A twitching we will go.

Irresistible; Spectacled Warbler in Norfolk and a lifer for Elis, plus a decent weather forecast. It was too much to bear, so we set off early and arrived around 08.00.

If you haven't been and plan to, here are some directions if you haven't already got them. Park at; 52°57'38.8"N 0°45'27.1"E and walk down the track to meet the sea wall or alternatively at; 52°57'38.8"N 0°45'27.1"E and walk north-east along the sea wall. The bird has been around this area; 52°58'36.4"N 0°45'50.0"E

The mile or so walk out to where the bird had been seen was pleasant enough and we enjoyed some waders with young, Redshank and Lapwing to be exact, and there were plenty of other birds singing along the hedgerows to keep us smiling and amused including a calling Quail.

Adult Redshank keeping watch.

Redshank chick

Redshanks take a dim view of a Kestrel flying over their chicks!

Adult Lapwing, the chick sat low in the grass and froze as we approached rendering it invisible.

When we got to the site there were only 9 people assembled and we soon saw the bird as it collected nesting material.

Spectacled Warbler with nesting material.

It seems this bird is making a second nest having finished the first one yesterday, but alas all in vain I fear.

The white mark above the bill is a cobweb he collected for a nest and then got stuck with!

The only other one of these I have seen in the UK was back in 1992 when there was one at Filey. I have also seen them in the Canary Islands, Spain and Cyprus, but not with Elis. The bird popped up to sing every now and then but you had to be quick as it soon dropped back into cover.

The cobweb did not seem to hinder his singing ability though.

We also had four Spoonbills fly over, I must admit my heart gave a leap when one of the crowd shouted "4 spoonies flying over!" my mind going back to Thailand. There was also a, what has now become commonplace, Little Egret on the marsh. I still can't get used to seeing these birds everywhere in the UK, even from my living room window, having had to twitch one in my early listing days in the 1980s to get one on my UK list.

Fly-by Spoonbill, not, sadly, a Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Once we had had our fill of the bird we left the now swelling group of 40 or so people and had our fill at a cafe (full English with a mug of tea)...



... and then headed for Titchwell which was disappointing except for three drake Red-crested Pochards.

So we headed home taking the back road through Docking, along that road we had Lesser Whitethroat and Corn Bunting not birds we see every day in our neck of the woods.

What promised to be shot of the day until the bird turned its head before dropping from the twig out of sight.

Wren family first outing.

There has been a lot of racket around our house today. The sound of scolding wrens being chief among the causes. The reason for this noise? Chicks! It seems that the wren family is having its first outing. Mum and Dad are understandably anxious and the kids hungry.

Agitated adult with a beaf full of spider calls from the top of the garden wall.

Meanwhile the youngsters sit quietly and wait.

We are not sure where the nest had been, but they were first seen in a flowering current bush outside our window where we had placed an upturned pot in the hope of attracting a pair of wrens to nest. Not sure if they used this or came from elsewhere, but it was good to see them especially as one of the Blue Tit nests has failed.

One of the chicks has broken out of the garden and is safely in the brambles outside our back window. having been lured there by an adult.

This adult wren sings from the brambles to attract the baby birds out of the garden and into the thicker cover.

We have been keeping our eyes on the Jackdaws that come to the garden to feed. Two sets of adults have been seen to collect beaks full of food and head off in opposite directions so presumably have nests, two head off one way and two the other. We have been keeping vigil to check they don't go off with a baby wren in their beak instead. The two couples seem to be quite happy to feed alongside one another with little or no aggravation.

Three of our four adult Jackdaws.

We stopped seeing the adult Blue Tits coming and going and there was no sound from inside the box, so we took a peek and were dismayed to find seven dead chicks, all quite small, and an unhatched egg. We emptied the box and prepared it in the hope that next year we'll have more luck.

Adult Blue Tit in happier times. Just after this picture was taken it emerged with a faecal sac. We haven't seen this scruffy individual since that day, nor its partner, so we are guessing they have become food for something else.

The sparrows continue to come sporadically and the Great Tits have started bringing their young to the feeders.

Female House Sparrow.

Juvenile Great Tit at the fast food while Mum tries to persuade it to eat more healthily!

The Song Thrush that we have been hearing for so long without seeing has a new song post that can be seen from the kitchen reducing the number of 'H's for heard-only in the daily log.

Long lens through the kitchen window; our songster gives forth to delight our senses late in the day.

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Wasn't expecting that!!

Most days I use the scope to check the lake at the bottom of the field, especially now that the farmer has obligingly removed some of the willows on the near bank. Today I was checking through the usual suspects, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Coot when suddenly a bird lifted off the water and flew with much purpose away from the lake. I was able to follow it with the scope and was amazed, and of course chuffed, to find that it was a male Shoveler!

Male Shoveler.

