New Horizons - Pensthorpe - 7/4/2017

I'd always wondered about Pensthorpe, because I couldn't decide how they were advertising it. It didn't seem to be a nature reserve, yet it didn't quite seem a tourist attraction. However I did find my day here very interesting.
The area is a combination of several gravel pits, with a scrape, wood and meadow area. As a reserve it's not that good. compared to the reserves I had been to the days before, there was no real comparison with a reserve like Cley. The lakes held small numbers of TUFTED DUCK, with a few COOT as does every lake in the country. There were a few Feral BARNACLE GEESE and EGYPTIAN GEESE and I'm sure the GOLDENEYE present were from their captive stock.
The scrape held a larger variety of duck, with GADWALL, TEAL and SHOVELLER present. There were 10 OYSTERCATCHER, 4 pairs of AVOCET, and a territorial LAPWING.
So that was it. I had done the place and it was ok for what it was. And then...

The White Stork

 

 

When it hits you that you have seen something amazing and you breathe out a wow. A WHITE STORK was flying over the lakes at Pensthorpe!

I later found him resting on a fence staring down into an enclosure below. For in that enclosure were two captive female STORKS.
With whom he mated...

 

No one knows where the male STORK came from, he just showed up one day and now he just hangs about. I'm counting it as wild and on my year list. It is as wild as the  BARNACLE and EGYPTIAN GEESE on site, even as wild as MUTE SWANS which are all introduced birds to this country.

 

 

Captive Ducks

 

Pensthorpe had several lakes turned over to captive ducks. They had an area given over to CRANE conservation. There was a hide where each of three sides looked out onto a different CRANE species.

 

 

There was another hide that looked at the STORKS and BALD IBIS.

 

 

They had a little pen where they captive bred RED SQUIRRELS, which was nice.

Finally, there was a walk in aviary which had captive British waders like AVOCET and RUFF, along with CORNCRAKES and BEARDED TIT which was excellent.

So, a game of two halves. The reserve wasn't up to much, but I found the captive stock areas very good. The captive areas held a large number of native species, which were very good for getting stock photos of animals that are usually difficult to get close to. I'm glad I saw the place but I probably won't come back for a while, only when I've run out of photos to use on my blog.

 

There you have it - my little trip to North Norfolk. It was ok, but going to an area of such high quality I did have large expectations. And while they weren't fully met I still had a good time.