June 2026

As it was raining this morning I spent it preparing another talk that I have been asked to do. However the rain stopped just after lunch and I needed some fresh air. I checked my radar weather app and it seemed that there would be a couple of hours respite before the next shower would arrive.

I went for a walk on one of my local patches at West Newton following a hedgeline down to a pool. Swallows were flying low over the cereal field as I attempted a few photos of them. The hedge had several Chiffchaffs calling in it, as well as a Lesser Whitethroat. A Yellowhammer sat and posed whilst Sedge Warblers sang, not that I saw a single one of them!

A Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and a Common Buzzard all flew in the distance. Skylarks were singing as I watched a Reed Bunting singing. Down at the pool the water levels were still very low and a Mallard objected to my presence. Reed Warblers and more Sedge Warblers sang as I watched another Reed Bunting. I walked to the Babingley River where an Emperor Dragonfly was patrolling its run. Two Blue Tits flew into the hedge as a Wren sang.

Over at the old flax mill House Martins were flying around as I watched another Masrh Harrier. I stopped to take some photographs of some Linnets but the Goldfinches were having none of it. However a Dunnock was more than happy to oblige. I turned around and noticed a huge black cloud heading my way. Time to get back to my car I thought. I managed to get home as the thunder rumbled and the rain started albeit for only a short while.

After another busy day John and I took a walk on Roydon Common where it was a bit of a Red Kite fest as several birds wheeled around our heads. A Cuckoo flew along the ridge before disappearing over the common. Linnets, Stonechats and Yellowhammers sang as a small flock of Goldfinches alighted and landed again infront of us.

As dusk fell I drove to Snettisham where we were treated to a pair of Nightjars flying around our heads before perching in a nearby tree posing for us!

There are some days that just do not go well and this was one of them! The trips that John and I do, take an awful lot of planning and John and I had set today aside to sort out various aspects of three of our proposed trips. One by one we could not get hold of the people that we needed to communicate with, having made the arrangement to speak to them or when we did the trip simply fell apart due to a variety of problems.

By lunchtime we were both extremely frustrated to say the least. John needed to get home and I needed to blow some wind through my hair! I drove to Titchwell where babies were the order of the day. Avocets were fending off any intruders that approached their chicks and baby shelducks were ushered away rather rudely! A baby Redshank fared rather better as it was a bit bigger (but not much!)

A black rain cloud was looming as I ran for the Parrinder Hide where lots of Black-headed Gulls dominated the scene nesting on the islands along with Avocets and Common Terns. A Ringed Plover walked along one of the muddy edges as a Meadow Pipit and a pair of Linnets came and bathed. I took a few photos of the Swifts and one of a Little Egret. Two Spoonbills were roosting over near the East Bank. However there was no sign of the Little Gull which just about summed up my day as this was a bird I would have liked to see!

It was another frustrating day as John and I joined the birders at Horsey. However having stopped to take an important phonecall regarding one of our forth-coming trips we managed to miss the Montagu’s Harrier by 20 minutes this morning. Grrr. We sat it out enjoying the banter but it was not to be.

Along the Nelson Head track we saw many Painted Ladies from the recent influx. Common Whitethroats were in the hedges and a Willow Warbler sang from one of the Willow Trees. A pair of Yellowhammers caught our attention as did some Linnets. A lone Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and several Common Buzzards were seen during our stay but the best part of the day was drowning our sorrows with a cider and lager in the Nelson’s Head as we walked back to the car watching a Pied Wagtail.

After a spot of shopping I popped into Wootton Grange Flood Lagoon where four Shelduck were plodding around. During this time I heard the MEGA alert go off on my phone but stupidly did not look at it, instead I drove home and looked at it there. Curses! It was a Western Reef Heron in Wales not far from Caernarfon. John and I threw some overnight things in a bag and drove to north Wales, taking a little over 5 hours with all the speed restrictions now in place.

We met up with several Norfolk birders and other friends that we know from our twitching days, and all enjoyed the Western Reef Heron together. We are now in a hotel on Anglesey enjoying a celebratory meal and a drink or two!

