June 2025

George, Ted and I were up early in the garden insect hunting! We managed to find a Speckled Bush Cricket, Dock Bug and a little beetle with a long latin name (which I cannot now remember!) However we were soon on our way to Peterborough as Jonathan was due for some England o40s hockey training and I was on child-care duties. I took the boys to Ferry Meadows where we had a fun time building a den in the forest school area, scooting around the perimeter of the park watching Mute Swans, Moorhen and Mallards on the lake whilst Sand Martins flew overhead and playing on  the swings.

We had instructions to be back to the Peterborough hockey centre at 1.15 pm ready to watch the hockey match against Peterborough and meet up with some friends of Jonathan that I have known since they were boys. However not all goes to plan as the boys spotted a bouncy castle set up and wanted a go. They had a lovely time on the big blow-up slide and by the time we had eaten our picnic lunch we were late to the match. Luckily we could still watch the second half of it, where the England team won 8-0.

On the way home I stopped to admire the Poppies in the field at Roydon.

John and I left home early and drove to Bempton Cliffs as we both love to walk along the cliff top admiring the spectacle of watching all the sea birds on the cliffs and seeing the orchids on show in June. We were not to be disappointed as Gannet, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Shag, Herring Gull and Rock Dove were all present nesting on the sheer cliffs. We spent the morning walking the cliff top and enjoying the scene before us, whilst taking more than a few photographs. Tree Sparrows were also a delight to see.

After lunch we drove to North Landing at Flamborough and repeated the process. It was a delightful walk in the sun and after watching the Shags on the rocks below we stopped to admire all the Northern Marsh Orchids on show. We found a lovely pub on the way home overlooking the Lincolnshire Wolds where we had a delightful meal with a fantastic view.

John and I had a very productive day today in Norwich buying new birding clothes and a new posh dress, jacket, fascinator and clutch bag for me as well as booking flights for another birding trip early next year. We returned back home and after a cup of tea drove to Wymondham and searched the cemetery for Spotted Flycatchers to no avail. We did however have a Hobby fly over and watched a Treecreeper, Jay, Blackbird, Robin and Blue Tit. Drama ensued as 4 police cars drove by at great speed with blue lights flashing.

We drove on to the Abbey where two Peregrines gave us good views. We watched the male fly off, catch a bird and return it to the female who then spent her time plucking it on top of the Abbey.

After a morning of more admin re our up-coming foreign trips I was ready for a walk but the weather had other ideas. I made it outside just as the heavens opened so I scurried back inside and had some lunch. Eventually the sun appeared and I appeared at West Newton as news came through about the Rose-coloured Starling at Melton Constable, but I could not raise the energy to drive across to see it. So I continued my walk as three Red Kites were calling to each other above my head.

However this afternoon’s walk was really about the insects that I saw, as I saw precious few birds! A Red Admiral settled in the ditch before a Painted Lady Butterfly flew by me and settled, but it took me a while to take its photograph. Sadly it was rather beaten up and washed out. The Red Admiral reminded me of my grandson Ted (aged 6) as he is in the Red Admiral group at his school and he was fascinated to see one last weekend. A bit further on a Tortoiseshell Butterfly flew by me and landed but I could not re-find it in the long grass.

Down at the pool I watched three Reed Warblers, a Reed Bunting and a Chiffchaff as two Cuckoos called somewhere in the distance. A close Cetti’s Warbler called but I did not see it. The rain started again, luckily it was only light rain but enough to force me back to the car as I had no coat. In the ditch a Banded Demoiselle perched on a leaf and allowed me to take its photo, but as I neared the car a Chiffchaff caught my eye as it chased a Mayfly. It was eventually successful which would make it a nice meal.

After failing to find the Rose-coloured Starling this morning in Melton Constable, Sally invited me in for a cup of tea as she had seen the bird on her roof yesterday evening. It was so lovely to see her again and hear her tales of her wonderful holiday cruising the Norwegian Fjords.

