Birds and wildlife seen during my first walk round The Naze during a short stay in Walton-on-the Naze towards the end of April 2025

View of the beach huts on Walton-on-the Naze beach as I walked towards The Naze

Common Whitethroat at The Naze

Naze Tower

One of the many WW2 pill boxes on Walton beach

Swift flying towards its nest in a hole on the cliff face

Bee Fly at the John Weston nature reserve on The Naze

Linnet on gorse at the end of the headland

Dunnock in the brambles

Linnet with nesting material

View into the John Weston nature reserve while I was standing on the seawall

Swifts collecting nesting material from the grass at The Naze

Lots of gorse in flower

Wooden shark!

Goldfinch at the end of a branch

Oystercatcher on the estuary at low tide

I was surprised to see a Spotted Redshank in a pool at the end of The Naze

Shelducks on the estuary at low tide

I walked back to Walton-on-the Naze along the seawall at the edge of the estuary

Male Muntjac deer in a field

It was hard work walking along this narrow path between the flowering plants!

View of Harwich/Felixstowe on the other side of the estuary

Barnacle geese, Oystercatchers and Shelducks near a pool on the marshes at Walton-on-the-Naze

Meadow Pipit on a concrete post at the edge of the seawall

Male Reed Bunting on a narrow twig amongst the reeds

Stone barge on the Walton Backwater

Rowing boat in the reeds

Little Egret behind a wire fence on the marshes

Naze Tower in the distance across the marshes

This rusty ship won't been going anywhere anytime soon!!

I enjoyed the walk and went back for another look a few days later

 

Walk in Lee Valley Country Park on 23rd February 2025

I went by train from London to Cheshunt in order to go for a walk in Lee Valley Country Park towards the end of February and was hoping to see some wildlife.  It was an overcast day and there wasn't much around, but I enjoyed the day anyway.

Great Tit perching on a tree

Dunnock on the wall

Distant view of the Fisher's Green bird hide

Crows bothering a Buzzard

I love the design of electricity pylons!

Bare-branched trees on one of the islands

Great Crested Grebe in a hurry

Cormorant drying its wings

Twisted tree and another electricity pylon

and another!

Grey Heron balancing on a thin twig

Muntjac deer, coots and Teal

Weeping Willow tree at the edge of the river

Visit to Hickling Broad nature reserve on 8th February 2025

I went on a coach trip to Hickling Broad in early February and the first bird I saw was a male Pheasant

A Muntjac was in the grass near the path round the reserve

The Lapwings must have been disturbed by a raptor, which I did not see!

Misty view of the stream

Raptor, probably a Marsh Harrier on a tree in the distance

View of a bird hide in the distance past the reed bed

Pair of distant Goldeneyes

Marsh Harrier on a post

Distant Goldeneyes

Very distant Marsh Harrier!

The only birds that were nearby were on and around the bird feeders at the Visitor Centre

Singing Robin

Female Blackbird

Male Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch and Blue Tit

House Sparrow and Blue Tit

Female Pheasant

Later in the afternoon we set off for Stubbs Mill and saw a Great White Egret and Lapwings at the edge of the water

Stubbs Mill

The view from Stubbs Mill Raptor Point

with Goldfinches

Yellowhammers

Many different flights of Pink-footed geese

Jay

and eventually, when we had just about given up hope, two White Cranes appeared in the distance!

and even further away, there was a flight of eleven White Cranes - they were heard rather than seen!!!