aPalling Birding

Norfolk - in the words of Stephen Menzie: This is what I hate about Norfolk - about 3/4 of the people there seem to be birders of one description or another. And at least 7/8 of them are completely useless annoying bastards. You can't go anywhere or look at anything without a minibus load of people in green wax jackets and Wellingtons appearing behind you and asking you if you've seen much.

He's got a point... seen any cranes? are they all pinkfeet?

January   February   March  April May June+July August Sept: Oct + Nov

Jan 1st

Happy Nooooo Year.
After a rather late evening, I roused myself around mid-morning to be greeted by the greyest day ever, outside of a very grey day indeed in a Polish bauhaus-style block of flats in mid-winter, 1975. That grey. And wet.  Sat upstairs watching Lapwings and Starlings fly by. Midsommer Murders was great. ish. 221 Bewick's reported from Hickling. The irrepresible Mr Kane, no doubt.


Jan 2nd
Up and out - bloody cold with clear skies and the wind coming from the east. Talk of snow. There's a large anticyclone over Norway pushing a cold front in. Horsey - 10 Barnacles south of the mill in with the pinks and at least five Whitefronts, three Cranes and 200 Golden Plover and 150 Lapwings.

175 Bewick's and 10 Mute Swans at Ludham. Dark-breasted Barn Owl too. Only seemed to be 'dark' on the upper breast though, very like the East Ruston bird of 2004... a light buffish wash was visible on the underwing and the back was a fairly solid dark grey in many places (see here for more details on this bird and D-b Barn Owls). A pair of Purple Sands up at Walcot and three Med Gulls - an adult, a first-winter, and a second summer with traces of black in the wing-tip.

Jan 3rd

Bitterly cold and windy and grey. Dave and Felicity came over for a visit. Dave is setting up an Asian Bird Sounds website thru Leeds Uni and I gave him lots of cuts of interesting species, and loads of dross. Started out at the Greyhound in Hickling. Top beer and burger. Braved a walk at Walcott, the wind icy and coming from the south-east now - two Meds but the Purple Sand flew off as we arrived, no doubt down to the roost on the rising tide - 16 birds there! Andy had a reasonable passage of Gannets and auks. Mandarin still at Stalham Staithe.

Jan 4th

Much milder today. Pottering around the village bumped into Andy and spent ages trying to pin down the Black Red, which we eventually did 200 yards north of the gap but very mobile. A first-winter male and no doubt the bird I had first on Christmas Eve. A few Teal passing (300+ from early morning), a few Gadwall, two Purple Sands on the first reef, 30 Little Gulls reported south, the odd Shelduck, a Curlew and 284 Pinks behind the conifers. Five Bullfinches were along the lane and two Knot in the fields. Mick had a Black-throated in the morning.

Excellent game tonight. Finished off by winning a 40-60 and battling through the middle to slot Rich in who buried it in the final seconds. Played some other muppets after our regular session. Scored two crackers and had all on not to lump some whinging muppet who tried (laughingly) to get all agro after a totally nothing incident. Wanker. Back to birds.


Jan 5th

Lovely, bright sunny day. Took Ben down to Martham Broad. Lots of ducks out there, good numbers of Teal and Wigeon, the odd Goldeneye, a few Gadwall and Shoveler, pair of Little Grebes. Walked further round and had about nine White-fronted Geese, the Lesser White-fronted Goose, a cracking Bittern flew over and there were as few Bearded Tits pinging about. Horsey Mere had large numbers of Teal and Cranes were calling beyond the hedge.

Back at the car park, a birder told me he'd seen a 'Great White Egret' from the footpath north of the mere. He didn't ring it out but said he would as he'd left his phone in his car. It wasn't rung out though, so I called Chris Batty and told him the story - I think Chris put it out as unconfirmed. There has been a Little Egret around there though. Andy was on Brograve at the time and didn't see anything. Still, you never know.

