Beds birding

Started in Cambridgeshire, at Croydon. It's the highest point in the county and you can walk along the ridge, with nice views across the border into Bedfordshire.

Skylark

The abandoned medieval village of Clopton

A fox was hunting rabbits among the earthworks

Next stop, Broom gravel pits. Move along now, there's nothing for you here...

Yellowhammer

A pair of Oystercatchers fed along one of the pits. The bird not in this photo was ringed

Next, Pegsdon Hills, a Wildlife Trust reserve.

Peacocks were quite plentiful on the blossom

Meadow Pipits were in song all over the hill

Ring Ouzel record shot for Darren...

They have some nice sheep grazing the slopes

Triangulation point

Unusual subject matter for a pub sign nearby

Dog-violet

Sand Martins back at their colony along Meadow Lane

Ringed Plover at Willington

bird/insect photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

macro/landscape photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Norfolk

It's a bit silly to go to the north Norfolk coast on a Bank Holiday weekend and then moan because there are lots of people about...

Anyway...

Lots of birds at Titchwell, too. Mixed flock of Dunlin and Curlew Sandpipers

Curlew Sandpiper with Phragmites in the way...

Bathtime for Ringed Plover

Redshank

Teal dabbling

Snipe probing

Will Bowell and David Roche had counted 24 species of wader on the lagoons and beach, which I think would have been...

1. Dunlin
2. Curlew Sandpiper
3. Black-tailed Godwit
4. Bar-tailed Godwit
5. Lapwing
6. Golden Plover
7. Grey Plover
8. Sanderling
9. Temminck's Stint
10. Little Stint
11. Redshank
12. Spotted Redshank
13. Curlew
14. Snipe
15. Green Sandpiper
16. Common Sandpiper
17. Oystercatcher
18. Avocet
19. Ringed Plover
20. Turnstone
21. Greenshank
22. Ruff
    
23. Knot?
24. Wood Sandpiper?

Before hitting Titchwell, we took a walk along the hedgerows at Burnham Overy Staithe, only to find it congested with dog-walkers and a selection of eccentrically-dressed birders, and devoid of birds. Nice Migrant Hawkers, though.

Lunch was had at The Chequers Inn, Binham, and was very good. I can recommend the steak and ale pie. Am I getting middle-aged?

Nearly forgot to mention that I had a Titchwell tick - a small boy having his bum wiped by his mother, on the main path to the beach, fully exposed to the cold north-westerly wind. Poor sod. No wonder he didn't look very happy. Is there anything people won't do on nature reserves? It seems not...

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece