WHITLINGHAM: New Year's wigeon

1st January 2021

The start of the year began as the last few have, looking in the back garden and down the road for birds to add to the year list. The species seen were similar to last year - basically it's always 10-15 of the same species, in a slightly different order! This time first to be conclusively identified was Carrion Crow, followed by Blackbird, Starling, Woodpigeon and Common Gull.

Normally we would head to Whitlingham then on to my in-laws for a meal - obviously the latter was out this year, and we decided to wait and go to Whitlingham in the afternoon when we hoped it would be less busy. This did seem to work, probably also aided by the overcast conditions, and we had a muddy walk along the south shore of the Great Broad and back. Whilst the duck numbers were still low there was a bit of a surprise in the form of a small flock of Wigeon on the Great Broad, at one point 11 visible but on our way back only nine - presumably the other two were tucked in near the island. Four Goldeneye, a flypast Kingfisher and the resident Barnacle Goose were of note. There was also a final flourish as the drake Mandarin that often roosts here during the winter was visible near the ruined hall.

WHITLINGHAM: November bird count & fungi

15th November 2020

Heavy rain in the morning meant a delay before I could get back to Whitlingham for November's WeBS count, but for the time of year there wasn't as much winter wildfowl as expected, with 75 Tufted Ducks, 43 Gadwall, 105 Coot and 9 Little Grebes. In addition by the time I had completed my lap the drake Mandarin that often roosts on the Great Broad was back around the slipway. I also got good views of a Grey Heron which was perched up on one of the bridges along the south shore.

 A few frosts had put paid to the flush of fungi that had come up in October, but I did note a couple of new patch species, Girdled Knight (Tricholoma cingulatum), a species associated with Willows, and Silky Pinkgill (Entoloma sericeum) a grassland species.

WHITLINGHAM: February WeBS count - Mandarin at last

8th February 2020

The second WeBS count of the year, and there was a welcome sight at the slipway where the regular drake Mandarin was present. This bird has been seen at Whitlingham on and off for around a year (with an absence of several months over the summer) but tended to arive late in the day, roost and then depart early morning. Since having a child I have seldom visited particularly early or late, so I had managed over 20 visits without seeing it until now!

The rest of the count was fairly standard, with some selected combined Whitlingham/Thorpe counts including:
Gadwall:70 (2019: 48, 2018: 54)
Tufted Duck: 239 (2019: 219, 2018: 221)
Pochard: 26 (2019: 17, 2018: 39)
Goldeneye: 1 (2019: 4, 2018: 0)
Coot: 94 (2019: 99, 2018: 68)

Also of note was a Treecreeper showing well on one of the Alders near the slipway, and several birds heard singing that weren't noted during January, like Song Thrush and Greenfinch. I managed to read the metal ring of a Mute Swan whilst counting on the slipway - not an individual that I had recorded before, but predictably one that was ringed at Whitlingham a couple of years ago. I had a look in a few thistle stems hoping to find Agromyzid larvae, but instead only found an interesting but unidentifable orangey-pink larva.

THORPE MARSHES: Smew and Mandarin

6th March 2018

I had to go shopping in the morning, so decided to make the most of my time and pop into Thorpe on the way home. I had hoped to see the drake Pintail that Ricky saw yesterday, but didn't. It has been spending a lot of time in the reedy edges, and typically was seen again later in the day. There was more than ample recompense however with the redhead Smew that has been in the area for the past few days. Three Wigeon and a scattering of Teal, Shoveler and Little Grebes also joined the common wildfowl. I checked out the flood for waders, but instead found a Chinese Water Deer.

Before heading home I had a look at Thorpe St Andrews river green. The only colour-ringed Black-headed Gull around was regular Norwegian bird J0AJ, but the drake Mandarin found by Gary last week was still around and showing very well.

WHITLINGHAM: Pair of Mandarin

27th April 2016

On Monday night I headed down to Whitlingham in the evening, and was hailed on and thoroughly soaked. I did see and hear a Reed Warbler before the rain started.

On Tuesday I was at home when I got a phone call from Justin to tell me that his friend Chris had found a pair of Mandarin on the Little Broad at Whitlingham (it transpires that a different Chris had seen the male bird fly over just before). It was getting dark, but they were close to the car park and a nice bird to see, so Cathy & I headed down and managed to get good views of the Mandarin before more rain came. Mandarin haven't been very regular here in recent times, these were my 3rd and 4th patch birds, and only my 2nd drake.