Jan 6th

Just about to go a-goosing when i noticed on the pager that there was a White-crowned Sparrow in Cley. Ooo-eerr. Having only seen a grotty imm in Canada in 1998, I decided to try and beat the rush and bollocked off up there straight away, Norfolk drivers notwithstanding. Parked up and got the Swallows area pronto, finding Rich Moores and Justin already on the flanks of the crowd. I managed to sneak in there but couldn't view the required area first time the bird showed so as soon as i could I made my way to the front, kneeling rank with Benny, next to Postcard Pete,  and after about 25 mins the bird came down to the provided seed. What a stunner! For a sparrow anyway... Watched a few times for as long as possible. Had a lovely humbug of a head and, it seemed to me, quite a chestnut undertail?  Quite a 'long' bird with a crouchy stance and often slightly raised head. Presumably a bird of the nominate race, the other four subs having a more westerly origin... It appeared a couple of days previously and Richard Millington told me quite a tale of how a trail of seed had been laid down the path to the road as it was the only place the bird was viewable - top job, well done. I donated everything i had in my pocket to the church fund. Good to see lots of friends there... Chris, Jax, Faz, Craig, Rob, Rich, Phil, Eddie and many more. After a celebratory pint i headed for home.

How it got here is quite a mystery. Or indeed when. The map shows the distribution of the bird.

And here it is .

 

by Steve Gantlett, please visit http://www.cleybirds.com

click for a bigger image

 

 

Jan 7th

Pinks flying over in the first vestiges of light as we got into the car for the start of term...

Jan 8th

Barn Owl and Pinks again on the way to work

Jan 11th

Andrew Grieve has managed to photograph the Dark-breasted Barn Owl - and what a cracking picture it is indeed. The bird shows its golden buff upper breast and face surround very nicely.

Jan 12th

Lovely and clear with bright sunshine today after a very wet and windy evening. Two Tundra Beans in a beet field near Ludham this morning. Along with 150+ Bewick's incl. nine young birds. Nine Whoopers were also present very early on but departed before 10.00 The Beans had typical bill patterns and showed the wedge-shaped head profile and dark head / pale neck combination along with the orange legs. Also three Pinks in the same field but doing their own thing. Moved onto Waxham and had a wonderful nine Purple Sands roosting ion th esunny side of a groyne. The purple sheen showing very well. Quite a passage of Red-throated Divers heading north too with about 12 in two minutes and a steady trickle through the hour. Mick had a Little Auk first thing further north. Several thousand Pinks around Waxham and Ringos, Sanderlings, Turnstones, Dunlins, two Grey Plover and 50+ Goldies in the wet fields at Waxham. A couple of hundred Goldies east of the 1159 in Horsey too. Attractive male Stonechat at Waxham.

 Being a bright boy, I have mastered thumbnailing so Click on Da Link for a big pic of the Tundra Bean Geese at Ludham. Courtesy of the lovely Bob Cobbold!

Had a wander around Sea Palling and Eccles this afternoon. Black Redstart was still in gardens along the marrams, single Stonechat and about 25 Snow Buntings flew north past the seawatching hide. Red-throated Divers were again passing north in reasonable numbers aslong with the odd auk, seemingly Razorbills, having pale underwings / axillaries. 60 Lapwing over the house. Plenty of Common Gulls on the sea and in the fields. Couple og Greater Black-backeds and a few Herring among the more numerous Black-headeds

Jan 13th

let the side down today with a trip out of east Norfolk...  cold to begin with and extremely blustery. Stopped off at Felbrigg and found a rather good total of 12 Mandarin Ducks on the lake. It's not China I know and they look quite incongrous on a stately home lake but I actually found them quite charismatic, sad man that I am. Seven males and five females. Had a steady drive around the farmland near Aylmerton picking up 50+ Fieldfares and lesser numbers of Redwing, a few Stock Doves and a few hundred Wood Pigeons. 50+ Snow Buntings were still knocking around Salthouse but watching them here felt a bit 'artificial'. Much prefer em flying low over Sea Palling and Eccles beaches without a DSLR-toting bird worriers.