After a delightful breakfast in our hotel on Anglesey we drove to RPSB South Stack and joined all the other birders, who having seen the Western Reef Heron earlier in the morning had now set up scopes watching the Woodchat Shrike from the car park. The wind was ferocious and I struggled to keep my scope still as I looked through it. However it was more useful as a prop for my camera which I was also struggling to keep still as I was blown around!

We drove down to the lighthouse and parked at the end of the road. There were many Guillemots flying around the cliffs along with Jackdaws and Rock Doves. We started walking to where we have seen Choughs before but a squall came through and we scurried back to the car. We drove back to the car park and saw a couple of Choughs land in front of us over the wall. I grabbed my camera, walked down towards the cliffs and took a few photos before retreating back to the car breathless, as the wind had beaten my energy out of me.

We drove to Holyhead Harbour and I watched three Black Guillemots fly under the bridge and out of sight. We met up with Jim, Paul, James and Mike and luckily two Black Guillemots returned as well as another two by the harbour mouth.

The journey back south was busier than our journey north but we stopped off in Crowland where we saw two Long-eared Owl chicks sitting on a log. They were very cute! Ahhhhh…… What another fabulous couple of days it has been!

A very happy birthday to my second son Jonathan today!

My birding took place at either ends of the day today. I woke up late as I was very tired after our North Wales adventure and my body obviously needed the sleep. However I was aware of a lot of noise from the bottom of my garden coming from my owl box. I opened the curtains further and was entertained by a young family of Jackdaws that were fledging from the box. The parent birds were calling the fledglings out. One by one they emerged and sat around the trees before the whole family took off, flying over my roof. It will be much quieter in the garden now, but I have enjoyed the company of the parent birds as they have delivered the food every day.

Most of my day was spent with a friend who had come for lunch but sadly instead of sitting outside in some summer sun, the rain meant we were ensconced indoors. By late afternoon after my friend had gone and the rain had stopped, I went to bail out my pond yet again, as the green algae was not a pleasant sight. I re-filled the pond and whilst I was doing so, a Barn Owl flew around the field at the back of me. I grabbed my camera but was too late, as it flew to the farm and out of sight. Luckily it came back, swooped down and caught a vole but I was too slow and only got a disappearing photo of it sadly. A few minutes later it flew over my neighbour’s house and into the sunset!

After an admin day yesterday and with the threat of showers later on today, John and I dropped John’s car off at the gargae early this morning for its MOT , and headed to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen where a Red-footed Falcon had been roosting for the last couple of days and hunting over the reedbed.

With thanks to Stuart White who gave us instructions of where to start looking for the falcon, we soon found the male Red-footed Falcon sitting very distantly in a tree top on the other side of the reedbed from the screen, by the Visitor Centre. We wandered down to Fen Hide and joined Ben and Stuart. Luckily the falcon had flown a bit nearer and was perched in a Elder bush, before flying again to a dead branch and perching there.

I took a few photos and also watched three Hobbies that were flying around. Paul arrived and  joined us. Togther we watched many juvenile Marsh Harriers that were on the wing but I think the biggest surprise was three Cuckoos flying together over the reedbed that then set off a female Cuckoo that we could not see, bubbling in the reedbed in front of us.

A Sedge Warbler sat up and sang along with several Reed Buntings as a Little Egret probed the water and a Mallard rounded up her ducklings on the pool in front of us.

The black clouds were gathering and rain was on its way, so we scurried back to the car watching a Blackcap belting out its song as we walked through the woods.

The weather forecast looked grim for today but as I woke up I looked at the radar weather and it seemed that, if I made a start quickly I could get a short spell of birding in, before the rain started for the day. I ignored the messages about a Montagu’s/Pallid Harrier at Gayton, as I thought it would be a wild goose chase and headed for Flitcham where I thought if the worst happened, I could take shelter in the hide.

I drove down the lane and spoke to a couple who had seen a Turtle Dove. I walked to where it had been seen and there it wasn’t! After watching some Marsh Harriers and Red Kites as well as listening to a Blackcap which did not want to reveal itself, I doubled back towards where I had left my car near the sewage works. A few spits and spots arrived much earlier than I had expected and I wondered about the wisdom of where I had left my car.

However luck was on my side as I wandered over to gaze up one of the farm tracks as drinking out of a puddle was a Turtle Dove. I took a few distant photos, which was just as well, as it soon flew off. Later down the lane I spotted a Turtle Dove sitting in a tree. By now I was getting wet and after arriving back at my car, drove to the hide at Abbey Farm.

