Back out birding !

A damp and cold week at work which produced nothing in the form of birds until Friday where I had two calling Grey Wagtails along the river near the cock pub in Lakenham and later on that day a flock of 50+ Golden Plover over ,heading south. I also was pleased to see my letter had been published in this months Birdwatching magazine about the joy of watching ,with my son George ,the birds feed on our feeders at home .

 After a wet mornings work on Saturday I meet up with Matt at Strumpshaw fen . I arrived at a rather full Fen hide where Matt had already  picked up on the rather smart Water Pipit and kindly pointed it out. This was by best views yet of this species I've had. Matt told me how i had just missed out on 2 Bitterns in flight and that there were a flock of Waxwings outside. I picked them up soon after , 17 in total and very obligin they were too !


Poor light but that didnt bother the Waxwings

As we made our way up to the Tower hide we picked up a passing Kingfisher along river , a flock of Fieldfare, Marsh Harriers , redwings and a rather showy Cettis  . From the Tower hide we meet David who showed us the area the Jack snipe was last seen , so we begun to wait for it show again-Well it didn't, at least not for us , but there were plenty of Common snipe of hand ( 22 at one count) but not the Jack I wanted to see.Also  lots of Teal on the water with a good number of Shoveler and of course  the ever present Marsh Harriers overhead.

We decided to walk back and check out Buckenham marshes. We picked up a nice Siskin among a flock of Gold finches( my first of the autumn/winter and a huge amount of Wigeon along with the regulars but No sign of the hoped for Peregrine or Merlin . 

As we had a snack ,we saw that the Jack snipe was being reported again at the Tower hide so we made out way back there. 

Again seeing the waxwings on route ( what a striking  charismatic bird) .

At the hide I immediately checked out the area we were told about from earlier and there it was ,a Jack Snipe ,out feeding near the waters edge , but not for long as it disappeared behind the reeds and sadly not to appear again.

What was unusual was a Rainbow appearing over the fen as it got dark which made for a nice picture .

Rainbow over the Fen

We had a flock of around 40/50 Greylag drop in and at least 7, possibly 8 x Marsh Harriers coming in as it got dark and as we walked back we saw a Chinese water deer on the path, heard a couple of Water rails along with some Bearded Tits pinging.
A great afternoon and good way to catch up with me mate Matt too .

Happy birding 

 Shaky