April 2023: Quick roundup

 Spring continuing wet and with below-average temperatures as has been the case for last few years.

Cool, damp and windy for the most part: light frosts, pale breath and arctic air makes one long for heat of the unseasonable February earlier this year.

Leaves unfurling and expanding, with a general aspect of greens and yellows.

Summer migrant birds arriving and settling in.

 

 

Wood Pigeon pair.

 

"Temperatures disappointing for the time of year," confirms the weather forecast.

 

Redpoll feeding in silver birch.

 A Lesser Redpoll feeding in the garden; it feels more winter than spring.

 

 

Cool breezes off the river Yare, arctic winds and chills from the North sea, but a soft green haze of foliage. Oaks and Beeches at last unfurl leaves. Leaf cases cascade at the start of the month, catkins by its end.

Apple seedlings potted up, vigorous cherry seedlings next.

The longer lighter days since the spring equinox spur on new growth, grass growing thickly.

Lawn mowers, hedgecutters and trimmers heard often.

 

 Writing notes following a picnic under a cherry tree.

 

 

Finger sandwiches: egg mayo; tuna and cucumber. Strawberry tarts for a sweet, all eaten beneath a blossoming cherry tree. My picnic season opens on a chilly, dull day.

Herring Gull pair at Blakeney.

 

Winter flocks now dispersed; many birds now observed in pairs.

A Mistle Thrush is heard once, a call back to January. Song Thrushes a delight, but heard rarely.

Cattle graze in pastures, some with tiny calves. Held up in traffic on the Cromer road, blue lights flashing: an accident? From behind a building on the edge of a field, a bullock trots onto the road, followed by another: drooling, sweaty, exhausted. Remain still. They are not volatile spooked horses. The bullocks continue onward to Norwich; to the left, three trot heavily down a pasture furrow. Cars move on, a farmer and his trailer pass with a police car behind, following the bullocks.

Wisteria flower-buds.

 Copper-cased buds opening on the Wisteria, flowers forming. A bumper spread ahead: a pleasant surprise, after the previous dry summer. Ladybirds active and numerous after seeming scarce last year. Buds on the roses and pollen in the air. Sneezes, ice cream van and light aircraft heard.

 

A solitary Swallow over Blickling lake is part of a small flock by the 24th. Swallows are about, but not numerous (yet?).

Bright skies, bright water as the sun glances.

 

 

A Goldfinch pair regularly feeds on dandelions, whilst a busy Blackbird enjoys an offering of apples.
 

 

Breezy, breezy on the beach.

 

 

House Martin.

 

The House Martins have returned to Holkham, swallows too, reuniting with their nests or scouting out for a new one. All Wigeon have gone from the marshes. Barnacle Geese squabble at the lake as pairs and territory are defined; two Greenfinches fly up from a hedge, fighting.

 

A purr-fect poser.

 

 

 Hawthorn blossom noticed 17th April, and much of the Blackthorn blossom is now waning, earlier than the year previous.

Diffuse skies for an evening walk. Delighted hearing the Common Terns cawing at Blickling lake; returned from travels far afar, first observed 21st April but possibly back sooner than that.

 

Comma butterfly.

 

Cinnabar moth.

Butterflies seen in variety if not quantity. Peacock most commonly seen. Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Comma. Nettles thick and fragrant, but not as heavily-scented as the laurel now flowering. Delighted to see a Cinnabar moth, having seen only their larvae last year.

 

 

Cuckoo flower spotted 24th April: how soon to hear a cuckoo?

Reports of cuckoos returning since mid-April, but not heard one yet.

 

 

Sheep return to pastures with lambs.

Most horses in paddocks still rugged; a few graze with the sun on their backs. Heavy hail shower on the 25th.

 

Beautiful Bluebells, and not yet in full bloom. Wood Anemone faces the sun.

 

Blackbirds sing regularly throughout the day. Busy birds feeding nestlings, a few males with tatty feathers. Fledgling heard begging but not seen; seen only a dead fledgling on the patio.

 

Starling squadrons in the garden, busy busy, probing and hunting, speeding off to feed youngsters.

One day, a maestro mimics multiple birds: Blackbird, Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Magpie, Long-tailed Tit, and more.

 

 Warblers, delicate skies and foliage, on the broads.

 

 

 

Willow Warbler.

 

Cuckoo heard 29th April.

Willow Warbler singing whilst a Cuckoo calls from a distance, the latter for short bursts; but, will anticipate soon, "In May I sing all night and day".

Boats returning to the quiet broads and dykes.

A Great Crested Grebe rides the swell on the river Yare whilst busy pairs nest on a broad

 

Sampling the goods as the very local vineyard Winbirri reopens their garden for the season.

A respite from clouds and chills at the middle and the end of the month with bright sunshine, hot for driving.

 

Mute Swans nesting. New green shoots a base to last-years dead reeds.

Alexanders fragrant on road verges, with escaped oilseed rape and cow parsley blooming at intervals.

 

 

Busy Black-tailed Godwits, feeding and squabbling on pools. Rusty breeding plumage evident.

Cley Long-billed Dowitcher remaining, now first summer.

 

 Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff prolific, but other warblers only heard infrequently: teases of a Blackcap's song.

Just about mild enough to sit outside listening to the Blackbirds singing at dusk 21:00.

Summer evenings outdoors not so far away.

