January 2023 Quick Roundup

Generally mild days with some grey-clouded and gusty, others bright and frosty. Late to hear a Mistle Thrush this year, late to see a Greenfinch. Gradually growing lighter in afternoons and then the morning. More birds started to sing, and many glimpses of spring to come.

 

A tranquil sunrise at the North Norfolk coast to start the year.

 

A Robin singing at dawn, a Wood Pigeon cooing. Stepping outside, I saw a Buzzard land in a tree: my first bird of 2023. Pink-footed Geese chattering far off across the marshes; a Brown Hare running closer to me, my first mammal.

Sunrise from the beach. Long shallow waves, frothy-topped spray when wind gusting. A Black-headed Gull and a Sanderling my companions at the surf.

 

 Lapwing flock: brilliant white flashing bellies.

 

Glittering Lapwings crowding the coastal skies: large numbers this year, 14,000 reported.

A few often fly over at the broads, with one or two regularly seen in fields.

One arable field crowded with Golden Plover.

Pink-footed 'pinkfeet' Geese resting and eating, Greylags also.

White-tailed Eagle perches in top of freshmarsh dead tree. Leaves Norfolk mid-January for other perches.

Following the curve of the Yare river.

Plenty of bird activity in marsh-bed, copse and reed. Chinese Water Deer seen often and a Fox once, a glimpse of black-ears and a direct gaze.

 

 

Fieldfare flocks seen hopping across arable fields and perched in trees. Redwings deeper within hedges, or flying up from grasses. One Song Thrush heard, another glimpsed in the top of a shrub. 

Beautiful warbling of a Mistle Thrush heard later this year than others.

 

Gorgeous winter days with air frosts turning trees white. A trio of Lesser Redpolls feeding on birch catkins. Blackbirds and a jackdaw stab at fatballs, apples eaten too. Robin singing.

 

Common Cranes still feeding in groups, some with last-year's juveniles. Elegance. Heard bugling from across the fields and seen in flight. A shy Common Crane pair in one field a contrast to the confiding Mute Swan pairs seen across marsh and fields.

A Whooper Swan trio flying over a marsh, a few Beswick's seen at a distance: little contact with the migrant swans this winter.

 

 

A Bittern flying across a frozen broad where ducks crowd any running water. A Marsh Harrier waiting in the reeds for an unwary victim, herons perch in trees and a Kingfisher flashes across the ice. Green Woodpecker laughing at a distance. Later in the month, Great-spotted Woodpeckers knocking in woodland: spring is soon to come.

Barn Owls hunting across reedbed and marsh. Long-eared Owl seen at roost in a hedge, a Short-eared Owl seen briefly flying at St. Benets Abbey. Kestrels and Marsh Harriers seen regularly, a male Hen Harrier once, beautifully pale.

 

 

Wigeon cross (and sleep) on a frozen pool. Teal slumbering, Black-tailed Godwits and Snipe probing the marshes. Frost soon melting, but pools and lakes remain icy.

 

 Wigeon flying in from over the sea are a glittering line in the sky. Large pinkfeet skeins seen regularly at the coast, and from the broads, silent skeins of cormorants seen flying to roost.

 "Cronk, cronk" a Raven pair calling.

Two Blue Tits chase around in birch twiggery, a Robin serenades another and then too chase about.

 

 

Yellow Hazel catkins have been seen all month, with snowdrops discovered towards the end of it.

Trimming the roses and sweeping up the last of the autumn leaves for compost and mulch.

Great white egret hunting as the sun sets.

 

Enjoying winter's early sunsets.

Raucous Greylag Geese; trios of ducks and Lapwings with crazy, frantic motion flying across the red sunset whilst Bearded Tits ping from reeds, Teal calling constantly. A call to the heart as Common Cranes bugle: looked for, a pair are seen descending to roost.

Chilled air, bright planets and misty stars at dusk.

 

Common Crane pair descending to roost.

My sounds of January:

Pink-footed Geese

Wigeon

Common Crane

Birds heard singing:

Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock.

Great-spotted Woodpecker knocking. 

Goldcrest and Nuthatch calling.

A sub-singing Blackbird.