Purple heron!

Yesterdays guided walk at Titchwell was one of the most memorable I have led.....

We're just half an hour into the walk, looking at the throng of waders on Thornham Pool when I turn around and see a heron flying towards us from the east.

Raising my bins to check the bird I say to the group "You should always look closely at herons, one day you might get lucky and find a Purple....." stopping mid-sentence, I check the features again, "....PURPLE HERON!!" The bank echoes with my scream!

Fortunately, the bird is fairly close and I manage to get all the folk on the walk (and several passers-by) on to it. A young lad is jumping up and down like he's just scored the winner at Wembley! What a start....

It's not long before we've added a nice barn owl, marsh harrier and had crippling looks at ruff, common snipe, dunlin and black-tailed godwit.

Moving on to Island hide, water rail and yellow-legged gull soon fall along with scope-filling views of more waders and wildfowl. The flock of 2500 golden plovers live up to the translation of their Latin name as they repeatedly take to the air before landing again just like a shower of golden raindops in the weak afternoon sun.

Further along the path, we jam in on a ringtail hen harrier and I get a chance to finish the 'Godwit ID' class with both bar and black-tailed side by side for comparison.

I'd promised Thomas, the young lad on the walk, some divers and sea-duck action on the beach but unusually the sea is quiet and he has to be content with brief and distant views of a single red-throat and a couple of common scoter.

Soon we are back down the path and score again with a handful of late marsh harriers, barn owl and finally two thousand pink-footed geese coming in to roost at Thornham Point.

Not a bad tally for just short of three hours birding!

Back to school....

Preparing to unhook the eleven pounder...

It was The Bishop that first took me out piking at the beginning of 2013 so it was good to be out on the bank with him again yesterday....

Fish welfare is really important to me and I'm always up for improving my pike handling skills, so The Bishop has agreed to give me feedback and let me unhook all the fish today. Its not too long before he has a 6 pounder on the bank. A couple of minutes later and I've got the hooks out, but more importantly have picked up a couple of useful tips on handling feisty pike.

We're just about to move on to the Big Pit when my right hand float goes and after a short scrap I have a nice eleven pounder on the bank. This one is a little bit trickier to unhook, but soon the hooks are out and The Bish declares 'Nothing wrong with how you did that!' It feels like I've passed an O level! ......Yes!

The move on to the Big Pit was a bit of a let down but I make a mental note of the swims Chris says are the best. I fancy my chances in a couple of them next March when the water is a bit warmer.

The final move of the day is to the swim where I caught my very first pike back in January. Our four orange tops remain stationery on the near flat calm surface and thoughts are beginning to turn to home time when my right hand float bobs and then goes sailing away, the result being a nice four pounder.

This is a bit trickier to unhook and I quickly decide to hand over to The Bishop who 'bosses' the pike and then gets the bottom treble out in just a couple of seconds by going through the gill arch. He makes it look far too easy and the fish swims off to fight another day. More useful tips taken on board.

There's just one other bite in the session and it goes to The Bishop but the fish is off almost as soon as it's on but judging by the bow wave, it would probably have been the fish of the day.

It's been a good day....now when is the next??

Reflections on an autumn day...

Spot the float....

I couldn't stop thinking about the big pike I lost on Tuesday, so yesterday I'm back in the same overgrown swim, rod poking through the same branches waiting to see if she fancies a return match.

Two hours and nothing later I'm about to move pegs and the left hand rod goes... but I mess up the strike. Unknowingly, line had tangled around my rod rest and I'm (mostly) tightening into it rather than the fish. Most unprofessional, I could kick myself for not noticing.

Next peg for an hour - no bites, so I switch on to the adjacent pit. It's a very sheltered corner I haven't fished before and I opt to fish just a rod length out in about twelve feet of water. Soon I have a nice 8 pounder on the bank.

A couple of casts later and I've had one come off but on the next cast I catch a nice jack around three pounds. Then I have another come off - bugger! The Bishop thinks I should change hooks to barbed from semi-barbless and if it carries on like this I think I might!

I hardly lost a fish last season but in the last two sessions I've now had four come off....I'm going to have a think about what - if anything I'm doing differently.

I move to another peg where my orange topped floats blend perfectly with the reflections of the autumn leaves on the flat surface. All too soon it's too dark to see my floats and I pack up, already thinking about the next session.

Today, I deliberately fished one rod with a 49 strand wire trace and the other with a 9 strand trace. All four bites were on the more flexible 49 strand. This wire is actually a different colour as well - bronzey rather than silver colour... interesting...

Driving home, I'm reflecting on the day in my mind.....peace, solitude, still, calm, the reds, browns and golds of autumn, nature... God, I love this pike fishing lark!

Session stats: 1 x 8 pounder lamprey, 1 x 3lb sardine, 3 other missed fish (all sardine) 1045 to 1630hrs. 6C North easterly breezey flat calm later. 11.5 rod hours . No bites on brown trout or roach.

Bigger than my net!

Fed up of blanking on my new club water, I'm off to where I started my pike journey with The Bishop last season.

First cast and 15 minutes later I've landed a six pounder on sardine. It's an old friend identified by it's slightly deformed jaw. A long lean fish, it should probably weigh two or three pounds more. She is unhooked quickly and swims off to fight another day.

No bites in the next two pegs. I decide to poke my rods through a three foot wide gap in the bankside trees. No room to cast, so it's a case of swinging the baits out, and they land barely twenty feet from where I'm stood. After twenty minutes there's a bob on the right hand rod and after another five the float sails away. As I tighten into the fish, the overhanging branches restrict my rod movements...

After a couple of powerful runs, up she comes and she fools me into thinking she's ready to net.

Here goes... wow, that's a BIG broad head... EFFING HELL!!.... she's bigger then my net... must be a TWENTY !! :-))

Within a second she's in the net but in another she's inexplicably out of it! Then a trailing hook catches a submerged branch. For a few seconds I've got the branch and fish on, then the inevitable happens... all goes slack and she's gone.

It was the biggest pike I have ever seen and it takes me a good ten minutes to stop shaking. My nice new net is 36 inches front to back and she was at least this long. What struck me was the size and breadth of her head - so differently proportioned to the pike I have caught so far.

In virtual darkness and after three hours, three more pegs and no bites, I pack up and head home, with plans to go back for 'you know who' in the next week!

Session stats: 1 x 6lb (est) pike sardine in 9 feet  @ 11.00 + 1 lost fish (sardine) @ 13.45. No other bites. Baits used sardine, lamprey, roach, mackerel, smelt. 10.45 to 16.30hrs. 8C Flat calm at first becoming 5mph west. High thin cloud becoming drizzly towards dusk. 11.5 rod hours in 5 pegs (9 to 16 feet) on 3 pits.

Plans for the new piking season

This season I would like to catch a 'twenty' and a fish on a lure. I am also going to blog every session in future and try and put in a few stats on weather, baits, runs etc

Here is a summary of my three piking sessions so far. I've joined a club towards Norwich that has three biggish gravel pits and I intend to do the bulk of my piking on these pits this season. So far I have been three times, for a total of thirty-six rod hours, and only had two bites resulting in two fish. Not an auspicious start!

The pits themselves have lots of underwater features and contours and I'm finding it difficult to know where to fish. Depth varies considerably within a few yards.....one of the pegs is 22 feet deep half a rod length out!

After my last 12 rod hour blank there I decided to have a session on the water where The Bishop introduced me to pike fishing last season.

See the next blog entry (above) for yesterdays frustrating story...

Pathetic....

Dawn at Porthgwarra, the day before the storm.

Yes its pathetic... 6 months without a post.. here is a summary of activity since last May...

LOTS of birding has taken place though I failed to find an 'official' rarity. I did find one or two scarce birds. Highlights incude Bonelli's and yellow-browed warbler, a couple of Leach's petrels, Sabine's gull, more than 200 Sooty shearwaters in a day and several fully spooned Pomarine skuas. The long-eared owl I almost trod on in the dunes was also memorable!

The annual September seawatching pilgrimage to Cornwall was disappointing and despite a perfect storm that promised so much for the fifty of us that assembled at Pendeen lighthouse, no big 'shears' or rare petrels were forthcoming.

On to the fishing....

I broke my chub duck with no less than 20 fish on a club stretch of the Wensum. However, none of the fish topped even half a pound.

An old mate, Chris took me barbel fishing on the Trent near Newark and eventually on my third session I managed to actually land a fish I hooked.... a nice six pounder. On a subsequent session I also managed two more decent barbel and a couple of net sized chub.

Next up was a three day trip to the Wye with R'kid. Three barbel to seven pound, two near five pound chub and a ten pound pike being the result. As life long stillwater men, the fast running Wye was a steep learning curve for us! The trip is sure to become an annual event and plans are already being made for a more efficient assault on this wonderful river for next year.

A mixed bag of birds in the sunshine.

Stonechat at Dersingham Bog

Birding over the bank holiday weekend was quiet despite the glorious weather. A pleasant walk around Dersingham bog produced good views of stonechat and tree pipit but not the hoped for woodlark. There was  plenty of buzzard activity and a few common lizards running around on the sandy tracks. Give it a few more days and the first nighjars should be on site...always a highlight of the summer.

Young shag was on Hunstanton cliffs

Next day saw us taking a walk along the cliffs in the evening sunshine. The beach had quietened down a bit (it had been thronging with folk earlier on) and I was surpised to see seven shags roosting on the cliffs. Shags are a bit like small cormorants and are more typically found on rockier coasts further north or west.

During the winter there had been up to sixty birds roosting on the cliffs, the bulk of these have moved on to their breeding grounds. This bird, panting to keep cool in the heat, is wearing a ring, I'll let you know if I determine it's origin.

Sedge warbler at Titchwell

Male garganey on Patsy's Pool

A trip to Titchwell Marsh yesterday saw me scoping this cracking male garganey and listening to this sedge warbler which was at times doing a passable imitation of several other bird calls  including yellow wagtail, swallow and bearded tit.

The winds are set to turn southerly today with rain. I am hoping for a good morning's migration watching on the cliffs tomorrow........

Birding: Spring catch up!

Quite a while since a birding post so here's a catch up. Been viz-migging on the cliffs a few times and really enjoyed it thanks mostly to the better eyes and especially ears of Andy, Chris and Gary. Species highlight was undoubtedly a serin, the first ever recorded on a viz mig watch at the lighthouse in the god knows how many years Gary and Andy have been recording!

A nice male wheatear was a typical spring migrant at Heacham.

The real spectacle for me though was last week, when to quote Gary an 'unprecedented' sixteen Med Gulls flew south past us one morning, to be followed the next day by another eight or so. Brilliant!

I have only been to Titchwell a couple of times but managed to find a red kite west one morning and my first common sandpiper of the year. No sign or sound of bittern though....oh.... nearly forgot about the seven cranes which later flew across The Wash and have since been seen in Lincolnshire.

Male kestrel seen at Titchwell.

Also done a bit of dipping! Following a phone call from Mark yesterday, a dash to Ringstead did not reveal the hoped for dotterel...the bloody things flying off before I (and anyone else for that matter) got there. Similar story today I am afraid....following a phone call from Paul about a black kite coming west. A repeat of the dash to Ringstead also resulted in (as far as black kites are concerned) the inevitable dip. The home made scones tasted good when I got home though!

This is a spot for the new season......