Too  blustery for any chance of a Water Pipit at Cley so moved on to Cromer Car park to look for a Waxwing with more DSLR-toting sour faces. Had a wonder around the area to try and pick up the bird and also to avoid being cornered by any of the birders there, all intent on standing in the middle of the car park until a Waxwing landed on their head. Suddenly had a revelation... WTF was i standing in a car park in Cromer for waiting for a Waxwing - get back to your patch young man and look for some ******* birds! Good advice and off I went. Not much time left so had a look for the Barnacles and possibly some rossicus Beans seen earlier in the day - Andy has four at east Ruston and I think James had two as well. Met James at Happisburgh and his lovely dog Oswald - a real bundle of energy! The geese flock was out of sight but calling and the light was starting to fail so I sacked it and went home to drink red wine. Always a winner.

 The Tundras at East Ruston by Bob Cobbold - cheers Bob! Click for larger image.

 

Jan 14th

Pinks overhead as I put the bins out as readied myself for school

Jan 15th

Pinks again - about time I nailed a decent gull from my classroom - watch this space...

Jan 16th
Pinks in the early morning and a Barn Owl on the way to work. Stopped off on the way home and grilled about 1500-2000 Pinks at Horsey for Tundras but only turned up nine Barnacles. Cranes were bugling away in the background to a beautiful east Norfolk orange red sunset. Absolutely magical. There's nowhere I'd rather be. Well, apart from look for Temminck's Tragopans in China.

James had eight Barnacles and the Ross's up on his patch today and the Tundras were seen earlier in the morning too.

Jan 19th

Woken to the sound of thousands of Pinks going over... coffee from the missus and an hour lie-in. A phone call to visiting birder Steve Lister revealed a Ross's at Happisburgh. Nowt better to do so I took Ben up for a couple of hours goosing. Mick was up there too and Mr Grieve joined us shortly after looking for collared birds. The Ross's was, well, a Ross's. Nice to see whatever. The number of pinks was quite impressive and before long we'd found two rossicus on the front edge of the flock. Bill pattern of one bird was much more extensive than the other with the orange going back along the cutting edge of the mandibles a fair way. Nine Greylags fresh-in were almost certianly wild birds and appeared different to the typical poxy feral birds dotted around east Norfolk being browner above and very pale underneath, approaching white. A single White-front completed the variety. Back in Sea Palling Eccles, had a Merlin fly over. Steve managed six Wapits at Martham near the stile, back of the broad.

Down to the bar with Holly, Ilya and Dave in the evening to meet Steve who was stopping in the village. The pool was a bit of a rout, skill level diminishing as beer levels went up. Showler ploughed on through the petty cue-knocking and barracking to clear up in the final game for a famous victory. To him anyway.

Jan 20th

Hangovers all round today. Off up to Cart Gap to look at gulls. Showler soon proving his reputation for frugal living by neglecting the pink flock (6000?) to scavenge on the rubbish dumped nearby. He turned up several brass incense holders, some coal tongs and various nik-naks pleasing him no end. Me and Ilya turned up a Tundra and a couple of weird looking things. One I reckoned was a Greylag x Pink, and still do, but no one agreed. Probably still drunk though... couldn't turn up the Laps and the Ross's and other interesting stuff wasn't there this morning. Just the CTD pink that puts itself everywhere, the tart.

Tea and Sandwich (sounds harder than Panini i feel!) at Happisburgh, then down to Martham sans Showler who succumbed to the hangover and went home. Lots of commoner wildfowl, several Cetti's, but nothing much else. Nine Whoopers spent much of the day at Horsey and Andy texted with a Pom past Sea Palling.

nice weekend, good birds, good friends, and no pager chasers. Yes!

Jan 21st

Legions of Pinks storming north first thing - carrying the Ross's and Tundras in the cover of their huge numbers no doubt. Green-winged Teal turned up on Horsey Mere again. Should have done it yesterday instead of Martham Broad. Probably almost countable as a self-found carolinensis. Not up there with 2006's 'Horsey or Cley?' Let's go to Cley! (courtesy I. Maclean) on the day of the (now junked) Pacific Swift report but a minor spanner nonetheless.

