Spring in Step

Well with spring rolling into summer,thought its time for a new post, so much has happened in my neck of the woods , but have chosen to concentrate on my immediate surroundings, what a surprise when in april found a fox family visiting the garden ,with breeding season for most birds well under way bird boxes in use, and sense of urgency in nature to get on with things,that certainly reflecting in my life at the moment,all in all its turning out great all things are being made new, no more so aparently than in gods very own creation

a sunny day

last sunday we had enough of being in the house so decided to get out into the countryside ,so on considering time scales and distances went for a trip to bough beech reservoir , we set of at half eleven very hot day indeed the journey took approx 10 mins .and you can park right by the water which makes it a popular chose as people that dont want to walk very far can bird watch right by there cars if they want .anyway we went for only 1 hour and ended up staying 3 seeing swallows, lapwings , wheatear, green sandpipers , but highlight for me was this shot of a little egret which flew and landed right infront of us

Swallows

Its just time now too look back over what the swallows have been up to since the spring.it begins back in may , they arrive between 4th and 10th at the farm after settling in usually a couple weeks but there is no fixed time scale the male female birds pair up but as happened this year they arrived already paired up ,once they are comfortable as as pair they will start to build a nest ,they will inspect all likely places barns with open entrances are particularly favourable,they spent few weeks buoilding a nest using mud, dryed grass, mostly .this is fasinating too watch as with the speed and  how they manage to fix the material to the building is amazing

after the nest is built the first eggs are laid in the nest,after 10 - 21 days but 14 - 18 days is a more typical time scale

the picture above is from last year when they had two broods ,this year theirs only been one brood and only two young

above shows one of the adults feeding the chicks in the nest.After about three weeks the adults will entice them out of the nest .they will stay for ages around the nest weeks being nurchered by the adults until there tail feathers fully form and can feed themselves

the young bird are somtimes hard to find  when flying as the can be mistaken for house martins especially when house martins nest near by and when they start migration as has now for some of the birds. tghe young swallows have much paler colored

plumage . so this is as far as they have got this year ,it may be they will have another brood, depends if the decide to migrate early this year hope not.will post an update if that happens

North Norfolk

Times seems to go by so quickly these days ,do you ever find that?,well i certainly do it seems incredible that this time last week we were packing up our many things to return home from the north norfolk coast, where we had spent the previous week on our annual hols.having been blessed with amazingly good weather, we had time to slow down take breath and enjoy all that is good in life and so easily forgotten in busy lives,anyway we arrived on 2 august after a hectic journey, we found accommodation, with relative ease.we were warmly welcome by the proprietor of our self catering flat , judy showed us in same name as my wife! we unpacked and had drink and a bite to eat just went for a drive along the coast to cley just to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings a bit anyway on our return judy said too me look look so i slowed down,on an post  just at the side of road a barn owl was perched,well this was start of a fantastic week that went far too quickly

Splendor

There are times when life can be quite monochrome,or just plain 2d.God doesnt want lives too be like that!so what i do in those moments of grey is look for some colour,and being into wildlife go on a long walk by a  river .you might say why a river well because its usually a good place to see a kingfisher ,although you can also see them on lakes.well the sight of one of these bright little gems always seems too cheer me up no end,the electric blue wings and strikingly orange chest and red legs unmistakable brilliance, fills me with wonder and joy ,and puts abit of colour back in my life and may help you too .

Our Curlews

All is quite you imagine yourself far from the hussle and bussel of modern life and all its sounds,you suddenly hear a long bubbling sound piercing the silence, could it be a curlew?maybe maybe if you are very fortunate.its sound that makes me think of summer dont know why i think its the echoe of the sound  that makes the differance.But alas the curlew is getting harder too find exept fora few place and that wildlife reserves of the rspb wildlife trust and the like where there are small stongholds our curlews would be almost gone ,this real beauty of a bird quite large in size unmistakable by the length of its bill which it uses to extract its food from soft muddy ground and small invertabrie from beneath shallow waterfeild. the photo below shows a bird with a small crab,shaking it and then swallowing it whole i presume,i did not see the bird swallow the crustation he held it for ages shaking it furiously from time to time.So you may be asking yourself where the best place would be too see one,well you most likley wont see one in the south of the uk , your be

best bet is from east anglia northwards, i would say although there are exeptions but the main tell tail is the sound the curlew makes. so look it up on the internet play it to yourself and then go for it , it you find one you will never forget the sight and the sound of our beautiful curlews.

by for now  Si

North Norfolk in The Autumn

Returned last sunday from three day trip to north norfolk ,we found a good deal on the internet for £80.00 for two nights b&b in snettisham .the accomadtion was great as was the breakfast which was huge!.After arriving and settling in ie recover from the journey we set of to the rspb reserve which was just down the road,too try and see the mummerings of huge numbers of godwits oystercatchers dunlin sandling and knot to name a few , what we experienced was quite amazing something we should all see at least once in our lives

Next day we went to rspb  titchwell where you can see huge amount of species of birds, we saw curlews, curlew sandpipers redshanks

one saturday evening we returned too see the mummering again

it was just as good. on sunday we went to a small village called little walsingham a small place where man is small but god is big, bigger than i could ever imagined!