Sorry for lack of recent updates. A few days ago I had a stroll along a local stream that I am planning to fish once the river season opens again. It's a free stretch of river and reputed to hold roach, bream, dace and even the odd chub.

I was a bit taken aback when looking over a small bridge into the river I found this lot....

How many species and what size can you see here?

They were just part of a much bigger shoal containg maybe three or even four times the number of fish you can see here. Now, as you'll know if you've read my fishing profile, I am not very familiar with river fish but I reckon I could see sizeable roach getting on for the magic 2lb mark, bream in the 3lb range and nice looking chub. A real mixed bag! In addition, I think I saw dace and even (!) rainbow trout....well they had a nice pink flush running all the way down the lateral line area.

A nice bream on red robin pelet

Meanwhile I have fished just the once at my local club stillwater where I managed 5 perch in the1.5lb to 2lb range on legered half inch cubes of Spam, and three nice bream around the 3lb mark on hair-rigged red robin pellets. I also had around twenty perch on the float on maggot.No sign of the hoped for carp.....I've a lot to learn when it comes to carp.

I have still got the pike addiction and am reading up all I can about pike and tactics to try out come September which is also a key birding month .... I might not be seeing much of the house or garden!

Rarer than a blue moon.....

I haven't seen that many black redstarts at Titchwell Marsh, and that got me thinking....

Only my fourth black redstart at Titchwell Marsh

I reckon I have been to the site approx 2800 times over the last twenty odd years and the 'black red' I saw on Saturday was only the 4th I can recall on site. To put it another way that's one every 700 visits or one every five or six years.

Black reds aren't classed as rare on a UK scale being scarce passage migrants (spring and autumn) and a number even spend the winter in the UK. They are however pretty rare as UK breeders with a breeding population of around fifty pairs. This bird is probably a migrant from the continent blown here on the persistent easterlies we have had for the last few weeks. It will probably head north once the winds die down.

My image isn't that good I'm afraid but you can just about see the red tail from which they take their name. Southerlies for the rest of the week should blow in a few summer visitors. They are all getting rather late now....lets hope for a long spell of settled weather to enable nature to catch up with the calendar, it is the middle of April after all.......the first swallows and cuckoos are just around the corner!

Mr Lucky blanks!

We've been up North for a few days visiting R kid, friends, family and of course the cheap and excellent local curry house! The girls agreed to let us have the day fishing on Sunday. The chosen venue was the Rufford Canal out towards Southport. R kid has been trying ;-)) to catch a pike on here for a few weeks, so would some of Mr Lucky's recent good fortune rub off?? Read on to find out...

Small... yes... but what a beautiful fish!

The canal was really a slow moving drain and we started off on the tree covered stretche near ye olde Rufford Hall. Below freezing overnight, there was still a thin veneer of ice here and there as we walked to the first likely looking spot.

I had a bite after about 30 minutes but messed up the strike. R kid moved into the spot....had a run and missed it! As the outside world woke up, boats and dog walkers on the tow path became a bit of a nuisance so we moved on to a quieter stretch a mile or so north. Despite lots of tree roots, reeds and mats of weed we couldn't manage a bite.

Moving again past a club match, we found a stretch that looked very promising and eventually R kid managed the little beauty you see here. Mr Lucky failed to catch!  On the way back the match guys were packing up...despite barrow loads of gear, several had fished five hours without a bite and R kid would have probably won the match with Jack! Chatting as we drove back we realised (apart from Jack) we hadn't seen a single fish all day.....no bait fish no pike.

Never photographed a woodcock before.....

But today I managed to snap not one but two in the same image! I arrived at Titchwell at around 9.15 am to be told up to three woodcock were "showing well" near the entrance to the picnic area. Showing well is not a phrase normally associated with these most skulking and cryptically coloured birds. Eventually, I managed to spot one... and then two shuffling along in thick undergrowth about fifteen metres from the path.

For woodcock this is indeed showing well !

