125
Birds at North Fambridge in 1957
Notes from my Diary
By JACK T. FRIEDLEIN
JANUARY 4th. Like a spring day—birds in full song—54 degrees at night.
6th. Redwing passing over at 4 a.m. 21st. Fieldfare flying south in
afternoon. 12th. A Tawny Owl sitting out in the field at 8 p.m. imitating
Lapwing calls—possibly a ruse to catch them. 13th. A Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker working the elm trees. Thirty Fieldfare in Haycock's field at
4 p.m. 15th. Lapwing spread out over two or three fields. A Tawny Owl
was with them in the evening. 16th. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again.
19th. A dead Great Northern Diver on the tide line. 25th. Several Field-
fare about. 26th. About 30 Fieldfare and 30 Redwing passed over westward.
February 2nd. Several hundred Lapwing daily on the fields between
Fambridge and Battlesbridge. Starlings in huge flights. Considerable numbers
of mixed ducks flying eastward, some at a great height. Curlew and Lapwing
restless and moving to and fro in large flights. Spring is in the air. At
9.45 p.m. a flight of Grey Geese passed over travelling north-west and one
of my ganders answered their raucous cries. 3rd. Large flights of mixed
Ducks in the marsh. 5th. Reed-Buntings on the cinder track daily. I
don't know why they pick this spot but they appear to eat the cinders or
to catch something on the cinders. 6th. Cock Blackbird building a nest. A
pair of Bullfinches enjoying the spring buds. Sheld-Duck "laughing" in
Brandy Hole. Widgeon whistling on the tide. Easy weather for all birds.
13th. 600 or more Lapwing flying north at a very great height for this bird,
they were spread out more like Rooks. 15th. Blackbird sitting on eggs.
16th. Five Snipe rose "snapping" from their usual feeding spot. Year
after year Snipe are flushed only from this spot on the farm. Many thousands
of Starlings passing south at 4 p.m. 17th. Wren's nest in a nest-box and
another in a bottle in the thicket. 19th. Lapwing calling their mating call
at dusk in spite of colder weather. 21st. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
drumming on the elms and calling like a Wryneck.
March 3rd. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker very talkative and busy in the
elms. Many Curlew passing north-east and whistling their migration call.
I answered and they circled calling for some time before passing on. Redwing
"seeping" overhead at 1 a.m. 6th. I heard a Barn-Owl "schrumping"
down the field, I called it and it came straight for me and then another
called from the Old House. These are the first Barn-Owls to be seen in the
neighbourhood for some years. 11th. A pair of Pied Wagtails by the cow-
shed. The warmest March day for 30 years. 12th. Redwing "seeping"
overhead at 2 a.m. A pair of Long-tailed Tits looking for a nesting site. Five
Swans flew up from the marsh and passed overhead—a glorious sight. 16th.
A Song-Thrush has a nest with four eggs. 19th. I believe Magpies have
destroyed the Thrush's nest already. 26th. The first Willow-Warbler seen
and heard at daybreak today. 28th. and 29th. Willow-Warbler in song.
April 2nd. Mistle-Thrushes nesting in exactly the same spot on a
Poplar as they did last year. 3rd. and 5th. Willow-Warbler in song. 7th.
The Barn-Owls heard and seen nearly every night now. 14th. A fully
fledged young Blackbird in the garden. No migrants. 17th. Willow-Warblers
numerous in top thicket. Watched one catching insects on a H.T. pole,