Birding and Peckover House and.... Scones!

We started out this morning with plan A, wanting to do some birding, being a visit to Welney and then onwards from there.  Had a planned detour to Walkers at Barton Meal for usual brekkie... delish as ever.  Whilst there the sun came out so change of plan and off to the Hawk & Owl Trust at  Sculthorpe ...  a place I always enjoy visiting.

Hmmm, en route the sky got darker and darker and the rain lashed down.

Undeterred we parked in the car park having difficulty in opening the car doors against the very strong wind.  It was raining.  We decided cameras were not on given the weather, so set off with just binocs..

Off we set... within about 15 minutes the rain stopped, the clouds rolled away, the sky became blue and the sun shone.

It was glorious and added, Bullfinch, Brambling, Marsh Tit, Siskins (in amoungst a flock of circa 100 Goldfinch) and Lesser Redpoll.. quite a few more for my year list.  And not a camera between us!!

The feeder areas were alive with birds... delightful!

A great deal of work is being done to improved the birding environment and a new hide being built.  Promises of things to come... must go back and see when the time is right..

After a very pleasant time there, we headed off toFlitcham in the hope of seeing the resident Little Owls.. which were not to be seen anywhere.  Several teal and I added Fieldfare to the year list.

A rather obliging robin posed..

Clearly having a  bad hair day in the wind..

So now where... we'd decided in advance the Peckover House was due a visit.  So off we went..  Glorious driving through the countryside in the sunshine..

First thing was a visit to the Barn Cafe for lunch.

Carrot & Sweet Potato soup, excellent.... We shared a Stilton Cheese Scone.. best cheese scone I've ever had and a Fruit Scone - all qualifiying for a 5 out of 5 rating...

We lost the sun a little and it was getting colder but an excellent day out... :)