Today we visited Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham. It’s a mixture of a wildfowl collection and a wild area. Our first stop is the wader scrape. Unfortunately, the only waders present are a single Green Sandpiper and a pair of Ruff. Egyptian Geese, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese were all present but the highlight was 5 species of birds of Prey that we saw whilst we were in the hide. A Hobby flew over the hide, followed shortly afterward by a Common Kestrel. In the distance, we could see Buzzard and Marsh Harrier. Sue spotted a raptor sitting on a fence post which turned out to be a Sparrowhawk.
From here we made our way to the woodland hide where there was a flurry of activity on the feeder station. A Nuthatch and a pair of Marsh Tits were the highlight species amongst common woodland birds.
Our final stop was the lake where there was a large party of Tufted Duck.
Pensthorpe as well as having a wildfowl collection and a nature reserve has a large conservation centre involved in the preservation and re-introduction of endangered species. These include Turtle Doves, Corncrakes and Common Crane.
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal [sp] (Anas crecca)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo)
Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus)
Eurasian Hobby [sp] (Falco subbuteo)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Marsh Tit [sp] (Poecile palustris)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Eurasian Nuthatch [sp] (Sitta europaea)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Pete's Favourite Things 