Local birding today

With the day having slipped past I decided to take the bike out mid afternoon again and see what I could see locally. The Churchyard was disappointing, a pair of noisy Mistle Thrushes the best on offer, so I headed off to the nearby heath. A slow start with things picking up as I flushed a Woodcock. Next up was the ringtail / 1CY Hen Harrier again, followed shortly after by a Peregrine, based on size and build a male. Several Stonechats were along the roadside again as well, which concluded an enjoyable couple of hours and a further 12km travelled by bike and on foot.

A dry run on the bike

An ok day weather wise and an excuse to burn some of the Christmas calories, saw me off to Snettisham Coastal Park via Abbey Farm to put some biking miles under my belt. Although not primarily a birding trip I took all I needed equipment wise to see how I'd get on, covering a total of 32 miles and clocking up 55 species. A nice selection of birds were seen as always in this part of the world, which included Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Marsh Tit plus a singing Woodlark on some roadside wires and around 25 Grey Partridge. The largest Partridge Covey was ten birds, with a covey of five proving the most approachable, the remainder largely twos or threes, I don't think I can remember seeing so many in one day!

Covey of five Grey Partridge.

Hopefully a taste of things to come!

The plan is very much to be traditional with my year and start on January 1st but a walk from home this morning produced a couple of new bird local birds for me so I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you about them. First up a rather smart male Stonechat , which quickly morphed into a pair and then into two pairs in the vicinity.

One of four Stonechats this morning.

Next up was this rather smart 1cy Hen Harrier a rather unexpected discovery
and the Red Kite below allowing nice views as walked back home.