Garth Peacock
Snettisham RSPB

Archive

West Norfolk 30th April

Wednesday 6th May 2026

Water Voles at Fowlmere RSPB

Monday 4th May 2026

What's showing at Fowlmere RSPB

Wednesday 22nd April 2026

Thetford Forest

Friday 17th April 2026

A Grafham Wagtail-fest.

Thursday 9th April 2026

A couple of hours or so locally

Sunday 5th April 2026

A trip around my home county

Friday 3rd April 2026

The Norfolk coast.

Tuesday 31st March 2026

Grafham Water and Willow Tree Fen

Wednesday 25th March 2026

Welney WWT and area

Tuesday 17th March 2026

A lucky visit to Fen Drayton Lakes

Thursday 19th February 2026

A rainy day in West Norfolk

Sunday 15th February 2026

Abberton Reservoir Essex

Friday 23rd January 2026

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Tuesday 20th February 2024

Last week, the weather forecast was cloud and rain for the whole week so I had written it of. That is until Wednesday evening when Thursday was forecast to be sunny spells from mid-morning onwards.

So a friend and I beetled up the A10 to Snettisham as he wanted to see the drake Long-tailed Duck that had been reported there. It was still there but right at the southern end of the farmost pit - a long walk there and back but we managed the walk and saw the bird but too distant for any worthwhile photography and it soon disappeared.

So we compromised with some Goldeneye but the weather was dull. Black and white birds on grey water really does not excite me but I managed one keeper that had some colour in it.

Three Mediterranean Gulls flew past, thankfully slowly, but I managed one keeper, despite the camera settings being all wrong for flight shots.

So, after the long walk back to the car, we drove to Holkham as I wanted to see the White-fronted Geese that had been reported in the field near the lay-by nearly every day recently. Result - no White-fronts. Eventually, we did notice a Brown Hare hunkered down that was within camera range. Eventually it moved away, not at the usual rates of knots but leisurely so, at last, something worth keeping.

So that was the sum total of the day.

The next day, another friend asked it I would like to accompany him to Burwell Fen for the Short-eared Owls so off we went. Result, after standing most of the afternoon - no Shorties and nothing else of interest either.

Driving away from the car park, there was a small herd of Roe Deer in an adjacent field. Not good light but worth a try, even though I had the R7 on the RF100-500. The result at exposure 1/400 was ISO6400. Now I have had some keepers with the R7 at that ISO but not this time. Awful so all deleted.

I have had better days!!!!