Friday 19 May 2017

Common Crane and lots more

Birds seen at the observatory recently include:
  • 1 Common Crane flew South on the 18th May (a first for the observatory and my first ever on my path)
  • 1 Green Woodpecker flew East (surprisingly a first for the observatory)
  • 1 Lesser Black-Backed Gull flew South
  • 1 Herring Gull flew East
I have also seen lots of the normal birds including a record 18 House Martins circling overhead. Also, Starling have decided to build a nest under a neighbour's roof which means I can see the Starling collecting nest material and then taking it to the nest. The Common Crane is an amazing sighting for the observatory. There seems to be some kind of theme with a Glossy Ibis, a White Stork and now a Common Crane seen from the observatory in the past year. Here are all the pictures of the Common Crane (some pictures are better than others as the bird was quite distant):







Wednesday 3 May 2017

White Stork!!!

On Monday (May 1st) I was getting out of the car and I saw a bird circling and slowly flying East. I quickly ran inside to get my binoculars and quickly identified it as a White Stork (as I had suspected when I first saw the bird). Presumably this was the same bird was also seen at Frettenham and Hainford.  Amazingly, this is the second for the Horstead Bird Observatory and the last one was a individual seen 1 or 2 years ago (I unfortunately did not record the date) who flew low over the village, heading South. 

Other birds seen recently from the observatory are:
  •  1 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
  • 2 Swallows (the first this year for the observatory)

Tuesday 25 April 2017

Monday 24th 2017 Sightings

The highlights of a short watch on Monday night were:

  • 1 Buzzard circling
  • 1 Kestrel hovering
  • And the highlight was a Great Spotted Woodpecker that sat on a tree then flew East
Also, a walk around the village on Sunday produced a female Reed Bunting, a Song Thrush, a Warbler sp. and some some Swallows over a field. Also, today I saw a Song Thrush, another Song Thrush presumably the same bird the other side of the road later on and then I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker on someone's peanut feeder in their garden.

Sunday 23 April 2017

Sunday 23rd April 2017 Sightings

The highlights of just under one hours bird watching from the Horstead Bird Observatory were:

  • 4 House Martin circled overhead (The observatory and my first of the year)
  • 2 Jay flew West
  • 1 Greenfinch in tree 
  • 1 Pied Wagtail on the observatory's roof
  • 1 Male Kestrel hovering then flew South
  • 4 Mallard (2 flew South and two flew North
  • 4 Buzzard (2 circling overhead and 2 circling in the distance)
  • 5 Goldfinch flew West
It is great to see that the House Martins are back and that several pairs of Buzzard are in the area. Also, just as I was writing this a Lesser Black-Backed Gull flew West.

Tuesday 18 April 2017

The Observatory Is Up And Running Again!!!

As the nights get lighter, I am opening up the observatory again! I hope I can see more great sighting this year and I will post my sightings on this blog yet again. Maybe I will get another rarity like the Glossy Ibis last year or maybe I'll get the pair of Redwings back in the area??? By the way, if you are driving past Horstead please look out for Redwings and comment on this blog and/or report them on Birdguides after the next few weeks (just to make sure all the wintering individuals have gone).

Saturday 1 October 2016

Thursday Evening Sightings

Here are the sightings from the evening of Thursday 29th September:
18:35 - Max 8 House Martin
18:37 - Passage of about 200 Gulls flew West!!!
18:44 - 1 Carrion Crow flew West
I now have a new record with the gull passage!

I am now going of to do more spotting from the observatory.

Thursday 29th September morning highlights!

This is the very short list of highlights from Thursday morning:
7:22 - Kestrel flew West
7:34 - Lesser Black-backed Gull circling
7:41 - 4 Ducks (presumed Mallard) flew East