Work sightings, Crossbills & finally a patch visit !

  Last week was a busy week at work and full of new fledglings every where!
While at work at cringleford on Monday last week I had a Kingfisher over bridge & at the river 2 x Grey wagtails attending a single juvenile at nest.

Grey Wagtail young at nest

At Keswick on Tuesday I had an afternoon watching a pair of  Hobbies hunt . They were going through the Swifts and one even went for a Pied wagtail . Also at Keswick a Common Buzzard over head . On Wednesday i had a fly over Hobby , Thursdays highlight was a rather unpleasant one as i watched a Jay kill a newly fledged Blue Tit & on Friday i had not a bird sighting but my first ever sight of a Mole!

Mole

Ive picked up a new garden tick as well in a Common Buzzard. Been expecting to get this species ticked off for a while now so it was a pleasant surprise to look up while taking George out for a walk.
Also last week one evening me & Jim went to Colney to see if the reported Golden oriole was still around- the simple answer is it wasn't but we did get to see a Grey Heron, Common Tern ,Oystercatcher and a cuckoo so a good little spot!
 Now back to the patch (finally!) along with Jim on a beautiful spring evenings yesterday -all was very quiet . There was Swifts galore in the sky above and a pair of Pochards on the water were a pleasant surprise(didn't have a June or July record for them being here from last year) along with couple of Tufted ducks . Then I spotted a Hobby whizzing through the air giving great views in the sunlight. We continued round and with my 2 week absent from the patch one thing that really stuck out was that  everything had grown and the pathway was as narrow as I can ever recall. Round at the scrape I had another summer visitor over head , a Cuckoo & again great views. As we made our way round back to the bridge a Sparrowhawk and a hoovering Kestrel were picked up .
Jim suggested we set off in search of our own Quail( a bird I had never seen or heard) . We found some suitable habitat and begun to walk and listen out for a call. Plenty of Red Legged Partridges about, getting noisier as the  sun was setting and then a lovely Hobby flew over as a Tawny Owl called . We never did get to here a Quail but this is will worth a future visit to hear one.As we left Jim spotted a nice Barn owl hunting which flew over the road in front of us.

 A trip to strumpshaw fen today gave me great views of 16 + crossbills. (2 flocks of 7 and 9)  and some rather nice pictures too!(not bad for digi scoping)

Crossbill

Crossbill in flight

All in all a good weeks birding!
 Happy birding,
  Shaky