Jan 22nd

A wonderful Norfolk evening. Barn Owls numerous. Bright blue skies, watery low sunlight and a bite in the air. Perfect weather for watching harriers etc. Horsey had two Hen Harriers quatering a reedbed not 25 yards from where I stood, often flying over me. Not a great deal else bar some Pinks and Brents and Cetti's calling away. As the light fell, the Teal came in, in dozens, and the yellowy-white moon shone stronger, 16 Cranes headed to their roost site to cap a fantastic afternoon. Only just past mid-January and after-work birding is already possible...

Jan 23rd

Stopped of to look for Taiga Bean Geese on the way to football tonight - about 50 birds present at fair distance but the snaky necks and characteristic dark 'wedge' head-shape and bill patterning rendered them straightforward to identify. Also a Sprawk. We let the opposition score a last minute equaliser to draw - gutting, as they say in the dugout.

Jan 24th

very little about tonight on the beach and fields at Sea Palling but geese over in the moonlight

Jan 25th

Grey Phal seen today on pools behind the pipe dump and Hen Harrier and Peregrine reported from there too. Pinks again mobile and vocal in the moonlight

Jan 26th

Walked down to Waxham with Ben. Around 1000 Pink-footed Geese in fields south of the track and a Barn Owl. Just north of the pipe dump I found the Grey Phal on a tiny pool by the track, despite there being a pager message saying it wasn't there. I think someone obviously just checked the pool on the pager from yesterday and concluded it had gone. Another chap appearede from round the corner and joined me. Managed a few phone scope pix, showing unbelievably closely, so I texted Andy and Bob and they made their way down. We enjoyed some excellent views for an hyour or so before it appeared on the pager (the other chap that was there presumably) and we realised the floodgates would be open so hightailed it back. Pager birders duly began arriving, giving their call note of 'Where's the Phalarope?' or 'Is it still showing?' when we were a mile away back at our cars etc. Probably sounds horribly anti-social but why can't these lazy fuckers just get out and look for some birds?

Tried Martham Broad for Scaup but only lots of Pochard (50+) and a few Goldeneye. Andy gave us a display of fieldcraft to keep us amused, by falling out of the Oak tree in an attempt to see North Broad. Kingfisher on the way back to the staithe. Quick stop off at Horsey Mere produced a patch tick in the shape of a female Ruddy Duck - rarer out here than Grey Phals! Very pleased. But no Green-winged Teal today. Had some lunch and finished off with some poor seawatching. 20 Snow Bunts and two Gannets, plus a few Red-throateds and auk sp.

Other stuff in the region in last couple of days includes Long-eared Owl, Snow Goose, Ross's and two (prob including the previously mentioned bird) Snow Geese (Acle) and Peregrine and Black-throated Diver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above fantastic photo is by Bob Cobbold, who me and Andy watched the bird with.  Although he was with Andy when I texted I think he must have stopped off in Stalham for a mug of tea and a full English before getting there...

Jan 27th

Seeing as Waxham and the general area would be quite busy with pager chasers I fancied getting away for the day to somewher a bit quieter. Met up with Ilya at Acle and we decided to walk all the way to Berney Marshes in the hope of turning something up. Noticed the huge goose flock just east of the turn-off to Halvergate, so stopped there to have a scan through them. The birds were distant and spread long and thin. It wasn't long before cars were stopping and we were being asked if we'd 'seen it' etc. References to the Snow and Ross's geese present yesterday. After a couple of Whitefronts, I'd had enough and we drove down to the small parking area at Halvergate. We set off and duly took the wrong turn for about half a mile before reorienting in the direction of the station. The walk was uneventful except for the number of amazingly muddy gates to cross. A real pain, especially as the dog was reluctant to get muddy. A few Little Egrets, Skylarks, Reed Bunts and Mipits were the haul aside from just stupendous numbers of Lapwings, and lesser, but still impressive, numbers of Goldies and Mute Swan (200+). Berney Marshes turned up a Peregrine, small numbers of Barnacles and large numbers of Teal and Wigeon and more Pinkfeet. A long walk back with a lame dog was the only reward. (And a trip to the vets for antibiotics for Ben's swollen paw. Great.)