In the hide I met a lovely couple who were on holiday and together we watched several Marsh Harriers, with one providing very atmospheric photos delivering food in the rain to the juvenile Marsh Harriers all sitting around. The Little Owl popped out and was sheltering in its usual spot. A Song Thrush sat and posed for a short while but a saturated Jay did not want its photograph taken.

My day started on Massingham Heath where I was hoping to do a circular walk that I used to do years ago before it was ploughed up. After some protests about the action due to some government loophole, the area has now been restored to heathland. A Curlew called and flew over the field. I set off admiring the wild flowers on offer, up and over the hill along the public footpath, until I met the gate, all askew and impossible to open, not because it was chained up (the chain had an opener on it) but because of little use and the tall bracken had taken it over, making it impossible to shift. So back to climbing a fence it was!

Skylarks were singing everywhere above my head and I must have seen/heard at least 20 of them. A few Linnets flew by me as a male Blackbird squawked out from the Hawthorn bushes. Common Whitethroats were objecting to a Jay that was on the prowl, no doubt trying to find chicks to predate. I could not walk along the public footpat as bracken had taken it over so walked along the edge of the heath but it wasn’t long before I found my way impossible to access, so I turned around and headed back home.

Back at home John repaired my hammock and we drove to Flitcham where we soon located one of the Turtle Doves along the lane. We walked along the lane admiring Marsh Harriers, Red Kites and a field of Poppies. From the hide at Abbey Farm the Marsh Harrier juveniles were flying around and were all trying to meet the male Marsh Harrier first with its food supply. It was a joy to watch. A Little Owl sat in the root ball of the Oak Tree surveying the world.

John and I were up early to conduct the monthly WeBS count at Nar Valley Fisheries. Summer counts of ducks are always low at this time of year so we expected to be able to have a fairly quick walk around. Nar Valley Fisheries, as it name implies has fishermen using the site and the NarVOS bird club has had permission over the years, via a limited number of permit holders, to go birdwatching here. For the last few years we have conducted a monthly bird count here and submitted our findings to the BTO. It is still an active quarry for sand (mostly) and some gravel. Over the years the number of fishermen has gradually increased and so the water birds are now disturbed a lot more than they used to be.

Today there were many fishermen at every staging that was possible and so we did not hold out for seeing many birds using the water, given the time of year and the disturbance.

John and I walked around the lakes noting a few Tufted Ducks, Mallards, and Coots but numbers of Canada Geese and Egyptian Geese and Greaylag Geese still took some time with numbers in their hundreds. The Black-headed Gulls were joined by a couple of Common Terns flying around. Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers were present along with Blackcaps, Garden Warblers and Common Whitethroats singing. Sand Martins were flying up and down over the River Nar.

Eventually after counting Great Crested Grebes and a lone Great White Egret we arrived at the now joined up Priory Lake where John spotted an Osprey in the distance. I managed a few very distant microscopic photos before it transformed into a Red Kite that had gone to mob it! (This all happened behind some Willow Trees) It then disappeared. After listening to a very vocal Water Rail and watching a few Swifts, Swallows and Sand Martins the Osprey suddenly appeared above my head and I managed a few photographs of it as it passed over.

This year there has been an influx of Common Quail into the country with some interesting photos on social media of the birds. The photographs included a Common Quail flying off the coast of Kent over the sea, a Peregrine at Cromer church with a Common Quail in its talons and one on the patio of Julian Bhalero’ s home in Sheringham. I have only once been fortunate to photograph a Common Quail, one which I twitched many years ago near Aylsham that I was quick enough with my camera to catch it flying across a field after listening to it on a glorious summer’s evening.

Over the last few days I have been visiting the areas where I have been forturnate to hear (or rearely see) them in the past. Today I started at Bawsey and walked up to the ruined church along Spot Lane. This tarmac lane stops at the farm and then becomes a track which is drivable with a 4×4 but I parked at the farm and walked as I wanted to be able to see and hear the birds on offer as it was a nice day to be walking.

