On Sunday the three of us set off for a long day of birding. First up we head to Cambridgeshire to look for the Owls at Eldernell in Peterborough.
With the car parked, we start to walk along the grass bank, 5 Cranes fly across, and later a few more go the same way. Jimmy then picks out 4 more feeding over by the trees.
After a short walk, we meet a couple of birders who tell us the Long-eared Owl is in the brambles in front of us, we watch from the top of the bank so as not to disturb the bird but get really great views of the Owl.
We are on a mission so it's off down to the small copse on the right-hand side where we soon find the Tawney Owl perched in a tree that was just set back a bit.
You had to look hard to find the Owl as it was in a hole about 8 feet up from the ground, but once on it what a great view of these wonderful birds. Jimmy and I pick up a few ticks when a group of Fieldfare land in a tree and a Green Woodpecker flies over.
A Merlin and a Peregrine are seen while we are here, and then a real bonus arrives when a male Hen Harrier shows, what a great sight when you get lucky enough to see one these days.
On the way back to the car we all get a year tick when we see a Kingfisher sitting on the river bank. I love this place and will be back soon.
It's an hour's drive now as we head to Holkham to make up for not being able to get near the place on new year's day, Lady Ann's drive was shut and packed out so we gave it a miss then.
On arrival. we start to look for any Grey Partridge and stop to ask a group if they had them in sight, they say no but have a Long-billed Dowitcher right in front of them. This is the nearest we have been to one of these birds, so a great start and it gets better when we find a few Grey Partridge just before the tea room.
Off now for the long walk down to the roped-off area along the beach where we find the Shorelarks and about 30 Snow Bunting. A walk up to the sea is a waste of time so it's back to the car for a drive to Wareham Greens for another search for the Pallid Harrier that we were not sure of seeing on the first day of the year.
This time we drive up the lane and park on the concrete pad, it's not too bad a walk to reach the place to view the bird. After an hour we get a sighting of the Harrier as it flies low along the back trees. we would like a better view so we hang about till after 4 o'clock when the bird flies over our heads and comes in to roost, still, no perched views but good enough for another year tick. A really nice but long day out bird watching with a good number of year ticks.
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| The Long-eared Owl |
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| The Tawny Owl |
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| Long-billed Dowitcher at Holkham |
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| Holkham Shorelarks and Snow Buntings |
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| Some of the Grey Partridge at Holkham |
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| Long-billed Dowitcher again. |
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