We finished off with another look at the even bigger flock of geese (well over 10,000 I reckon. AG had 17000 there recently). Another Whitefront was all we could muster. Last action of the day was a stop just east of Acle where another Dark-breasted Barn Owl was 'reported' the previous day. No sign.

Jan 28th

Another report of a Dark-breasted Barn Owl - this time from Waxham - later amended to an alba Barn Owl. We may be in for quite a few records...

Jan 30th

On the way to work I stopped of at Waxham Track to admire a massive chain of Pinkfeet heading north that stretched almost across the entire sky from Brograve to the dunes. Absolutely amazing.

 Feb 1st

A drive along the Acle straight to Football didn't produce any geese or swans. The wind was fierce and biting and it started snowing during ther game. Fantastic stuff. The drive home was exciting through lots of driving snow. None of it settled though...

Feb 2nd

spent first part of the day with Holly and Ben south of Sea Palling. The pink flock south of the mill had about six Whitefronts in it, a lone Barnacle and not much else. Three Cranes were in evidence but distant. Martham Broad was picturesque and a cracking male Goldeneye caught Holly's eye for a while. Several females there too. No Pochard at all today though and Wigeon numbers and Teal numbers both much reduced. Took Holly back and spent a couple of hours looking for geese around East Ruston, Edingthorpe etc. Didn't find any and only had a few Goldies, Lapwing etc in the fields. Two Bullfinch at the Weaver's Way Car Park were the only things of note apart from stunning views of a Barn Owl catching a vole and dispatching it in a roadside field. Back at Eccles, over 200 Red-throated Divers north in one hour this lunchtime plus good numbers noted passing Walcott later on where a second winter Med Gull stood on the sea wall while I fed up on crisps and a Boost bar Wonder if anyone did any longer counts?

Velvet Scoter 'reported' Horsey...
Headed back to Horsey and the goose flock hadn't really changed. The Cranes flew over quite close and I managed my best views of them for a while. Tried Martham again and met Ilya who had an unusually plumaged Teal – it didn't show any scap markings on either side of the body and the wings seemed to be hanging a little but I can't see how this would obscure mantle feathers so it must have been a first-winter bird lacking these but in all other respects it appeared like an adult Common Teal. A couple of perched Marsh Harriers looked imperious in the afternoon sun and we rounded off the day with brief views of a Cetti's on the way back to the staithe.

Feb 3rd

Lovely cold morning but with an easterly wind howling. Started off at Waxham track after seeing a few geese down in the flooded fields. They were all pinks and there was very little else of note apart from a few Cranes, Golden Plovers and Lapwings with just a few Turnstones and Sanderlings feeding in the fields too. Two Redwing near the end of the track. A seawatch produced only a few Red-throated Divers, after yesterday's impressive movements, and the odd auk, Kittiwake and Gannet etc.

A good flock of Pinks was opposite Poplar and Walnut farms but beyond view unless they spooked so I moved further south to Horsey. 500 or so Pinks were in the south fields and a pair of Pintail were on the flash and two Fieldfares had found their way into a Starling flock. Sparrowhawk over and several Marsh Hariers, lots of scattered Goldies, Lapwings, 20 or so Skylarks and numerous small groups of Starlings.

Walked the back of Martham but nothing doing so I returned home for some Marmite and toast and a mug of tea. A bike ride around Sea Palling and Eccles failed to produce much apart from a pair of Stonechats in the goat compound. A seawatch for a couple of hours was more productive with 20+ Snow Buntings, a few Kittiwakes, about 10 Gannets (all adult), a few auks and about 20 max Red-throated Divers. Best of all though was a juv Pom Skua thundering north-west. It was about middle distance and shearing on the winds – the underwing-flashes showed on a couple of occasions and the wings were strongly flexed back at the carpals in the characterisitc manner of a shearing skua. Very pleasing and great Feb bird and a nice patch year bird to get so early.

