Norfolk Guided Birding with Gary Elton

25/01/2022

A somewhat challenging day guiding, there’s a long-eared Owl in first pic, it’s lower half😡& a Glossy Ibis in the second ! At least the SE Owls played ball, (3 in total) plus roadside Whooper and Bewick‘s Swans and several smart drake Goosanders, so not a bad day overall !

20/01/2022

Time for the annual Tawny Owl Pic! This bird has been tucked away in the canopy for the last few weeks and finally showed well today, still a bit dark and shaded in there though unfortunately !

15/01/2022

A confiding Water Rail at Titchwell RSPB reserve was a firm favourite with today’s birding group !

13/01/2022

A recent out of county birding trip into Cambridgeshire revealed this impressive roadside flock of over a 1000 Swans, the majority as expected Whoopers with a handful of Bewicks in amongst them.

13/01/2022

An out of county birding trip to Cambridgeshire recently revealed this impressive flock of over a 1000 Swans, the majority Whoopers with a handful of Bewicks in amongst them.

27/06/2020

'Gary, you must try harder'.

Those immortal words repeatedly written on my school reports and yes posting on Facebook is an example of how things arguably haven't progressed too much in that department !

So with that in mind here we go again !

With lockdown encouraging more local birding, both on foot and on two wheels my activities have largely continued in that vein. Today was no different with a morning ride via a small local farm reserve, complete with hide, then onto Roydon Common, taking a largely traffic free more enjoyable route rather than the fastest, achieving a total of 23 miles and 66 bird species.

Little Owls are regular at the farm my first stop, though never guaranteed, so it was a real delight this morning to see a family group sat in their regular tree, two adults and two young !(2nd adult not in the picture) Whilst enjoying them my attention was drawn to a bird sat on one of the distant fence posts, a Tawny Owl, not what I was expecting ! A flying white shape then appeared flying over the meadow and landed again on a distant post, a Barn Owl this time, three species in less than five minutes !

31/01/2020

Arguably bird of the day, this amazingly confiding and photogenic Woodcock at Titchwell RSPB reserve.

26/01/2020

January 21st/22nd

After my travels, a return to normality and two days in a row at the Observatory. This saw me clocking up sixty miles on the bike with the reality of distance meaning a small rethink on my ‘low carbon’ rules this year, at least initially. So now thinking a ride/walk from my house or a minimum return journey of 20miles by bike from the car to qualify for inclusion to my list.

The above resulted in some nice additions, with the running total now at 108.

The advantage of being on a bike is that hearing things become more likely. This was proven with a site that I’ve always thought looked good for Little Owl revealed a calling bird at dawn as I rode past! This was one of three Owl species I was to encounter during the day, the Tawny Owl below staying faithful to its day time roost site.

06/01/2020

January 5th Update !
https://norfolkguidedbirding.wordpress.com/2020-blog/

The goal this year, a years attempt at Lower Carbon Birding ! How easy is it to give up the car and still enjoy birding as a hobby? It should be easy, birds are everywhere. In my case even local bi…

01/01/2020

A nice day at the bird observatory with some nice birds including Long-tailed Duck, Red-necked Grebe, Snow Bunting and Twite with the icing on the cake this Waxwing!

29/12/2019

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 in total during the ride. 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!

23/12/2019

15/12/2019

15/12/2019

https://lcbirding.blogspot.com

How easy is it to give up the car and still enjoy birding as a hobby? It should be easy birds are everywhere. In my case even local birding has often involved a car journey and my plan for the coming year is to do as much birding on foot or on a bike. Not a new idea, but increasing age and a need/wa...

15/12/2019