Species number 55, edging ever closer to my neighbours tally (not that I'm a competitive birder or anything!). It is not really a fair fight, he not having a view of the lake or field, but who wants to fight fairly? Recently our old friend in Brazil, Jeremy Minns, wrote to tell me he had seen a Blue-naped Chlorophonia, a new bird for his beach house list, and was pleased to note that he had passed the list total that we had amassed from our apartment (101 species). The same applied there as we had the advantage of a view of the sea etc which Jeremy does not, but that advantage doesn't count for much when you are no longer there and now we are obviously unable to add new species. Jeremy was delighted that he was now ahead (104 species) and with regard to the inequality of our chances for future additions he put it this way; "I like fighting someone with both hands tied behind his back!"

Blue-naped Chlorophonia.

New bird for the garden if not for the list... Jay.

A Eurasian Jay visited our table today for the first time. Strangely though, it was intimidated by a Wood Pigeon that was occupying the table when it arrived and only came to feed when the pigeon had gone.

The Wood Pigeon that stopped the Jay visiting the feeder until...

... it had gone. A great treat to see this attractive bird close up.

The Jay sat for some time on the fence and ate from some small piles of food we had placed on the fence posts.

It also visited the covered table but was chased off by a Jackdaws. It may be a flashy bird, but certainly not aggressive or ebullient.

The CommonWhitethroat also visited today singing for all it was worth, in the drizzle, right outside our window.

This Whitethroat has a very tatty tail now.

Blue Tits have occupied both our nest boxes now. In the one we put up when we moved in in March we only noticed birds coming and going for the first time yesterday but today we saw the adult emerge with a faecal sac so they must have been there for some time unnoticed by us.

Rather soggy looking Blue Tit.

Great Tits, although not nesting in the garden, are coming and going frequently, so look like they have young too somewhere nearby.

Shame about the reflection on the window glass.

The local Robins have done OK too with two young birds visiting the garden feeders.

Juvenile Robin

The number of Collared Doves has increased since they found the garden, and that number includes some young birds with little or no visible collar.

Adult Collared Dove

Juvenile Collared Dove with virtually no neck ring.

There was also this bird that appeared briefly today which seems to be much ruddier in colour than the other Collared Doves and its legs are a deeper pink.

Ruddy hued Collared Dove.

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New bird number 51 (and 52 & 53)

To the background of our now resident Whitethroat I glanced out of the window across the field towards the lake. Yesterday, the farmer had decided that he needed to cut down a number of the willows that blocked our view of the water. I'm not sure how I feel about cutting down trees at this time of year, but the clear benefit is that straight away I can now add Great crested Grebe to The Cottage list!

It is now just a matter of time until Tufted Duck and Coot which both frequent the lake hit the list.

Great Crested Grebe; obviously not the birds we can see from the cottage. Elis has a good lens, but not that good!

When we moved in our neighbours, who also love their birds, told us they had a list of 60 species. We thought this was exciting but we didn't realise just how birdy our garden was to become and coupled with our view, which has just 'improved' from a listing point of view, I believe we will soon overtake our friends' garden list.

Stop Press! Since writing this another day has dawned and with it, the sighting of a Coot and a Tufted Duck as predicted.

Tufted Duck; comment as per grebes above.

Eurasian Coot; ditto.

Got the Whitethroat I wished for!

Back from the Norfolk Bird Fair and sitting in my usual spot I saw a small bird flit up from the oil seed rape to the brambles beneath our window where we saw both the Blackcap and Sedge Warbler previously; henceforth this spot will be known as the warbler window. It then sang, revealing itself to be a Whitethroat!

Our first Whitethroat.

It seemed to be gleaning a lot of food morsels from the underside of the stinging nettles.

The list has now moved on to 50, with other additions being Lesser Black-backed Gull, Pheasant and Collared Dove which finally put in an appearance.

Here are some more photos of some garden stuff.

After the young Starlings the other day we have now been visited by this jaunty little Robin. The Blue Tits should be out of the nestbox soon too judging by the racket they are making.

The old 'shufflewing' continues to hurl himself at the window periodically.

Great Spotted Woodpecker. We finally got a visit from this lady's mate, but weren't quick enough for a photo.

Another stunner in the cottage garden.

On the blower to my mate David Lindo, better known as The Urban Birder, talking about Wader Quest business, he being a Trustee and all that, I saw a female Bullfinch sitting on the fence. David must have wondered what the hell was going on as I dropped the phone and shouted to Elis to get her camera and we then spent the next two minutes ooohing and ahhing at this bird and her fine looking mate.

Female Bullfinch arrives near the feeders.

They didn't stop very long; the female appeared to collect some nesting material and they were gone. I then remembered I was supposed to be having a conversation with a rather bewildered Mr Lindo, sorry about that David but I'm sure you understand how it is.

Female Bullfinch on the lawn (that looks more like a meadow in truth!).

Although it only stayed one day the Sedge Warbler singing outside our window was quite a treat, whatever will we get next? Whitethroat perhaps? Here's hoping!

Sedge Warbler singing just outside our window.

We have now also added fly-by House Martin and the first screaming Swifts, summer is really here, cant wait to see what tomorrow brings! Cottage total now 46.

Not sure when we'll get another of these, if ever, so I'm making the most of this one!