Trip reports

Bird Walk at Mayday Farm and the Brecklands on 16th March 2008.

Sunday, 16 March 2008

A week prior to this walk two close friends had visited this same area in glorious weather and had seen lots of excellent birds particularly around the small pool at the crossroads at Mayday Farm where literally hundreds of birds comprising several different species had been observed coming down for a drink. What a difference a week makes! Six brave hardy souls ventured out along the Mayday tracks in fairly wet, cold and extremely windy weather. We had good views of a Woodlark and a Stonechat in the clearfell area and a brief tantalising sighting of just one Coal Tit in the conifers. Apart from that very little, and at the pool absolutely nothing! But considering the amount of rain that had fallen in the days prior to our visit and the fact that there were puddles every few yards along the track, then why would the birds consider it necessary to go to the pool for a drink?

We moved on to Santon Downham, an area I had visited several times in the past but not included in this walk (of interest it is the last reported site of breeding in the UK by Red-backed Shrike back in the early 1990's). Here it was a little more sheltered and bird activity a bit more pronounced. Of note were a Redwing and up to five Song Thrushes feeding together on the ground in a paddock, and we also watched a flock of Siskins feeding high up in the adjacent alders.

We then went to Lynford Arboretum where we had lunch overlooking a large paddock where there have been regular sightings of several Hawfinches in the group of trees in the centre. However probably due to the very windy conditions none were seen. We then walked round the lake and met a chap who reported seeing a Firecrest only minutes before near the edge of the Arboretum. We linked up with another much larger group of about 20 people and searched for the bird for about 20 minutes but without success. This failure brought to an end a somewhat disappointing day in an area which for many years has always produced birds of note. Still there is always next year!