Good - for Early July

July 2
We were really looking forward to a day's birding, after a purely social visit to Suffolk yesterday. Waking earlier than the alarm, we left home at 5.30 a.m. on a warm and sunny morning. Many more Swifts than 'usual' obvious to-day, especially along the coast. The inland groups could include newly fledged young by now.
A pair of Spot Flys were busily hunting and feeding young, their nest seems to be under a shed's eaves, maybe inside? They certainly weren't visiting the nearby climber tangle.

Abbey Farm had a single Little Owl sitting on a back fencepost; still no sign of a Kingfisher despite the record book reporting a sighting at 6 a.m. to-day.
Snettisham.....guess what... coming up to high tide again. But, we were there to see it come flooding in.Many hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits in breeding plumage were a concerning sight. A sign of failed breeding on the tundra? The shore looked lovely, the flowering Mullein at its best before the Mullein Moth lays its eggs and the caterpillars decimate them.



Not often does one see a field full of red poppies these days. This one was roadside east of Kings Lynn.





Getting out to open the gate to Holme NWT and NOA, I saw my first Five-spot Burnet Moth of the year. One of the day fliers.



Black-headed Gulls have taken over the Broadwater island breeding area, we didn't see any Avocet chicks.
We met Pat in the Holme NWT Centre (Ronaldo's ice-cream time), who mentioned a large flock of early returning Knot, something seems to have gone wrong.
As we passed the first pool on the left at Titchwell, I saw a Bittern make a short flight, hassled by Gulls. It was leg-scorching hot, sitting on the seat surveying the Freshmarsh. More Ruff than the previous visit and the largest group of 'black' Spotted Redshanks, 24, that I've ever seen. A single Greenshank amongst them. Half an hour at the Picnic Site saw many Speckled Wood butterflies but not the Camberwell Beauty still present yesterday. That would have been lovely. Pat said that were rumours that it may have been an escape. These rumours abound.
A quick Corn Bunting detour, lunch with the Little Terns at Brancaster Staithe, another ice-cream at Salthouse and we were home by mid afternoon to watch the second half of the Holland/Brazil match. Holland won...!! ?
The total for the day is a disputed 90 at the moment, must count again.Now a confirmed 90 - I'd missed marking Black-headed Gull!