I had lunch at the Cley cafe where Duncan told me where to stand to hear/see the Marsh Warbler. I joined Dot and Steve and together we had several short views of the Marsh Warbler which was singing a variety of calls. Whilst we were watching it we watched Spoonbill, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and Little Egret fly over us. Along East Bank Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warblers flitted in the reeds as a pair of Coot were swimming alongside me.

Today I was invited to a 50th birthday party. It was decided to start the day at Titchwell where we all watched Marsh Harriers, Spoonbills as well as a Red Crested Pochard. It was very relaxing as we sat in the hides watching Avocets defending their young chicks and Little Ringed Plovers running around, before having a stroll on the beach. Turnstones were in their summer plumage as Damien and I watched Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover in flight over the sea.

We all enjoyed a wonderful sea-food lunch which was just delicious, followed by a rendition of singing Happy Birthday to Damien and sharing his cake. The local church had a thousand bird exhibition and was decorated both in the church and in the churchyard. I wandered around and delighted in some of the exhibits. After thanking my hosts I drove to Flitcham where I watched the Little Owl sitting in its usual Oak tree.

It is also my son Jonathan’s birthday. Happy birthday darling!

After a day of gardening yesterday in preparation for my landscapers arriving to repair my pond, Jane, Liz and I had a leisurely walk around Titchwell. Liz was keen to see Avocets and we were lucky to see lots of chicks at various stages running around being defended by their parents as Shelducks approached them. We watched a Reed Bunting sitting up proudly in the reeds as well as several brief views of Reed Warblers and bearded Tits. Down at the Parrinder Hide the Little Ringed Plover gave us a testing time as it kept flying off before it finally settled and gave us good views through the scope. Shoveler, Shelduck and three Spoonbills were a delight to watch as they swished their bills from side to side feeding.

After some lunch Jane and I walked along the Fen Trail and watched  family parties of  Chiffchaffs. Round at Patsy’s Pool we admired the Red-crested Pochard and were lucky to see a Cuckoo as it flew in front of us. Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard Coot, Mute Swan and Little Grebe were all present as Swift, Swallow and House Martin zipped through the air. It was a lovely relaxing day in the warm but breezy day.

John, Paul, Richard and I made up a car-load and left at some unearthly hour in the night and drove to Thornwick Bay where we were hoping to see a Song Sparrow. We were eventually joined by about 40 birders who stood with us watching Linnets, Stonechats, Common Whitethroats all of which had fledglings, Lesser Whitethroats and Reed Warblers. By 9am we were starving and went for a cooked breakfast at North Landing before starting our vigil once again overlooking the ravine. I wandered to the cliff edge and watched Kittiwake, Gannet, Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemot. By lunchtime many birders had left and we too decided to call it a day and drove to Bempton Cliffs leaving only about six birders left to look. It was such a shame as conditions were perfect in the sun and gentle breeze. We stopped on the exit track to admire a few Northern Marsh Orchids that were in full bloom.

Bempton Cliffs was extremely busy and turning most cars away as they had filled up both overflow car parks. We decided to wait and were lucky to get a spot in the main car-park. We walked to the viewing platforms and watched Kittiwake, Gannet, Puffin, Fulmar, Razorbill and Guillemot. There were a few chicks to be seen but most birds were still sitting on nests with eggs in. It is such a spectacle and a delight to see as birds whirl around in flight with a real cacophony of sound and I got to practice taking photos of birds in flight over the cliff edge with my Canon R7 camera and Canon 100-500mm lens!  We met up with Kathryn and Gwynn who had been lucky to see the Song Sparrow yesterday. Eventually, with an increasing breeze and tiredness creeping in, we made our way back to the Visitor Centre. Swallows were nesting above the door here whilst we enjoyed tea and cake before setting off back home.

Once at home my tree at the bottom of the garden had been felled which was now letting in much more light.

I have spent the day at home as my landscapers arrived to repair my top ponds and insert a new pipe so that the pumping stream would work once again after the old pipe became very brittle and split. The new stonework and new concrete needs time to settle before having its waterproofing and paint applied. With an old tree removed there is much work to be done and the area will need replanting and tidied up.

