February 2023

Don’t fret

Today we had friends visiting but managed a walk at Lady Anne’s Drive with them late morning. It was misty – a bit of sea fret as it’s known here – so we didn’t stay out long, but as you’ll know from previous entries about this area there is always plenty to see – pink-footed …

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Meads and fens

Today, on our way back from a family visit in London, we first stopped off at the RSPB reserve of Rye Meads in Hertfordshire. We used to visit this reserve in the 1990s when it was known as Rye House Marsh, and had a completely different entrance point! This explains why we didn’t recognise it …

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Needle in a haystack

This morning I headed east along the coast to Weybourne beach. This is where the saltmarsh and shingle of further west rises to become the cliffs that run around the corner of the Norfolk coast and beyond Cromer. I’ve been here once or twice before as it seems to be a good spot for birds …

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Photos and gear

Today was entirely taken up with work – catching up on emails, planning various concerts for later this year, and sourcing music for some upcoming string trio performances – and, in the afternoon, a birthday party for my 92 year old mother-in-law. So I realised at about 11.50pm that I hadn’t written a blog! I …

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Hiding in the dark

Today I had to drive into King’s Lynn to take a regular orchestral rehearsal, and so I thought I would leave the house a little earlier than I needed to in order to go to Flitcham, a small village near King’s Lynn. For many years there has been a single birdwatching hide overlooking some land …

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A Siberian vagrant

It’s a long drive from Scotland to north Norfolk, but there’s some wonderful scenery on the way. I had decided to visit a site in County Durham on my way back and so I got on the road reasonably early, had a charging stop near Perth, and finally got to the village of Willington, just …

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March already?

Today was my last full day in Scotland for a few weeks, but I had to wait in for various people to call, in attempts to fix the broadband (the reason why the blogs for the last few days have been late going online!) and the central heating. Tomorrow I will leave here early and …

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A woodland at dusk

I only managed to get out of the house at about 5pm this evening, when I took a walk up into the wood behind the property, which is owned by our immediate neighbour. Last summer I had spent an amazing evening there waiting to see if I could see any badgers. There’s a badger sett …

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Our native squirrel

Today I drove out to the small RSPB reserve at Loch Spynie near Lossiemouth. It’s a place I visited a couple of times last year, and Brenda and I went there together just before new year. Every time I’ve been I’ve seen our native squirrel, the red squirrel, and today was no exception, I actually …

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Gannets at last

After a morning of emails and grouting I decided to head out, though the weather was somewhat grey! I had been looking for an excuse to visit the RSPB reserve at Loch of Strathbeg, as I’ve never been there, but reports of a green-winged teal over the last few days made the decision for me. …

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