Intervening branches to distract focus, moving target, variable light in the undergrowth and simply finding the bird in the view finder were all problems that the fabulous Panasonic FZ150 overcame with flying colours. No, I don't work for Panasonic but if you are looking for a camera to get decent on-screen recordshots of birds then this is the one to invest in!

The wind on the beach was bitter and despite the superb light there were almost no birds on the beach or sea, save for a few distant red-throated divers heading east. The now almost resident female long-tailed duck was easily seen from Parrinder hide and several marsh harriers were rehearsing their sky dancing routines over the reedbed.

"What a difference a day makes...

...twenty four little hours"

Only fish of the day...just about scraped 5lb I think!

Our session on Thursday after Tuesday's pike-fest was bloody hard work. Between us me and Matt fished fourteen swims over a seven hour period for just one jack of about five pounds which I had on an old piece of frozen eel which had been donated by The Bishop. Compared to Tuesday there was a really biiter east wind blowing and this seems to have put the fish off.

It was my last pike session of my first piking season so here is a bit of a summary and a few observations:

Scores on the doors...first sesh' Jan 2nd since which I have been 13 times, caught 18 pike (8 doubles) best 17lb 8oz. To say I am pleased is an understatement....I can barely wait till the piking season starts again next September.

Most importantly, I must thank The Bishop (see link to his blog in side panel) for getting my pike fishing career off the ground. Also Matt for his company and friendly advice on the last few sessions.

Observations
... approx 12 of the pike took within thirty minutes of arriving in a swim and I don't think I caught at all if the swim hadn't produced after an hour....so next season I am going to move every 45 minutes if I haven't caught.
... approx 15 of the pike took in response to a fresh cast or twitching the bait....so next season I am going to twitch or even recast every 15 minutes.
... the closer you can get to features such as overhanging trees, shady corners, sunken trees and drop offs the better. Too many times I settled for a second rate cast. Compared to Matt, my casting skill and accuracy to features is laughable...so next season I must become a more accurate caster - especially underarm casting in tight swims.
....as The Bishop said I am Mr Lucky! I didn't even need to unhook five of my pike as the hooks fell out in the net! However, I only had two fish come off so my timing can't be that bad? Not sure of the learning point!
... all my fish were on floatfished deadbaits... so next season I want to catch legering and on a lure. Also fancy twitching a sprat or sardine.
... and finally next season I need a better and bigger net for my first ever twenty!

Comments or advice to this pike angling beginner welcome!

Ouch! Part Two

The sun is out, my hand has stopped bleeding and I have just caught my biggest ever pike! The tea tastes good and I feel re-energised after scoffing two of my favourite Tunnock's caramel wafers! Now, let's get back in the water!

I drop the first rod close in to the trees on the right. Almost immediately, the float goes under, and I soon have an 8 lb fish on the bank. It goes crazy on the mat and manages to unhook itself and is quickly back in the water.

Next cast, I decide to put a bluey on and try to emulate the cast that produced the seventeen pounder. Not quite as good but after five minutes the float goes, I make a mess of striking....nothing! Bah! I quickly cast out...same spot and ... the float moves off and soon I am unhooking a nice 8 pounder which has the partly digested bluey from the previous cast in it's throat.

Blood is coming through my dressings so out comes the first aid kit again...and another brew is supped!

Back home the hand soon looks as good as new... almost!

By the end of the session I have had two more pike of 6lb and 8lb 2oz making five in all. My best ever day! I did try a couple of new swims but had 'nowt. The wind had picked up and it was feeling cold and I guess the feeding spree was over for the day.

A quick call into Boots is necessary on the way home to replenish the first aid kit. Back home my hand is re-dressed and soon looks as good as new.

Indian take-away, football on the tele and a bottle of Old Crafty Hen soon follow.....what a memorable day!!

Ouch! Part one.

Part One......penultimate session before I hang up my pike gear till next season. What a session it turns out to be!