I was soon listening to Skylarks and watching a distant Marsh Harrier. Common Whitethroats were also making their presence known singing and darting around. Goldfinches were twittering in the Elder bushes and Sedge Warblers were singing in the ditches. However there was a distinct lack of any hirundines for the time of year and weather conditions.

The farmer stopped to talk to me as he was driving by. I asked him about quails but he had not heard any this year on his farm. He told me about the monoculture of his farm and the lack of any government interest in the environment and subsidies offered for farming to benefit nature. By the end of my conversation with him I was in despair for the future of wildlife and nature. I watched a farm worker spraying the crops and with so few species being seen I turned around after nearing Sandy Lane and walked back. By the time I reached my car I had not heard any quails or seen a single hirundine or Swift!

After a very late lunch at home I drove towards Great Bircham and walked Peddars Way. Here I met up with Steve Fitzgerald and together we watched a Common Whitethroat after I had seen a Yellowhammer, a couple of Marsh Harriers and a Buzzard. Steve thought he heard a Common Quail in the distance. We stood and listened again and heard it call again but were not too sure how far away it was. We walked back towards my car and heard it again. We thought it best to walk back to Roman Road and try to ascertain whether it was coming from the pea crop or cereal crop the other side of the road. Sadly after staying quite a while and with the temperature dropping and a breeze getting up we called it a day and went home.

At last the wind had dropped and there was no rain so I spent the day in the garden. My neighbour helped me sawing up an old picnic table so that I could access a rather weed and bramble strewn hedge and border and get it all back into shape.

After harvesting some vegetables and picking some strawberries and raspberries (they were delicious!) I thought I deserved a break and sat on my newly-repaired hammock. I was entertained by the newly-fledged family of Jackdaws from my owl box which are still returning on a daily basis. A Robin came and sat on my other hammock, no doubt after some morcel from my now weed-free veg plot!

After spending another day at home yesterday in the garden painting my wooden picnic table amongst more weeding and other things, I was due in Oxford to look after my grandaughters after I had collected them from school so that my daughter and son-in-law to could have time to themselves to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

I decided to leave home early so that I could spend some time at RSPB Otmoor whicg is close to my daughter’s home. However my time was evaportated by a blockage at Peterborough when the A605 was partailly blocked by traffic lights when a new road sign had to be erected. The chaos it caused was unacceptable by miles of queuing traffic!

I eventually arrived at Otmoor much later than anticipated but enjoyed my walk nether-the-less. I watched a Hobby and a Marsh Harrier flying over the wet fields and a Reed Bunting  singing over the otherside of the hedge. A newly-fledged family party of Chiffchaffs were in the hedge as I listened to a Cetti’s Warbler singing.

I drove back home un-packed and re-packed my suitcase, mowed the lawn and watered my garden and pot plants.

John and I drove down to Gatwick.

John and I had a short walk in Kranjska Gora after breakfast for a few items in the local grocery store. The scenery was stunning as we walked up the main village street with the mountain scenery surrounding us, all in the warm sun against a vivid blue sky. It was going to be another hot day. We packed the car and drove up the Bovec road, up and over the Vrsic Pass. It was a very twisty road with many hairpin bends to negotiate. We stopped at suitable places where we could look for butterflies. The meadows were full of wonderful flowers but the slopes were difficult to access but there were some trails and we also managed to find a parking spot on the actual Vrsic Pass despite roadworks being carried out here. We could hear Tree Pipits calling and watched a Golden Eagle fly over the peaks of the mountains.

I added Clouded Apollo, Mountain Green-veined White and Berger’s Clouded Yellow, to my European butterfly list as well as enjoying Marbled Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary, Heath Fritillary and Silver-washed Fritillary. We stopped at a café at lunch time and enjoyed a couple of beers to help cool us down in the extreme heat, as well as me taking a paddling dip in the freezing cold mountain stream to cool off my feet. We walked a lovely meadow here packed full of butterflies. A bit later I spotted a small wobbly wooden bridge over the river and we walked along the track alongside the river where I got my target butterfly of an Apollo. I was thrilled! I also added Arran Brown here to my lifer list.

We drove to our hotel in Bovec just before a huge thunderstorm started which the high heat and humidity had been threatening for the last hour. This meant that we ate inside the hotel for our meal this evening instead of outside as we had done last night in the heat.