Feb 4th

Barn Owl on the way to work, Barnacle and pinks on the straight after work

Feb 6th

Barn Owl on the way to football

Feb 9th

First day of the holidays! Lovely and clear first thing - bright blue sky etc, so I headed down to Horsey. Peregrine hunting over the flash, harrying a Shelduck; cranes and eight Whoopers were the highlights until a Lesser Snow Goose got up off Higham Holmes a couple of times. Spent a fair while watching harriers and sprawk etc and even managed to catch the sun a little. A walk down to the pipe dump saw 15 Pied Wags, 40+ Red-throated Divers on the sea, 20 Mipits and the odd Skylark or two. Plenty of commoner waders on the flooded fields. Simon had a male Hen Harrier around the Nelson's Head track

Fudger fem. and Scaup at Thurne mouth today

Spent the evening with Simon Nichols and co. in the Nelson's Head with an incredible farting dog. And what a lovely down to earth bloke he is! Here's to your next visit Mr N. Hope to see more of your ninja-esque picture catching skills sometime too.

Feb 10th

Started south of the mill. Simon's party had a white goose over with the pinks early morning - thought to be a Ross's being slightly smaller than the Pink-footed Goose. In with 1500+ Pinks, Laps and Golden Plover was a Barnacle Goose and a juvenile White-fronted Goose. The three cranes were in their usual area and a few more were vocal from behind the mere. Annoying people stopping in the lay-bys to ask where any interesting birds were before the customary 'Hello' and not even being arsed to look for anything themselves in a wonderful place on a wonderfully bright sunny day. Moved on to Thurne Mouth as I hadn't been there before and fancied recce-ing the place. Found it to be a fantastic spot, replete with Black Swan. Reasonable views of a Cetti's but no Fudger or Scaup. A few Bewick's around Ludham then further goosing at Martham revealed only the large Greylag flock (300+) while the flock on the Horsey straight hadn't changed much.

Still, got a week off now... think of me while you slave away.

Feb 11th

Mindblowing early morning out this way. Not a cloud in the sky, a low mist lying all over Sea Palling, Waxham and Horsey with the sun trying to burn the fog off. Two Mistle Thrushes over the house first thing. The goose flock was still on the straight but nothing much was in there. Female Ruddy Duck still on the mere and about a dozen Snipe in the wet field. Later in the day, the Peregrine was back on the flash and the three Cranes put in an appearance. The local Tree Sparrows were active but it just feels too nice in general for there to be any decent birds about. Four Snipe opposite the south paddocks, a few Fieldfare in Potter Heigham. The sea was dead with only a few Red-throated Divers knocking about and a single auk, probably a Razorbill.

Feb 12th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An early start again to make the most of the early morning views. Even took my coolpix. Too foggy around Horsey but the three cranes were calling away and shadows of the regular pinks and the Barnacle could be made out. Having has distant views of a Lesser Snow Goose on Heigham recently I decided to wander out the back of Martham Broad to try and get a reasonable view of it. The fog took a couple of hours to lift and the whitefronts could be heard calling away. About 9:30 the whitefronts finally got up and it was quite a spectacle - about 700-800 of them and some pinks mixed in. They wheeled in and whiffled for a while in small parties making quite a fantastic sight. Eventually the white form of the Lesser Snow Goose came into view and passed across quite close before settling to feed not far across the dyke. Brief views again later on but not a lot else apart from the odd harrier sitting in the bush tops or a pair getting amourous, vocal Water Rails and Cetti's. A pair of Stonechat not too far past the viewing area and Green Woodpecker calling in the distance

Moved onto Horsey later on but was feeling quite hungry by then - finished off with the Black Redstart still in the village paddocks.

Click for larger images

 

35 Red-throateds, various plumages of Herring and Great-black backeds along with Common and Black-headed and a few auks off Waxham in the afternoon plus another pair of Mistle Thrushes

Feb  13th

Total white-out first thing so had a couple of hours lie-in. The mist never really lifted all day with visibility being down to 50-60 metres at best. A Dartford Warbler at Horsey was an unexptected bonus on a day like today. It was quite a showey bird for a Dartford and clambered to the top of some bracken uttering its soft chaiirrr call. Hard to see much plumage detail given the conditions but the yellow-orange legs could be seen as could pale tips top throat feathering and the general overall dullness in comparison to a Marmoras. I wonder if we are in for a breeding pair in the area. Would be a nice addition to the breeding birds and there's plenty of habitat.

