I often think that we don’t explore this area enough. Within
walking distance of our house, we really should take advantage of this wildlife
rich area more often. Awake early on a Sunday morning, we took advantage of the
(seemingly) bright and brisk weather, and went for a muddy stomp around the UEA
broad, a body of water created by quarrying for university building material in
the 1970s, working our way back into Eaton along the River Yare. 
We started in the woodland ‘behind’ the broad, past the ‘rabbit
enclosure’ (a small conservation area used for ecological research) and over
the bridge to meet the oncoming onslaught of cold rain and hail. The three
great crested grebes, gulls and cormorants seemed a lot less bothered by this
sudden downpour than we were. As the sunshine broke back through, we met the
boardwalk that borders the River Yare. As we turned, we watched a wren bathe in
a shallow pool to the tune of a singing robin. Two kingfishers whistled past us, flashes of orange and blue, one giving chase to the
other. Stopping and waiting to see if they would return, we could hear blue and
great tits in the trees, watching them nibble at pinky-purple catkins
overhanging the mirror of water. My knowledge of tree species is shamefully
poor, but I think these may have been alder…
Continuing until the boardwalk became the very muddy path to
continue following the river, we were suddenly aware of two bright yellow birds
watching us; a pair of siskin, the first I have seen in this area, chatting to
each other and quickly flitting out of view. We slipped and slid our way along
the river bank, encountering a mute swan using the current to its advantage and
putting our slow progress to shame. Eventually, we caught up with her whilst
she spruced up her already pristine coat of snowy feathers.
There is an area of land, where, last year, a number of
trees were felled, chopped and left as dead wood. Here, a wren played hide and
seek with us, searching its way into every nook and cranny in the tangled mess
of wood. Here, we also found an excellent ‘bird tree’, with a host of woodland
bird species. Watching blue tits and listening to the ‘teacher teacher’ of a
great tit, I was suddenly aware of a small brown bird working its way up the
bark, a tree creeper. Just when I thought I had spotted another, I realised
from the high pitched call and (through the bins) a fiery head, that a
goldcrest had joined the fray. This was quickly followed by a pair of nuthatch
and a small team of long tailed tits all foraging in the branches.
For whatever reason, that particular tree seemed a great
place for all of these woodland birds and I have marked it on my mental map to
return to throughout the year.
