16th April and I was going East along ther A14 heading for RSPB Lakenheath. Arrived at 09.00, just the time to get a pass to the disabled car park much closer to the hide. My knee operation is still in recovery mode.

Arriving in the hide, all that was on show was a family of Coot, two adults and two chicks. Coot is not my favourite bird, to be honest, but with nothing else on show, I took some shots.

On maximum shot speed (30 frames per second) and pre-capture, I tried to get the perfect shot of an adult diving - just the bill hitting the water.

Almost but even at that shot speed it just missed the shot I was aiming for after several attempts.

A Bittern flew past - just close enough for a reasonable shot.

and then the star turn. A Great Created Grebe appeared from the reeds where it has a nest and decided to fish right in front of the hide with considerable success, catching two rather large Rudd.

This close-up shows the size of the second catch. It took 15 minutes before it finally managed to swallow it.

As I was required at home, I left at lunchtime.

My next visit was to RSPB Fowlmere on 22nd. First to show was a rather distant Hobby

and then the Marsh Harriers put in an appearance but never particularly close to the hide and by then the sun was doing a disappearing act so most shots were deleted except this one.

So not a great afternoon - can only get better.

9th April and a friend and I decided to try Grafham Water. Haven't been there for a while and others had taken shots of Little Ringed Plover, Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail and even a Black Tern.

Arriving at the dam, the only bird on the waterline was a very flighty Common Sandpiper but we walked to the water tower never-the-less. On the way back we saw the Common Sandpiper again (was it the same one) because this was very co-operative, feeding and posing right in front of us.

Very unusual for the species that are renowned for being flighty.

Moving on the the harbour, there was nothing of note, so we carried on to the hide at Mander. Nothing here either, mainly due to the very high water level but there was a flock of feeding Black-headed Gulls of various ages, mostly too distant.

So, earlier than we expected, we moved onto to nearby Stirtloe to see of  any migrants had arrived. And here we were disappointed again as the only bird showing was a Chiffchaff.

So,overall, not a very auspcious day again. Perhaps with the changing wind direction, things will improve.

Last Monday, 7th April, my car needed petrol so I took the camera with me and drove to nearby RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes. Previous visits have provided very little but, hopefully, there may be the odd summer migrant to see.

Since I also needed a walk to excercise my operated knee, I parked the car and walked to what is usually a quiet part of the reserve. Not so quiet these days - still the odd dogwalker and amatear athlete but I found a spot where Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were calling.

The net result was that a couple of Willow Warblers came into camera range but the Chiffchaff were very shy.

Still, some photos were possible.

even catching flies

and checking me out.

So a decent couple of hours.

There was no-where else pulling a friend and I last Friday - 4th April - so back to north Norfolk to see if anything had changed since our last visit.

Thornham harbour gave us a reson to excercise the trigger finger. Black-tailed Godwit

Black-headed Gull - a shot that I like but not remarkable!!

and the usual Greenshank.

Next stop Brancaster Staithe. Brent Geese seemed to be everywhere - should they not have migrated by now?

but there was an odd bird that was on it's own. Checking later, it was the Greenland version - a Pale-bellied Brent Goose - a first for me and rare on this side of the country although I had noticed the odd report of one in the area.

And that was the excitement for the day - not the best. It's all very hard work to take photos that stand out at present. Lets hope that this cold Easterly wind changes so that we get some summer migrants.

The original idea was to spend some time in North Norfolk last Saturday and end up mid afternoon at RSPB Snettisham for the final wader spectacular of the season. Well it did not work out that way as my friend needed to make an unscheduled return home.

Still we had the morning, starting off spending time form Hunstanton cliffs with the Fulmars that have now returned to their nesting sites on the cliffs.

Moving on, we called in at then NWT site at Holme Dunes but just drove along the access road and back. The only birds of interest were a flock of Cattle Egrets around the grazing cattle but too distant for anything memorable. We then called in at the southern hides on the reserve which I had not visited for many years. Marsh Harries were nesting in the reeds and a male gave a reasonably close fly-by.

We then moved on to Brancaster Staithe harbour with the tide out. Throwing some food out and the usual gulls congregated with a couple of Common Gulls mixed in that attracted my interest.

Driving the loop from Titchwell Village to Choseley, there were a good number of Red-legged Partidges around, most very skittish but one that was not bothered by our presence in the car.

And then we returned to the access road to Holme Dunes where the cattle had moved much closer to the road, and still shadowed by the Cattle Egrets.

That was the end of our session in Norfolk.