Tuesday 1 April 2014
Not an April fool, rather a very nice April surprise. Not too far away is a field full of stones. Look at the two brown stones near the centre, and go slightly left (ok it's a rubbish picture)
but there in the field and perfectly camouflaged was a Stone Curlew !
I watched this bird for an hour as it slowly stood up and did nothing ! But the real rarity value was that I was watching such a great bird all on my own, and in birdwatcher-filled Norfolk that's quite an event. It was a beautiful morning, sunny and 17 degrees. Perfect for the bird to sit still and admire the heat haze rising from the field, playing havoc with my attempts to get a sharp shot - it was just too far away.
A more enlarged pics - also in the hedge were Tree Sparrows and overhead a Red Kite, Sparrowhawk and five Buzzards - all in all a very pleasant hour.
Still some Redwings about - this a week ago
and in the Edgefield area good numbers of
Crossbills, this flock of 63 birds (not all in the photo)
