A text from Matt Saturday night asking if i fancied joining him on a trip to Folmere to see the Common Rosefinch the following morning was very tempting! I decided to give the usual Sunday visit to my local patch a miss and to head off for a lifer!
We set off at 7.30am and along the way picked up the usual Kestrels hovering over the roadsides and also a nice perched juvenile Common Buzzard which involved a pull over into the lay by to confirm its id. Yorkie had set off at a crazy early time to get the Rosefinch and text`d me while we were on the A12 that he had seen it and was now on his way back. We were given some helpful info on where he had it singing from and where was best to view it(good lad!). We arrived at 9 am and headed down the side the of the golf course along a footpath and were greeted by a few other birders who had heard it singing from a conifer tree. We all set up our scopes and then the song began.....super call like nothing i had heard before, coming from a large bush/tree in some ones garden so we all began to search for a view.After 5 minutes or so of it singing i got it .When i say i got it, i mean its eye and bill! It was playing hard to get and then it sort of showed briefly as the wind blew the leaves out of the way.I managed to get Matt & the other birders on it and then it showed briefly on top of the tree singing away, extending its head & neck up wards to produce that sweet 5/6 note whistle. After a while the owner of the house kindly allowed us onto her drive to get a closer view (if only all people were like that ) and this made for a few nice record shots.
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| Singing Common Rosefinch (no.235) |
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| Me & the gathering crowds |
The sight its self is a RSPB Reserve, having a mixture of reed beds, fen ,grassland and some open water. We headed into the first hide & i picked up a Hobby heading straight towards us. Also a nice `purring call` came from above the hide itself.That of a Turtle Dove which soon flew across us to nearby tree. They apparently breed here in the Hawthorn trees and we were lucky enough to see at least 3 ,possibly 4 which was the most ive seen in one place before.
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| A `purring` Turtle Dove |
This was a good mornings work and a big thanks to Matt for driving me there !
Also i popped into Thorpe Marshes monday and saw that the 2x Green Sandpipers were still there on the scrape & the single adult Common Tern but sadly no sign of the 2 Juvenile Terns that have been there previously.
Also i popped into Thorpe Marshes monday and saw that the 2x Green Sandpipers were still there on the scrape & the single adult Common Tern but sadly no sign of the 2 Juvenile Terns that have been there previously.
Happy Birding,
Shaky
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