It's 2C and blowing hard so swim choice is a no brainer...somewhere out of the wind! First chuck and I'm in...9lb 12oz. Not bad, I hadn't even got my second rod out! No more bites in that swim though. I had previously decided to move swims if I go 60 minutes without a bite, so an hour later I'm settled into a nice new, well-featured swim, perfectly sheltered and facing the strengthening spring sun. Toasty!

I can see exactly where I'd like to fish but intervening trees make the perfect cast difficult. As my cast flies through the air, I can see its going to land too far to the right... Inexplicably, the sardine's flightpath suddenly alters and it land's exactly where I want it! Surely there's a pike under those tree roots......

Ten minutes later and there's a pike in the net that I am praying will be a twenty. It looks big anyway! The next five minutes resemble a scene from Casualty.....

The pike takes a liking to my hand and clamps both jaws firmly on my thumb and fingers as I try to unhook it. Blood everywhere and I mean everywhere! New unhooking mat, camera, rod, net, and especially the handles on my unhooking pliers which are now blood red instead of the familiar Fox green!

One mean pike 17lb 8 oz and my new PB!

It wasn't a twenty....but it was a new PB at 17lb 8oz. I am sure it would have still been a PB even without the 'extra' bits from my thumb and two fingers! Luckily, I have a good first aid kit with me and make emergency repairs to hand and settle down for a brew...

You'll have to read Part Two to see what happens in the rest of the session!

"That's a ******* Eagle Owl !"

Chatting to Matt as we waited for the third pike of the day,  he looked up and remarked "That must be a b-i-g bird up there on top of that pylon!"

Even though we were piking I always have my binoculars round my neck. You never know your birding luck! Expecting to see a perched buzzard I looked skywards to the top of the nearby pylon.

"That's a ******* Eagle owl!", I screamed  "..though god knows what it's doing up there! It's too high up to be looking for food" Matt got his bins and agreed with my I.D. Stunner!

A couple of minutes passed as we admired the world's heaviest owl. Hang on....something's not quite right....the bird was stock still and it's perch looked like it was a piece of wood attached to the top of a 150 foot pylon??  S-t-r-a-n-g-e. Suddenly the light came on....it was a sodding bird scarer! Its purpose, to stop ducks, geese etc from flying into the high voltage cables. Damn!

Back to the fishing. By the end of the day, we had caught three pike between us and all of them doubles. Matt was first to catch with a 13lb 12oz. Ten minutes later I had a 10lb 8oz and shortly after I had a 12lb fish which would have dragged my rod in if I hadn't have left the bail arm open.

I have decided that I will go piking for two sessions next week and then leave them to get on with what comes naturally until my second piking season starts next autumn.

'The eagles are coming!'

The quote is from my favourite book and isn't quite accurate...... it wasn't eagles plural but a single eagle heading for our bit of Norfolk coast.

It's just after 1pm and the house-husband's work is never done.....

I get a phone call from Mr Eele (check out his birding blog) to say that a white-tailed eagle had just left the Lincolnshire coast and is heading out over The Wash towards us. Now for those who don't know,  the Lincolnshire coast is around 15 miles away as the eagle flies, at least 14.5 of which are the North Sea (when the tides in!) So if I can get to the cliffs in the next few minutes I might just see it!

Put phone down....pause....don't play it cool....SOD THE WASHING UP! Chuck dishcloth in bowl, bins and scope chucked in car and I'm looking out over the The Wash towards the Lincolnshire coast quicker than you can say Haliaeetus albicilla (or Gwaihir the Windlord!)

Settle into raptor seeking mode...methodically scan the sea, horizon and sky.....forty minutes later I've seen nothing more exciting than a few fulmars and a red-breasted merganser; though a cormorant trying to reach the stratosphere did cause my heart to miss a beat. Soon enough the cold wind is nipping at my fingers and I retire back to the now cold washing up bowl.