It was another blisteringly, hot day in Slovenia but we drove up to the top of Mount Mangart in the Julian Alps and enjoyed the butterflies, flowers and birds on offer, whilst admiring the spectacular scenery. We watched Alpine Chough, a pair of Honey Buzzards, Ring Ouzel and breeding Water Pipits as well as Pearly Heath, Alpine Heath, Alpine Grizzled Skipper, Mountain Green-veined White and a few other butterflies which escaped us too, by flying too fast in the heat!

We had a very twisty road to navigate both up and down again, before motoring on to our next destination at Ajdovscina.

John and I drove to Podgorje via Presnica this morning but we were disappointed after a few short walks although I did add Great Banded Grayling to my butterfly life list at Presnica. We listened to Golden Orioles singing but did not see any but did see a couple of Hoopoes flying over the car on our way here.  We also saw another Honey Buzzard soaring.

After stopping at Ilirska Bustrica for a drink we drove up to Sneznik Forest where we found a meadow full of butterflies. It had been another very hot day and after stopping again in Ilirska Bustrica on our way back down for an evening meal, we were grateful to arrive at Ivankotovi farm at Prem, which is very peaceful, which is just as well as the heat has made us very tired!

I guess old age has a part to play as we have been on our feet for a lot of the day, trying to find suitable habitat for butterflies to watch and take photographs of, so that we stand half a chance of getting them identified. We were led astray on some of the trip reports as the sites have not been as good today.

We have now seen 66 species of butterflies and I have had 12 lifers. Of course we have also enjoyed a few beers and another round of some rather large ice-cream helpings in an effort to keep cool.

We woke up in an idyllic setting and sat out on the balcony watching the farm activities in front of us with a cup of tea in the sun. It was already very hot. We watched a Black Redstart zipping around with the Swallows and Spotted Flycatcher chasing insects. We wandered down for breakfast which was already laid out for us and sat over-looking the farm lane. After breakfast we wandered along the lane listening to Golden Orioles, Serins and Goldfinches singing as well as watching a Red-backed Shrike. John found a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which I managed to see in flight just before taking the Red-backed Shrike’s photograph.

We bid our host, Valentina goodbye and hoped her father would improve in hospital. We drove to Otok via Cerknica Lake. We had been led to believe that this was a good site for butterflies but we found most of the lake had dried up and most of the flower meadows had already been cut for hay. This had a consequence for us as we did not find any new butterflies for our list today as the area was dominated by Meadow Browns, Small Whites and very few other species. It was most disappointing. However we did add Whiskered Tern, Blackcap and most surprisingly a Fieldfare to our bird list. The heat was exhausting and we drove on to Cerknica, where we stopped for a few beers and another ice-cream. We decided to call it a day in the heat and took a longer, slower route over the forested hills to our next hotel that was set in the small village of Bistra. Here it was delightful as we sat outside to have our evening meal and watched two Red-backed Shrikes, and two White Storks. We listened to Serins singings on our walk in the gardens afterwards as the sun set over the mountains.

The day from hell!

The alarm went at 3am and after derssing we waited outside our hotel in the heat for our booked 3.3oam taxi to take us to the airport. By 3.50am it had not arrived so I booked an Uber taxi. Four minutes later, two taxis turned up! We got to the airport, joined the queues and flew to Frankfurt.

At Frankfurt we battled with the biometric machines which did not work for us or any other UK resident and had to join a very long, slow border control queue, which evaporated the majority of our time at the airport and only just made the gate in time for our flight to Birmingham. Meanwhile I had asked my children to investigate how we could get from Birmingham airport to Gatwick airport. Jonathan found a National Express bus that would leave Birmingham airport and take us to Heathrow and onto Gatwick.

At Frankfurt John was challenged about his luggage and had to put his hand luggage in the hold, as they said his bag was too big for hand luggage. Grr… this would evaporate our time for getting the bus after we landed at Birmingham as we would now have to stand at a baggage carosel and wait. We landed at Birmingham airport and managed to catch the National Express bus to Heathrow. We had a delightful tour around the terminals at Heathrow and started our journey to Gatwick. Unfortunately 3 Chinese passengers failed to get off at Heathrow Terminal 5, which meant we had to queue to get to Cobham services on the M25 where the company arranged for a north bound National Express bus to meet us there. After more queueing we eventually arrived at Gatwick airport. We thanked the driver and caught another shuttle bus back to our hotel where our car was. We just love driving on the M25 and queueing! The Dartford tunnel queue was delightful. An accident had piled up the traffic. We eventually got back to Norfolk at 7.30pm very tired!

