thought about it Little Egret is still a decent bird for this area. Two out of the three large pools that I used to come and sit near when I lived at Three Score were completely dry. Further along at Earlham Marshes I found a Water Rail in vegetation along the river edge and a couple more Teal. Just before reaching Earlham Park I found a Kingfisher perched up, but it then shot off as I reached for my camera. Final decent of my walk was a Nuthatch, calling from a tree near St Mary's church.
Little egret regular in the Yare Valley above Lakenham. Never seen one at Whitlingham - probably because there are no undisturbed marshes for them to go to!
ReplyDeleteYep I've seen the one at Old Lakenham a few times now, feeding in the river.
ReplyDeleteMy only Whitlingham record was a flyover last year, one was flying downriver on an evening visit.