Never mind............just the chance of seeing this flying barn door with a wingspan of over 7 feet is not one to miss. If you'd like to know more about white-tailed eagle hit the link. Keep your eyes on the skies....if it goes dark near you it might not be just a passing cloud!

Update... The bird must have come in really high. It was already in the Swaffham area by 3.25pm!

Last and first!

Last day of the river season and my first ever session on one of the Fenland drains. The Bishop and Matt were the accompanying gruseome twosome!

My first ever Fenland pike @ 11lb 12 oz. Great stuff!

I had not expected the drain to be as beautiful as it actually was....quite a few trees and bushes along the far bank and a half decent selection of birds - three goosanders, kingfishers whizzing around like pschedelic exocet missiles, green woodpecker and around twenty overflying whooper's. Not bad birding...now what about the fishing?

Matt had a jack early on. We moved swims a couple of times and then what had been a nice gentle flow right to left suddenly changed into something all together more substantial and left to right. The weight on my float was no longer enough to hold bottom so I added three swan shot but still could not hold on.

I moved swim again and took The Bishop's earlier advice of fishing close in. The flow was slower in the margins and I can just hold still. On goes a new lamprey and I cast out.  My float swept along in the current eventually settles just four feet from the near bank and less than twelve feet from where I'm sat.....I wanted to be close in but not almost on dry land!

As I contemplate casting again....bob - bob -bob and the float slides away. Jumping up,  I tighten into the fish and with help from The Bishop and his net soon have an 11lb 14oz fish on the bank. My first Fenland pike! I have now caught just ten pike and amazingly five of them are doubles!! Well chuffed....

A quick walk under the cliffs

Floating hotel..(it says it is on the hull!)

Fulmars are already appearing on the cliffs

This pair are in the mood already!

Starfish wreck on the beach

A touch of the Med in Arctic Norfolk!

As my bad back felt a bit better yesterday, I decided to give it a stretch and have a couple of hours at the Titchwell gull roost. With a windchill of minus 8C on went the Helly Hansen merino wool thermals, down jacket, two pairs of gloves etc  It was definitely a two wooly hat day as well!

Warm enough on the inside, it was the muscles in my face that felt the brunt of the freezing gale as I walked down the path to Parrinder hide. By the time I reached the hide, I had lost all sensation in my face and felt like I had had a jab at the dentist!

Approx five thousand gulls were present on the freshmarsh today

Settling down on one of the comfy stools I started sifting through five or six thousand gulls. With the help of a couple of other birders in the hide, no less than eight adult Mediterranean gulls were gradually located. This was a record count of Med gulls on the reserve for me so I was well chuffed. There were also a reasonable variety of waders around. I suspect the forty or so avocets (freshly returned for spring just a few days ago) wished they had stayed south in warmer climes.

One of the eight adult meds in the throng

I am itching to go piking again but think I'll leave it till Thursday or Friday as in all probability the gravel pits are frozen.

First post and a quick summary

January and Febuary 2013.

A German ringed Mediterranean gull at Titchwell

I am writing this in early March so it's a bit of a summary of 2013 to date. Birding has been slow and mostly done at Titchwell Marsh RSPB. The usual species have been seen...up to 5 med gulls on the beach and a few on the freshmarsh, the odd diver and red necked grebe on the sea. Overall there doesn't seem to be the number of species on the sea we used to get though admittedly the weather has not been great. A woodcock has been seen and heard over the garden at dusk on a number of occasions.

16lb 12oz and 32" long personal best pike

I'm a newbie when it comes to pike fishing. Fortunately, I have been taken under the wing (or should that be fin?) of a very experienced pike fisherman known locally as The Bishop. He has taken me out a few times, given me loads of advice (and tackle) and got me hooked on pike fishing. To date I have been out piking seven times and caught nine pike. Four of these have been over ten pounds (best 16lb 12oz) All have been returned safely to the water.