Been a couple of weeks since I have written a blog so I thought I would update you all on the wildlife I have seen lately!
We have been so lucky as we have found a wonderful place to watch badgers! We have been 3 times now and each time has been brilliant, the first time we went we only had to sit for about 5 minutes before a badger came trotting along and down into the sett, followed by a few more and then some younger ones were out and about too, in total we think we saw 6 that night, we also saw 2 foxes, some deer and there were loads of bats flying around too. The second time we went we weren't quite so lucky, we arrived a bit earlier in hope of seeing them in better light but we only got distant views of a couple of them at the same time as the first night, so the light was no different. On the way home however, 4 baby badgers ran out in front of us, and as we sat and waited one of them came out into the road and sat right in front of us for a moment! That night we also saw a young fox and some red deer stags, I've seen lots of red deer before but I think this may have been the first time that I've seen stags with their big antlers!
On the third night we got good views of 3 more badgers and we think we saw one cross in front of us in the road too but can't be sure! I didn't manage very good photos because even though it was still vey light, the sett is in a wood meaning it's quite dark no matter how sunny it is!
On the way home this time we decided to stop and looking for nightjars, we got chatting to another lady there and we were fortunate enough to have a nightjar fly right over our heads, it was probably my highlight of the week (other than the badgers) but unfortunately it was too quick for a photo!
In the time since my last blog we have also visited Strumpshaw Fen, Cley Marshes and Buckenham Marshes.
I think I will end up writing a whole blog on Strumpshaw as it is my favourite place in the whole world, every time we go we see something lovely, in fact, I usually say as a rule we see 3 good things! They may not be exciting to everyone and they are usually things that are pretty easy to spot or likely to be seen there, but to me it's great to see them anway! This time we saw a bittern (which is actually only the third bittern I've ever seen at Strumpshaw, though I have heard many booming!), a kingfisher and a barn owl.
At Cley Marshes on Saturday there were loads of Spoonbills, unfortunately it was threatening to chuck it down any second (even though it never did) so they were stood very still, huddled together on and island but still nice to see anyway. We also saw lots of meadow pippits, butterflies, linnets and some ruffs, godwits and a mediterranean gull. It's only the second time I have visited Cley but I would definitely like to go back again in the near future!
Today I have been off work as I wasn't feeling very well, I hate having time off work because no matter how ill I feel I always sit around feeling guilty and bored and sitting in the house all day doing nothing makes me feel worse, so this evening we decided to get some fresh air and go for a walk at Buckenham Marshes. We didn't see loads but there were some lovely butterflies about; red admirals, ringlets and meadow browns, some unidentified dragonflies, oyster catchers, red shank and a hare as we were leaving. There were also loads of rooks on the telephone lines, not as many as there are in winter when they have an amazing rook roost with thousands of them flying over your head, but still impressive to see!
In the garden we have had loads of snails! Frogs as usual in the pond and our hedgehog is still around because we have found poo in the garden, although we haven't seen him for a while!
I will leave you with this lovely photo of a moorhen and its chick at Ranworth Broad last Sunday xx
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