Please remind me to book next year’s holiday in Skegness playing bingo!

As I approach my 70th birthday tomorrow, I thought I might have a reflection since my last ‘big birthday’. Looking back over the last 10 years, I have had an amazing time. I have just been so lucky, which I acknowledge is due to being healthy and the wonderful support of friends, colleagues and family.  During the last 10 years, I have had four new grandchildren born including twins, adding to my three other grandchildren that have given me so much joy in my life. My own three children have made me such a proud mum, with my eldest son being made a director of a multi-national firm and now as his own hockey career subsides a little, is coaching youngsters of his local club whose team became county champions. My second son, who is still a business manager, is trying to make farming better for the animals and land, was selected to play for the England Masters Hockey Team who became European Champions, winning a Gold Medal, as well as becoming a Bronze Medallist at the World Championships in South Africa. My daughter became a training manager during this time for the organisation that she was working for, but is currently working at Christ Church College in Oxford seeing how academia operates! She is now on the P.T.A. committee of her children’s school running herself ragged organising various events for the benefit of the children.

My own work for the RSPB, on two wonderful reserves of Titchwell and Snettisham came to an end during the last ten years, when I made the decision to retire after 13 ½ years of working for them. My staff colleagues and volunteers all attended a lovely evening that was held in my honour, where I was presented with some amazing framed pictures of birds that are now hanging on my walls.

However, most of you that are taking the trouble to read this, are probably birders and will therefore be more interested in the adventures that I have undertaken in the last ten years. I have always enjoyed the feedback from you all, whether it was by meeting you at Titchwell, or in the field somewhere whilst birding, or by the delightful emails that you send me or by the comments that I receive on Facebook, X (Twitter) or Bluesky. I have always been a planner and was always keen on my travel, birding and wildlife watching.

As a child in my naivety, I thought I could see all the birds in the world, but as reality kicked in I set a target of seeing half the species of birds in the world. I got close at one point but the taxonomists kept splitting the bird species and my goal kept pulling away from me. However once Clements and I.O.C. decided to combine into an AviList, an agreed world list of currently 11,131 species, I achieved my aim, having now seen over 6000 species of birds, which I achieved last year in the Philippines. My other target was to see all the Brooke Bond tea cards that I had collected as a child in the album of Tropical Birds. I was fascinated with the front cover which was an Andean Cock of the Rock. There were 50 cards to collect from loose tea packets (no tea bags then), which I collected and lovingly stuck in my album. I have spent my life trying to see them all. As you can imagine, it has not been an easy task, as most of them are in thick jungle habitats all around the world. I have now seen 49 out of 50 of them, with the Indian Painted Bush Quail still to go! What an adventure it has been!

Since my last ‘big birthday’ when I had a lovely family party given to me by my children in the Cotswolds in a large house which we took over, the family is now too large and I opted for a smaller gathering with just my own children on my actual birthday. Karma kicked in just after this former event and I have had a wonderful time with many adventures all over the world seeing many of my wildlife target species. With thanks to John most of these adventures have been customised to make the most of our time and to give us the best chance of seeing them. We have had the best guides and have really enjoyed their company as we have travelled the world.

On our long flights we have discussed some of our adventures in the last ten years which for me has included: China, Japan and Uganda, and together, Greece and Bulgaria, Fuerteventura, Taiwan, The Pantanal, Mauritius, Borneo and Malaysia, West Papua, St Lucia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Croatia, Mongolia, Gambia and Senegal, Hawaii, Spain, Spitzbergen, Slovakia, Yellowstone, Zimbabwe, Honduras, Guyana, Cuba, Montenegro, Gabon, South Africa, NE Brazil, The Philippines, Spain, Poland, Romania, Botswana, Sulawesi and Halmahera, Chile, Dominican Republic, Thailand and Slovenia.

A very big thank you must go to you all! What an adventure it has been!