Birding Braunie

Hmmm? I guess you can see a pattern forming here can’t you? And you’d be right too. Writing a blog was easy when I only ventured out once or twice a month birding but now, as a freelance chappie, I find I have quite a few pockets of time in my week and rather than watch Antiques Road Trip or other such banal TV or even do any housework, I find myself suddenly in a local nature reserve asking myself 'How did I get here?' So my point is, I would have to use the pockets of spare time I have, to write the blogs that record the events of that spare time and thus, I wouldn’t have any spare time to write about anything other than writing non-existent blogs! See? So I save them up for moments like this. The month kicked off in the Lee Valley on a dark mid-morning (a feature of most of my ventures out) and a 2 hour walk around the south part of Fishers Green covering Hooks Marsh and Hall Marsh. I had a low-flying Red Kite over Hooks but failed to focus the telephoto on it. My lens,...

Where I work, you get a day off on your birthday. Yippee! My plans were all over the place. Should I go to Kent or Rainham again or somewhere else? The weather was looking dull as dishwater everywhere; there was no escape. I opted for Norfolk, don’t know why really, the car just veered off up the M11 and that was that. I had been to Lynford Arboretum a few weeks ago as part of my weekend with my mate Ed and like it a lot. We only spent a hour or so there so this time I decided to do a whole day. Surely a Hawfinch would show for me this time? My word it was dark. I thought the solar eclipse had arrived early in Norfolk as i adjusted the settings on my camera to the 'show me anything' mode. Nuthatch looking like it’s just noticed there’s a gate. A very popular place within the Arboretum is 'The Gate'. Now, gates aren’t that exciting except for the one to Buck House or even the one in Stargate which I have to say is a bit clever. No, this one is just a wooden g...