Whilst the workmen beavered away, I was busy packing as another adventure looms to a country that neither John and I have been to before. I took a cup of tea to the workmen and had four Mediterranean Gulls calling overhead. I have seen Mediterranean Gulls over my garden before but not four together.

After two loads of washing, lawn mowing, hoovering and sorting out a few packing issues I was exhausted and was looking forward to downloading the new checklist which I am sure many of you that are world listers have been waiting for. It was promised for January but was then promised for this week. It was meant to be out on Tuesday but finally arrived late yesterday. We will lose several species off the British List as Green-winged Teal is lumped and Hooded Crow is also lumped. We have already lost Mealy and Arctic Redpoll. I have not had chance to study it at length but the IOC list was 11,250 and the AviList 11,131 so I am bound to lose a few world ticks! Grrr….

For those of you that are interested AviList can be seen here:

https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025

The comparison between IOC 15.1 and AviList can be seen here:

https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/compare.jsp?source1=avilist&version1=AVILIST2025&source2=ioc&version2=IOC15_01&continent=&reg_type=3

It was a glorious morning as I set off across Dersingham Bog, where I had a bit of a Stonechat fest. I saw eight different birds on the track from the Scissors Car Park track to the pond where the cows were lurking in the shade. A Tree Pipit was in full song serenading me as I walked in the sun. A Wren called and dashed across the path before I admired all the Four-spot Chasers on the water. A Cuckoo was still calling as I watched it fly over the trees. Linnets were singing and flying around in the heat.

I was soon getting hot and decided to return to my car walking through the trees where many of the birds had taken refuge. A couple of Blackcaps were dashing around and a Chiffchaff was flitting in the Bracken. Up above me a Great Spotted Woodpecker watched me but it did not want its photo taken!

John and I flew to Cluj in Romania, where we then drove north to Dej, just south of the Carpathian Mountains.

So today was largely a travel day, leaving Dej in Romania and travelling 150 miles eastwards over the hills and mountains through the Bicaz Gorge. We stopped off at several flower-rich meadows to search for butterflies. It was challenging as the heat was making the butterflies very frisky and not wanting to put their feet down. Many of the species that we need to add to our butterfly lists are extremely similar and so we need good enough photos to identify them with a field guide in the evenings. I managed to add two new species to my world list today…Large Coper and Woodland Ringlet. There are so many species of Ringlet to give John and I a headache, as we grapple with the identification.

We did have a pre-breakfast walk where we were in an Oak wood with Golden Orioles singing. Although we had several brief views not one of them wanted its photograph taken!

We are now in a wooden hotel in a deep valley where the meadows abound with flowers but sadly most are being cut ready for the winter animal fodder.

The sun shone all day for us to walk Turda Gorge in Romania. Whilst we saw Alpine Swifts, Crag Martins and a family party of Peregrines on the cliffs, we failed to find any Wallcreepers. Grey Wagtails, Blackcaps and Black Redstarts kept us amused as we added Woodland Brown to our butterfly list bringing us to 50 species of butterflies for the week here. Not bad as we had no guide or site guides and just saw what we saw as we travelled around the country admiring the flower-filled meadows and mountains whilst enjoying the sun and cherry brandies!

Well done England who won 5-1 against Spain in the European Championships at hockey today, in which my son is playing! So frustrated that this is not on TV. They show club football on TV but when the England Hockey team play …..not even a mention! Grrrrr

It was another hot and sunny day as we enjoyed the breakfast provided by our hosts. Foreign breakfasts are always interesting as we discussed the various items on our plates. At times there are strange combinations and we are perplexed at what some items are! However it was far too much for me but I had a valiant effort and wondered if I was going to be able to move at all after it. I abandoned the thought of a swim and John and decided on some more butterflying in Rimetea Valley as yesterday afternoon was just too breezy, even though it was very hot for the butterflies to settle for photography.

