Broads Wildlife

[JennyMorgan]

I'm sat here in my front-room looking out of the window, there's a beautifully coloured Jay de-worming my lawn. He's not alone, there's a cheeky blessed fox scratching and licking its **** on the patio within yards of where I'm sat. The other day I had an egret land in my fish pond, not at all discouraged by my pet heron (plastic). I'm about a hundred and ten yards from the water's edge and it's not uncommon to see various deer in the garden, the occasional hedge hog, even the odd otter. During the summer a grass snake took up residence in my pond and a seal took to beaching himself on my slipway.  As for the bird life, I'm no twitcher but I do appreciate what I see, even if I don't know what it is. And it's going to get better! Suffolk Wildlife Trust is creating a massive nature reserve on the other side of the Broad. I can never understand why folk insist on blasting across Breydon, the longer the journey takes the better, there is just so much to see! I suppose I see pretty much all that one might reasonably expect to see in the course of a year, but I have yet to see a bittern either in the garden or even on the Broad although I did hear one last summer.  Just a case of keeping your eyes open and some folk I talk to clearly don't! 

[jeffbroadslover]

Wish I could be as fortunate as you !!!

Jeff

[marshman]

This time of year is often the best time to see the birds in particular as they come out of "hiding" and become more visible.

As far as bitterns are concerned, the creation of large reedbeds opposite on the new reserve will help greatly - hang on a bit more and I guess it won't be long, although they are naturally shy. Its rare to see them on the ground as they quickly dart back into cover, and with two exceptions, the only time I have seen them, they have been in flight.

I hear and take on board all the comments about devastation of certain species, but its inevitable that birds move around and many of what we knew as Broadland birds have moved in part northwards due to warming temperatures. 

There was a report some weeks ago , a pretty general one I have to admit, showing that whilst levels do fluctuate for many reasons, the overall trend remains broadly similar. I am not going to be dragged into a debate here as a general discussion on the findings of this report but while some have gone, others have replaced them, and birds we would never dreamed of seeing in Broadland are now taken for granted.

Like PW, I love the Broads and its wide variety of wildlife and bless how lucky I am to see what I see, old and new.

[JennyMorgan]

2 hours ago, jeffbroadslover said:

Wish I could be as fortunate as you !!!

Jeff

Time to move? We do tolerate incomers! (Most of 'em) 

[Chelsea14Ian]

15 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

I'm sat here in my front-room looking out of the window, there's a beautifully coloured Jay de-worming my lawn. He's not alone, there's a cheeky blessed fox scratching and licking its **** on the patio within yards of where I'm sat. The other day I had an egret land in my fish pond, not at all discouraged by my pet heron (plastic). I'm about a hundred and ten yards from the water's edge and it's not uncommon to see various deer in the garden, the occasional hedge hog, even the odd otter. During the summer a grass snake took up residence in my pond and a seal took to beaching himself on my slipway.  As for the bird life, I'm no twitcher but I do appreciate what I see, even if I don't know what it is. And it's going to get better! Suffolk Wildlife Trust is creating a massive nature reserve on the other side of the Broad. I can never understand why folk insist on blasting across Breydon, the longer the journey takes the better, there is just so much to see! I suppose I see pretty much all that one might reasonably expect to see in the course of a year, but I have yet to see a bittern either in the garden or even on the Broad although I did hear one last summer.  Just a case of keeping your eyes open and some folk I talk to clearly don't! 

Peter we have seen one Bittern,a number of years back.On the way to Oulton he fly past us.At home even though we are on the edge of London/kent in Frank's park.A large wooded area,with have both kinds of Woodpeckers  owls and many other birds.Lots of foxes too.

[BroadsAuthority]

Really nice to hear of your wildlife spotting Peter, especially the egret (assuming none of your fish were pinched!)

There's certainly a lot out there if you take a look. The warm days of the summer may be more appealing for getting out and about but the lesser trodden autumn and winter seasons seem to reward you with more wildlife sightings. I've been watching the fieldfares recently enjoying the fruits and berries of autumn, lovely birds.

[JennyMorgan]

Today was an autumnal treat, part of the regular cycle as a very large skein of feral geese came across the Broad, and seemingly my garden in particular. Initially very high, and noisy, the skein broke up, dropping before circling and reforming as eventually two other skeins joined the original, larger group which then came in even lower, and noisier, before banking, spiraling, forming up in massive chevrons and once again going high and even higher before heading off towards the the North East.  The noise was, as ever, incredibly loud, perhaps the lady geese  telling the blokes whether to swing to the left or to the right!

Re the egret, apparently there has also been two sighted on the boating lake at Oulton Broad over the last few days.  

[marshman]

Now thats a bit more interesting so could you fill in more detail please?

Was the egret  a Little Egret? Easily recognisable by its yellow feet!! These are now fairly well established on the Broads, breeding in some numbers - a welcome addition to our residents. But if it was a Great Egret - they are much less common but even they are now breeding in this country but in much smaller numbers so far. The difference? One bigger than the other, oh and the Great has black feet!!!!!

And a better ID on the geese please!!!! Feral? I guess you might mean Greylag, or possibly even Canada Geese?? Or even the ever growing numbers of pink footed geese? These have a distinctive "pinking" call when flying so should be quite easy to ID - vast numbers can be seen around Norfolk now - treat yourself some day to a trip up to N Norfolk and park in Lady Ann's Drive Holkham at dusk and see tens of thousands come back to roost every night over the winter months. 40000 geese make quite a racket! They are a bit partial to sugar beet remains or freshly emerging winter wheat!

So come on Pete - stop teasing us with half a story. Or else I shall lodge a FOI !!!!

 

[JennyMorgan]

14 hours ago, marshman said:

So come on Pete - stop teasing us with half a story. Or else I shall lodge a FOI !!!!

