Getting to know the local wildlife

Thought it would be good to share some pictures of some of the local wildlife we have been noticing. Some of these have been taken here at the Dairy and others while we have been driving around exploring and others during the last couple of days as we have begun checking out some of the areas in the Norfolk Broads - I will add a separate post showing a few of the landscapes and other features in those areas soon.

I am pretty sure if you click (maybe double-click) on the first photo it opens a slide view for you to flick through of all the photos on the post ... actually look a lot better (more detail) than the thumbnails in the actual post :). Sorry if I am telling you how to suck eggs with that info!

Around The Dairy

Stretching up ...

... and down too!

Up close and very cute!

Way, way, way up soaring

One of many tiny tweeters ...

... and even tinier one!

A local magpie ... their shiny blue back/tail not visible here

The Broads

Even a pesky starling looks magnificent in the right light and position :)

The red breasted robins allow you to get pretty close if you take your time ... 

Not sure what these little fellows are yet but they had a nest they were keeping a close eye on in a gutter on this roof (it was a pub beside the River Yare) ...

 

And of course, some water birds  ... a swan grazing the fields and a pair cruising on the River Yare. 

 



 And this little fella I know is a great crested grebe :) ... seen him in a few bird books.

The final few to share I have been waiting weeks to capture pictures of - there are loads of them about and at one point today we saw quite the flock of them in a freshly growing grass field. The brown one is a young peasant; the colourful ones are the males and the very deep brown colourful ones are the females. Magnificent coats of many colours ... I confess to not tiring of looking at them in the sunlight. MANY dead ones run over though - everywhere; actually hit one last night ... really thought it would get off the road but it didn't, and there was no where to swerve. George was telling me today that the law is, if you run over one you cannot stop and pick it up BUT the next person coming along can! Enjoy ... I would find it difficult to hunt them I confess (a winter "sport" here).