CROYDON RSPB MEMBERS' GROUP - TRIP REPORT

The day's first stop was at Weeting Heath, Norfolk Wildlife Trust's reserve a mile or two west of Brandon. As usual, we were given a warm welcome by Frank Godwin, the warden (and self-exiled Croydonian), who provided a full briefing on what was about and where to look for it. First up was stone curlew, the speciality of the site : we soon picked one out, feeding on the sparsely-vegetated sandy slopes facing the centre, a pale individual with yellow legs showing brightly in the sunshine. Making our way to the first pair of hides, we halted to watch a spotted flycatcher, another Weeting regular, first as it hawked for insects and later as it collected nesting material among the pines. Looking down into the valley of the Little Ouse from the hides, a pair of marsh harriers and a common buzzard were to be seen low over the reedbeds and bushes, both species newcomers hereabouts. Next, after we had picked up the unmistakable warbling song somewhere overhead, a pair of woodlarks dropped down onto the grass a mere ten metres from our window and remained to give great views for some minutes. A final treat was the appearance over the brow of the hill of another adult stone curlew, this time with a pair of tiny chicks in attendance.

After lunch, a move a few miles further west along the Little Ouse River to Lakenheath was accompanied by a change in the weather : dark clouds appeared, then down came the rain - just as we were starting a walk along the exposed riverside footpath. Fortunately the local birdlife seemed undetered! Most eyecatching were the masses of house and sand martins, swallows and swifts whirling at low level over the river and the adjacent flooded meadows, the swifts often swishing by within a few feet of our heads. Waders - pairs of oystercatchers and curlews and a single redshank - and ducks - gadwalls, shovelers and tufted ducks, as well as the inevitable mallards - were also active here, while great crested grebe and mute swan were sitting immobile on floating nests. Reed bunting, sedge warbler and reed warbler all showed well in the rank vegetation behind the footpath bund and those amongst us with keener hearing detected several short bursts of grasshopper warbler song. The rain soon eased off and we were then treated to a fine display by up to three hobbies cruising up and down over the river, hunting dragonflies and often passing at eye-level within 20 metres of our party. Stragglers were still admiring these dashing falcons when the cry "Yellow wagtail!" went up, drawing the attention of a lucky few to a bright yellow bird flying fairly high overhead, not a wagtail but our main quarry species for this site - a golden oriole, and a brilliant male at that - giving an unusually extended view as it moved from one poplar plantation to another. Unfortunately, an hour's vigil failed to produce another sighting. Kingfisher and turtle dove were added to our day's list during the walk back to the cars.

To round off the day, we visited Lackford Lakes, a recently-expanded Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve, where a muntjac deer having his rear-end dive-bombed by angry lapwings, then a great spotted woodpecker feeding noisy youngsters in the nest hole were highlights .