Rimetea Valley was about an hour’s drive from our accommodation but was heaving with butterflies as we arrived. John was in his element as he walked up the road and I was determined to take as many photos as possible as the ‘blues’ and fritillaries are just so similar and good photos are necessary to tell them apart. However getting a top side and an underside of each butterfly is a challenge to say the least! As it was a Saturday there seemed to be more traffic on the road, even though it was not busy and we both cursed when a car came by and frightened our butterfly away before we could take a photograph. Butterflies also have a nasty habit of twirling meaning that you have to move which also frightens them off. All in all …………..not an easy scenario for the photographer!

However we both persevered and I managed to add another two species to my trip list. Back at the car Crag Martins were swirling around us high up by the cliff face. They quite clearly had a nest somewhere on it. After a while we drove to the village of Rimetea and bought a few provisions before finding a track where some butterflies were coming down to the river’s edge to drink and mop up some minerals. It was butterfly heaven as we watched them all landing and tussling with one another. We added High Brown Fritillary to our list as well as watching another Lesser Purple Emperor.

Well done England who beat Ireland 9-2 in the European Hockey Master Championships today in Valencia, Spain.

Well done England who beat Scotland 5-1 in the European Hockey Master Championships today in Valencia, Spain. My son, Jonathan says he is surviving in the heat! They are now top of the table! Yah !

Well done England who beat France 16-2 in the European Hockey Master Championships this morning in Valencia, Spain. Although the score-line would suggest that France were not very good, England were just more clinical and better!

Back in England it was also hot and an ideal evening to see Nightjars so I joined a few friends who were ringing Nightjars on a heath in NW Norfolk. With thanks to Chris, I was fortunate to be able to hold one for it to be released. It flew off strongly and eventually flew back down into the heather. We watched several Nightjars this evening with one bird coming very close to us. Two Woodcock also kept us entertained.

It was NarVOS’s summer event this evening and what a lovely evening it was too! Members had been asked to supply 10 photographs along a theme if they wished to, and present them for the other members to enjoy on the big screen. Nine of us did so. There was a wonderful mixed array of photographs which we all enjoyed because of the variety of photographs taken. I chose to show 10 photos taken around the world from my Brooke Bond Tropical Birds tea card album, whilst John showed us 10 American waders. Allan showed us animals taken on birding trip, some in very humorous poses, which made us all laugh. Sandra submitted 10 hummingbirds taken on a recent Costa Rican trip whilst John Fuller showed us birds from Lake Kerkini, which made us reminisce about our time there. Jacob was brave and showed us his photos taken near his home as did our chairman Paul. Pat summitted photos taken on his recent Poland trip and John Owen also submitted some photos taken in Costa Rica.

The auction did not go well as there were no bidders but we all enjoyed the camaraderie when the food appeared, with thanks to Jackie and Glynis. It was an excellent evening with our usual trek across to the pub afterwards which was also very convivial.

After a lively meeting of the Snettisham RSPB volunteers this morning, Carrie and I had a nice lunch at Drove Orchards together. We motored back to Titchwell where it was good to meet up with my former colleagues and help out in the shop for a short while. Carrie and I were delighted to see Timor once again, one of our former residential volunteers whom I am sure will be a fantastic surgeon one day! Eventually with my tasks over, I was able to go out onto the reserve where it was both hot and windy. A Greenfinch sat and posed whilst I listened to all the Goldfinch twittering. The Fen Trail was full of Long-tailed Tits and Chiffchaffs singing.  With little to be seen on Patsy’s pool except many ducks all in eclipse plumage, I made my way down the West Bank path and watched two stunning Ruff, all resplendent in their summer plumage. Avocets and chicks were all amassed on the Freshmarsh as Black-headed Gulls and chicks dived off the roof of the Island Hide.

I continued on down the path and watched a Little Ringed Plover and a Ringed Plover running around on the mud. A Great White Egret emerged form the reedbed and flew towards Willow Wood before disappearing in the reedbed once again. Down at the Parrinder Hide I met up with a former volunteer who had remembered me from Bird Fair last year when I managed to persuade him to let Titchwell have a lot of pin badges that I could then sell at Titchwell. Together we watched a Spotted Redshank behind some Shelducks and another Little Ringed Plover. A Sandwich Tern was lurking in amongst the Black-headed Gulls and Mediterranean Gulls.

