Cavenham and Santon Warren

Heavy rain and high winds forecast for the next few days so took the opportunity of a relatively quiet weather-wise morning to get out and about. first stop was Cavenham Heath. The whole heath is now open but sheep are now roaming one of the major areas so we decided to avoid that and headed along the river. Highlight was a small flock of Siskin high in the trees.

Number of species seen: 21

Moved on the Santon Warren and parked further up the road so as to just do the area past the cattle creep. Had a distant view of two Waxwing initially and really close views later when they were feeding close to the Cattle creep.

25/11/2015: Santon Warren

25/11/2015

Took our second trip of the month over to Santon Warren this morning. (Map visible Here) and arrived just after 9.00 am to find it peaceful and empty, not a soul in sight. It's a great area to wonder through with a rich variety of habitat, from the woods through The Brecks, past reedbed and back along the river.

We were greeted by a couple of Nuthatch flitting through a nearby tree and a number of Chaffinch working through the leaves. Sadly no Brambling. We crossed into the Warren and headed towards Brandon. A number of different Tits (Great, Blue, Coal and Long tailed) were moving through the bushes but no sign of the Great Grey Shrike.

I do find walking by the river a really peaceful time. The local rivers to me are sluggish and at times dark and foreboding. This river flows as a river should. I find it fascinating to see the impact that the trunks that have been deliberately placed into the river are having. The water swirls by and the clarity of it is very pleasing to the eye.

As we passed through the small copse Treecreeper  were calling and moving around us and I managed to catch a couple of pictures.

Number of species sighted: 31

5/11/2015: It's a bit quiet out here!

5/11/2015

It's been a bit quiet recently! Have been out and about but not really seeing a variety of birds. Everything seems a bit quiet as if waiting to see what the weather will bring. Numbers of wildfowl on Burwell Fen remain fairly steady but not seeing the large flocks of Fieldfare or Redwing. Maybe if the weather turns colder things will 'hot up'.

In the mist of Monday 3rd Nov morning the whistling of the Wigeon was very evocative and was the highlight of out morning stroll. I've recently purchased a Nikon  Coolpix P610 so have been snapping away on our strolls. I like the flexibility of the camera being lightweight but with a pretty amazing zoom. The results so far will not set the birding world on fire but they are good enough record shots for my needs.

Misty Morning on Burwell Fen

With little bird movement I turned my attention to playing with the camera, snapping shots here and there, capturing some of the atmosphere of the Fen on a misty morning.

Annie update: with the passing of each day Annie reminds me more and more of Grania our Lab/Spaniel cross of many years ago. Her mannerism and movement are so much likes Grania's that at times I call her by that name. She is becoming a good 'bird-dog' and will now sit and wait patiently while I while away time watching nothing! She then launches a full frontal assault on Max, Poor chap.

Tuesday 4th: took a stroll along the bank from the New Bridge towards Burwell along the side of Tubney Fen. A couple of Short-eared Owls were quartering the fen and the Buzzard was on it's usual post.

Nearby there was a group of Heron, which I discover is called a siege, sedge or scattering. To me they looked like a collection of witches!

The Starling performed well coming into roost but the numbers seemed down.