JGG500

  SPRING 2026 Winter clung on dully but the rare sunny days saw goshawks on the wing. It is instructive to think that thirty years ago, a sparrowhawk or kestrel might have been the only raptor aloft and that now buzzards, kites and goshawks are vying for airspace over Norfolk's woods with perhaps a marsh harrier or even a peregrine too. Pairs of displaying goshawks, rumbling powerfully on the thermals, circle each other like wary heavyweight boxers before brief flurries of activity - tumbling and flapping - to declare their interest. Kites were much in evidence at Holkham, spruced up in smart plumage, soaring playfully over the lake and then perching high to cast a haughty eye over the park. The spring warmth also draws reptiles and amphibians out of cover to bask gratefully in the sun. Adders, despite the glowing red of their beady eyes, always seem slight and fragile, and far from the venomous vipers of cautionary childhood tales. Toads and frogs have been embarking on their...

  The witch hazel is one of the first signs of spring in our garden, sending an incongruous, but very welcome, shoot of yellow flowers towards the drab winter khaki of the bullace hedge. It reminds me of some Promethean brand, as if fire has been stolen from the long-hidden sun and planted defiantly as a sign of the life that will follow despite the unpromising weather.                     The Witch Hazel           Through the lagging cloud,           The first kindling of sun           Has caught the witch hazel,           Breathing yellow sparks           Along its dry spindles           In a flare of static,           Like synapses suddenly           Connecting in long d...

  Winter Birding 2025/26 While this has been a meteorologically miserable winter for the most part, it has, as they say, been good for ducks, or certainly waterbirds in general. Numbers of pink-footed geese have been stable, pushing 50,000 along the North Norfolk coast, with good numbers of tundra bean geese amongst them. Ironically, one of the most impressive spectacles - a field at Wighton chock full of over 30,000 pinks with more arriving overhead and others over the brow of the field - didn't seem to contain one. The bird which excited most discussion was the taiga bean goose at North Point pools, thought to be distinct from its tundra cousins just by a neck – or rather despite its lack of one. In mid-February, a cold snap on the continent, accompanied by some strong easterlies, sent plenty of birds seeking shelter in Norfolk, in a natural complement to the reverse migration of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor who appeared overnight in Wolferton from Windsor. The weather shifted larg...