We made our way up the West Bank Path reminiscing about days gone by at Snettisham when he used to visit and we remembered how it used to be. After enjoying some time with Clare, I met up with Timor and Abdul and we watched a Spotted Flycatcher together.

I am due to be on grandparenting duties this weekend whilst my son and daughter-in law have a well earned break. After arriving just after lunch in West Sussex, it wasn’t long before Mark and I walked to the local school to pick up Brodie. My daughter-in-law, Suzy had had a school inspection and she had my full sympathy as an ex-teacher, how stressful these can be and she needed to chill out, so I had been volunteered to help out at Brodie’s Beaver campfire this evening along with Mark. It has been 36 years since I was a Beaver Leader (younger section of the scouts and cubs) so it was really lovely to be invited to help out with my grandson’s camp fire evening today. The scouts had lit the fire as we arrived in the evening and after some instructions from the leaders Mark and I helped the Beavers preparing their dampers. My son Mark was brilliant at organising the dampers and chocolate bananas over the campfire.

After Mark had completed his Park Run and Brodie had taken part in his tennis coaching, I bid goodbye to Mark and Suzy and Finlay and I went in search of some new shoes in town walking through the park where we saw a few Mallards. Failing to find some new shoes we stopped off at the ice-cream van and Finlay played in the park for a while before we retreated back to their home, where after some tea, I helped Finlay make some Flapjack.

The Evening brought some excellent news as my other son Jonathan had won his semi-final of the o40s England Hockey match in the European Masters Competition in Valencia, Spain beating France 10-0 in 40 degrees heat!

Huge excitement today as my son Jonathan retains his European Champion title along with the rest of the o40s England Hockey Team in Valencia, Spain beating Ireland 7-1 in the final of the European Masters Hockey Championships. I am one very proud mummy!

Today Finlay and I went to the Knepp Estate which is not far from my eldest son’s home. It was already 26 degrees when we arrived. We took a map and set off along one of the walks and it didn’t take long to spot one of the White Storks nests. Finlay and I looked through the binoculars at it. We continued our walk watching Red Admirals, Meadow Browns and Large White butterflies when Finlay spotted another butterfly on some horse poo (little boys are always fascinated with poo!)  I was amazed as it was a Purple Emperor. I cursed that I did not have a proper camera with me.

We continued our walk and watched a pair of Lesser Whitethroats and another 7 White Storks in the air together. Finlay was fascinated with a Common Buzzard doing a dive display. We saw some Red Deer and a Rabbit too before we stopped for our picnic but it was too hot to continue and we sought out some shade back at the centre where it was cooler before heading back to base.

As I walked down the stairs at my son’s house in West Sussex my grandchildren all greeted me with ‘Happy Birthday Nanny’. As it was a school day the usual family chaos proceeded in getting bags and clothes sorted and after breakfast Mark and I walked Brodie to school after bidding Suzy and Isla, who walks herself to school, goodbye.

Mark is now England director for a large multinational company and leads a stressful life running projects all over the world but as it was my birthday and Finlay had an inset day off from school, Mark had suggested that we go to Leonardslee park and gardens for a walk and lunch and he could field necessary phone calls whilst we walked and looked around the gardens. It was another sweltering day, but the gardens and park were beautiful as we admired the wallabies, Mallards, Blackbirds searching for worms in the leaf litter, Robins and Chaffinches.

We wandered down to the lake where the carp were huge as they investigated our presence. It was good to be in the shade as the temperature rose to 33 degrees. After admiring the scenery, Mark treated me to lunch in the air-conditioned cafe. The park and gardens was a lovely way to spend a birthday morning. Eventually back at Mark’s home, he had to get on with his work and I bid him and Finlay goodbye and spent my afternoon driving back home.