Saturday 11th February

I  have had 1 day now to reflect and process my thoughts and truly believe that yesterday was the best days birdwatching I have ever had. The snow was crisp there was not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind (very unusual for Lakenheath). Walk along the flood bank down to Joist Fen which was absolutely stunning had a Smew pointed out to us by a photographer (my mate and I are not that good yet  as the really observant people and it is always nice when people you have never met before are keen to share their finds. We made it down to Joist Fen and were having a coffee when I spied a Crane very briefly. I then saw 3 Cranes get up and fly away from us and go down in the reeds. A Stoat came out of the reeds in front of us and gave a little display. While we are chating about what we have seen my companion hears a tractor approaching and I said this could work to our advantage as it may put the Cranes up and sure enough it did and we had 1 1/2 to 2 mins of the Cranes flying before they went from the reserve.On the way back to the Visitors Centre we were treated to a very brief climpse of a Water Rail as well as Green Woodpecker,Fieldfare and various other birds. Back at the VC we were treated to Redpoll on feeders about 1 1/2 metres from where we were standing. Before leaving we thought it would be very rude  not to go and see the Great Grey Shrike which we had spent an hour with the previous week. It was not the birds we saw that made it so special but just the peace,serenity and actual beauty of the whole reserve that made it so special . A special mention to Roy one of the people to help Numptees like us two dummies I have met him on my last 3 visits to Lakenheath and he has always help me to identify birds however common they seem to the hardened birdwatchers. Special thanks to my wife membership to RSPB one of the best Chrissy Presents ever should be out of your hair most Saturdays for the forseeable future :-0 (well it would be rude not to use it wouldn't it)

Gordonwp