My sounds of April

Chiffchaff

Blackbird

Sedge warbler

March 2023: Quick roundup

A cold, wet and gusty month for the most part, windy enough for a power cut. Arctic winds, big clouds, drizzle and damp. Snow and some frosts.  Many more leaves and flowers opening up. Winter visitors leaving, whilst summer visitors return.

 

 

A Curlew hunts on the beach

Lapwings flocking at start of month, more often seen in pairs by end of it.

 

Seals spread across the shore.

 

A breezy river Yare.

 

 

 

Herring Gull by the shore.

Black-headed Gulls have left my inland home, but a herring gull pair remains.

 

 

Gulls flocking over the shore at sundown.

 

 

 

 

 

Pheasants claim, defend and pronounce their territory.

One crows regularly ahead of the dawn chorus one morning.

 

 

Planting out an Elder sapling. Looks curiously like a miniature green man.

 

 Snow falls in the middle of the month. Flecks, then flurries that soon lie, soon melt away.

 

Tawny Owl heard calling overnight, sometimes in early morning. A commotion in a churchyard tree: Magpies, Jays, Blackbirds scolding and shrieking; a Tawny Owl flies out, its tormentors in pursuit.

 

 

Sweep, sweep, sweep. Spoonbills returning this month.

 

 

Bearded Tits ping and pursue through the reeds.

Lapwing displays, the winter flocks dispersing.

Grey skies, grey water.

 

A wet month: wellies not yet for storage.

Redwings call and fly over eastward. Feed in a pasture, but soon fly onward, on their return homeward.

Greylag pairs claim their patches.

Pinkfeet small flock seen once on coastal grazing marsh, but most have departed.

Great White Egret rests by the reeds whilst a Hen Harrier hunts above.

 

Crow caws on a dull, cold afternoon.

Busy Rooks building and repairing their nests. A Magpie seen nest-building.

Avocets returning this month, bright white, elegant birds.

 

Avocet flock set up by marsh harrier pair.

Violets on the wayside.

A month of Primroses, Daffodils, Narcissi and Hyacinth after earlier Snowdrops and Crocuses. More colourful after the more restrained February flowers. Magnolia flowers opening, and bright Forsythia in many gardens.

17th March 2023: First Chiffchaff heard. Singing infrequently by Cley NWT visitor centre. By the end of the month, Chiffchaff singing regularly and widely. (A Willow Warbler heard 31st March).

I listen for a Blackcap, but not yet heard.

Dramatic cloud and sun glancing. Another day and an intense rainbow follows a cloudburst.

 

 

 

Sparrowhawk braces against gusts as he watches the snack bar (bird feeders).

 

 

 A moth batters against the bathroom window, blackbirds singing now at dusk.

A Tawny Owl calls at dawn.

 

Heron landing after an aerial display to another.

 

 

Gusty winds blowing from the south, seemingly driving back the shallow, north-sea waves.

 

 

 Spoonbills seen flying over coastal marshes, sometimes small flocks of Curlew. Skies empty now of Pinkfeet flocks. Great White and Little Egrets seen regularly.

 A slain nestling on the patio, pale pink and soft. Fallen or taken from a blackbird nest, the nestling is buried in the fragrant soil beneath the silver birch.

Soon to be the season of offspring: of predators and eat-or-be-eaten, new life and death.

 

A rainy evening perfect for ducks. Mallards preening by the path whilst Tufted Ducks hunt on a lake. Many Shelduck and Shoveler still present, Wigeon and Teal too. From the bathroom one evening, Wigeon heard calling--some heading east, heading home.

 

 

Cattle return to pasture.

 

 

Shorelarks, perfectly camouflaged on the beach, not yet migrated.

 

Black-headed Gulls squawk, squabble and caw--very vocal this month and almost all in their summer caps.

 

The Holkham Barnacle Goose flock returns mid-March.

 

 

Raven at Holkham. Long-tailed Tits seen nest-building, but no Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers seen or heard, no Great-spotted Woodpeckers heard drumming.

 

First summer migrant seen: a Wheatear from central Africa hunting on saltmarsh.

An influx of Alpine Swifts this month, with a possible glimpse of one at Cromer: a large bird with flickering wingtips.

 

 

Skylarks sing over pasture and beach, but Meadow Pipits just calling.

Oystercatcher flocks fly over the waves, Ringed Plovers hunt by the surf.

 

 

Brent Geese flocks still at the coast, their skeins loose, low and silent, compared to the departed Pinkfeet.

 

First Swallow seen: a few flying over the dunes and sea.

Hoping for more hirundines this year than the previous, poor year.

 

 

 

 Gusty, changeable days. Dramatic clouds, rain, sunlight.

 

Mud, mud, mud on any well-trodden path. The wettest month for a long time.

As with previous years, this spring's weather has been wet, cold, disappointing.

 

Bluebells beginning to flower, and Wood Anemone opening in ancient woodland. Lesser Celandine, Dog's Mercury, Primroses also seen.

Snowdrops flowers gone by end of month; Crocuses long gone but sprawled grasses remain. Daffodils abundant, gaudy. Narcissi waning. Bees more apparent, but only 2 butterflies seen.

Winter departures and spring arrivals: large flock of Fieldfares chuckles as fly eastward at month's end, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff singing in woods below them.

My sounds of March:

Blackbird

Lapwing

Skylark

Pheasant

Birds heard singing in March:

Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Marsh Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Skylark, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler

Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove cooing.

Pheasants crowing.