Deffo not Canada geese, they used to be down here in some number but not now. These geese were certainly not honking as Canada Geese do. Beyond that they were just geese, big, noisy buggers and probably several thousand of them. As for the egret, yellow legged job in my pond, just told by several people that the park pond ones were egrets but not what colour their legs were, sorry.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

On 21/11/2019 at 16:25, marshman said:

  I am not going to be dragged into a debate here as a general discussion on the findings of this report but while some have gone, others have replaced them, and birds we would never dreamed of seeing in Broadland are now taken for granted.

I totally agree, what was once common are now a rarity (like Coots on the Broads), and others that were once a rarity are now common. It`s a natural thing where everywhere is a habitat at any one time for some species or other, then when that species has possibly exhausted their needs from that habitat, they naturally move on opening up that location for another species to prosper. Sometimes it`s nothing to do with exhausting food supplies etc, possibly because of mans intervention, but the outcome is the same, they move elsewhere and others move in, though with different needs.

[Vaughan]

10 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

On 21/11/2019 at 17:25, marshman said:

  I am not going to be dragged into a debate here as a general discussion on the findings of this report but while some have gone, others have replaced them, and birds we would never dreamed of seeing in Broadland are now taken for granted.

I totally agree, what was once common are now a rarity (like Coots on the Broads), and others that were once a rarity are now common. It`s a natural thing where everywhere is a habitat at any one time for some species or other, then when that species has possibly exhausted their needs from that habitat, they naturally move on opening up that location for another species to prosper. Sometimes it`s nothing to do with exhausting food supplies etc, possibly because of mans intervention, but the outcome is the same, they move elsewhere and others move in, though with different needs.

That point of view is all very well and I agree with it, in principle.

The problem comes when Man, in his perceived wisdom, artificially introduces (and then protects) a species of carnivorous predator which has no natural enemies in this country and proceeds to kill off other species which had previously thrived in the area.

I don't call that natural evolution, or "moving elsewhere".  I call that messing about with the balance of Nature.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

That point of view is all very well and I agree with it, in principle.

The problem comes when Man, in his perceived wisdom, artificially introduces (and then protects) a species of carnivorous predator which has no natural enemies in this country and proceeds to kill off other species which had previously thrived in the area.

I don't call that natural evolution, or "moving elsewhere".  I call that messing about with the balance of Nature.

Hence my point in my post re "Possibly Mans Intervention" Vaughn. A point i know all about down here in West Hampshire and East Dorset re Otters and the devastation they`re creating through being a protected species. 

However, that`s a different subject for another thread.

Getting back to Peters original thread, i love to look at Birds of prey, and am always watching Marsh Harriers, Buzzards, and Kestrels over the reeds, marshes, and fields by the riverside. I`ve seen Kingfishers (though not many), Cormorants, Barn Owls, and all manor of other birds, some of which i don`t know, but one of the nicest things i`ve ever seen on the Broads was in May 97 when aboard one of Moores "Merrymore" class. On the Sunday morning, we were cruising up the Ant in glorious sunshine with the top back, and watching what must have been hundreds, possibly a thousand or more Swallows flitting around taking the marsh fly`s on the wing.  When we woke up to a damp morning due to heavy early morning condensation, i noticed most of the boats had black dots all over them. It was`nt until our trip up the Ant that morning i realised it was millions of dead marsh fly`s.. There must have been a plague of them, a pain to clean the boat down, but great for the birds.

[marshman]

I don't think the issue with coots is at all surprising! They still come in smaller numbers - there is at this moment a flock of at least 500 on Hickling right now, but now winters are milder they no longer have to migrate here from the Low Countries which not very long ago, froze over in the winter.

They do still come - the other day on the coast road between Blakeney and Stiffkey there is a large pond/lake which is largely fresh water I  guess, and it was literally black with them. I cannot count large numbers of birds but at a guess there were several thousand on it. Now they will have dispersed throughout the eastern counties but it is a bird which, now for us, has moved on.

[Vaughan]

4 hours ago, marshman said:

but now winters are milder they no longer have to migrate here from the Low Countries which not very long ago, froze over in the winter.

That is a very good point.

I still notice, however, that you are seeing lots of them on Hickling, but they seem to have disappeared from elsewhere on the Broads.

Could that be because otters don't live in reed-beds?  Just a thought. . . . . 

[marshman]

Plenty of otters up there too, Vaughan - just less people to see them!!!  

[jeffbroadslover]

Maybe they had grown bigger and can no longer get under "that" bridge !!

Jeff

[Wussername]

On 24/11/2019 at 15:39, Vaughan said:

That is a very good point.

I still notice, however, that you are seeing lots of them on Hickling, but they seem to have disappeared from elsewhere on the Broads.

Could that be because otters don't live in reed-beds?  Just a thought. . . . . 

One day in February of this year I counted over 100 Coot on Malthouse broad. A large raft of them in the middle of the broad. The following day they had gone. Old Putty Nose can be elusive when he wants to be. 

By the way, never seen an Otter on Malthouse, or indeed heard of any. That doesn't mean to say that they are not about.

[rightsaidfred]

21 hours ago, Wussername said:

One day in February of this year I counted over 100 Coot on Malthouse broad. A large raft of them in the middle of the broad. The following day they had gone. Old Putty Nose can be elusive when he wants to be. 

By the way, never seen an Otter on Malthouse, or indeed heard of any. That doesn't mean to say that they are not about.

Not unusual to see the resident otter walk across the green when moored at Ranworth.

Fred

[MauriceMynah]

That's not an otter Fred, that's Cambridge Cabby crawling back to his boat from the Maltsters.

Otters aren't nearly so frightening.

[CambridgeCabby]