User blog:Kwilliams107/Bird watching in Thompson

'''Well here it is. Our new Thompson Birders Wiki page. Welcome.'''

This site, like many things, came out of a conversation in a pub, The Chequers Inn, in the Breckland village of Thompson, on 17th April 2021. As we sat outside, in the spring sunshine, drinking our socially distanced drinks, someone pointed out the half dozen or so fieldfares that flew past the roof of the building in the space of a minute or two. Given that the first swallows of the year had just started to be sighted in the area, this represented a visible changing of the guard, the crossover of winter migrants with summer visitors. The ensuing conversation sparked a smattering of interest in the chirping bird life in the trees around our seats, and a recognition that while south Norfolk may not be as well known to visitors as the north Norfolk coast, it has a unique post-glacial habitat of pingos and woodland swamps, meres, fens and farmland that offer the wildlife watcher an experience every bit as interesting as many more rugged locations. Indeed, without moving more than a few yards from the entrance to the public house, it is possible to spot 3 species of owl, rural farmland favourites such as grey and red-legged patridge. as well as waterside birds like little egret, Egyptian goose and reed bunting. Which isn't bad for low effort birdwatching. Add to that the grass snake that made an appearance in the bar of the pub and the hares, hedgehogs, bats and badgers frequently seen in the surrounding lanes and it can often be a day or night out, in more ways than one. The wider vicinity offers marsh and hen harriers, common crane, goshawk, crossbill, stone curlew, ringed plover, woodlark, stonechat, nightjar and much more. And, as times, climates and habitats change, they are all the more worth recording.