And there's a Bittern on the north coast if you fancy standing 10 yards from one with loads of DSLR-toting mongs.

Feb 14th

Bit of a lie-in and breakfast in bed for Valentine's day. Definitely colder today, the blue skies replaced by some low grey clouds. A few Cranes on the way out of the village. Ventured south of Horsey first - Barnacle still present but the juv. Whitefront had now been joined by an adult bird. No sign of the Peregrine today but plenty of wildfowl on the flash. Three Cranes in fields near the Nelson's Head and commoner wildfowl on the pool there. A walk around Waxham produced several commoner gulls, the odd diver or two and a few Razorbills

Feb 15th

Cold again this morning, the wind having moved to a distinctly easterly direction. Lesser Snow Goose still on the Holmes and Peregrine in the usual spot this morning harrying ducks. Very few geese though. Two Redwing in the field north of Shangri-La and a bit more on ther sea with Fulmar (1), Gannet and Kittiwake all in evidence. Divers were moving south with at least 45 in about 30 mins. Black Redstart just north of the end of Beach Road. A walk around Eccles only saw the regular flock of Lapwing, Goldies, Turnstones etc. The walk back to Sea Palling in now beautifully clear blue skies but a bracing wind turned up a single Purple Sand in with the Turnstones on one of the reefs.

Feb 16th

23 Bewick's Swans were at Horsey in the morning, having moved down from Catfield Fen area I think. Cranes are starting to prospect for nest sites. Lesser Snow Goose was still on the holmes but I didn't venture out there today. Redwing south of Waxham.

Feb 17th

Cold air still coming in fromth east! Notable again was the movement of Red-throated Divers with around 150 north around the Winterton area in not much more than fifteen minutes today. 13 Cranes south of Sea Palling early on. Geese were very hard to track down to day but a couple of thousand pinks were eventually found - only the Barnacle was in amongst them though. The Whitefronts got up off Heigham only once this morning and I couldn't see the Lesser in amongst the visible birds but I expect it was there somewhere. The Peregrine was on the lookout for ducks again and was seen to be eating a Carrion Crow. Around 1000 Golden Plover were feeding distantly and a small snipe was flushed up by something and it appeared very much like a Jack Snipe but the range was too far to claim it definitely. A calling Grey Wagtail flew over and we managed to get onto it quite close in (a good bird for the area) and a short seawatch at Waxham revealed not much more thasn a very calm sea indeed with a few Red-throateds. Back in the village, the Black Redstart had gone for a bit of a wander but was found near lingalonga. Did a bit of pager-birding as I was knackered by 3:30 and spent part of the last hour of the day, on my own, watching the Great Northern Diver at Blickling; nothing much to say about it really, a typical bird but with a reasonable half-chinstrap effect when viewed head-on. I waited at the north end for a fair while (all the camera-toters were up one side - trying to get as close as possible, no doubt) as the bird had been feeding right in the northernmost part yesterday but was being kept in the centre of the lake due to increased activity on this pleasant Sunday. It seemed to be conscious of activity around the lake and to be waiting to return to its favoured area...my rationale paid off when it surfaced at very close range indeed and porn-starred for a few mins. Resultado!

Quote of the day: A Mr Moores of Norwich writes 'No chumpy, that's a Great Crested Grebe'. Don't mix with the riff-raff Rich! 

Feb 18th

Minus five overnight! An absolute pea-souper today. As thick and dense as some of the twattery displayed over the IBWO saga or of the kind you can find behind a large DSLR anywhere in Norfolk these days. Never saw the sky all day but driving back home through Horsey with Holly, we spied right at the side of the road just north of the Nelson's Head turn off, a Tawny Owl sat on a fence post at head height. I reversed and we enjoyed brief views of the bird on the post and as it flew a short distance further up the road and sat on a branch over the edge of the road. Spectacular to see in the daylight. Must have been confused by the amazingly dense fog. 

Feb 19th

Clearer today but still very chilly. On the way home a roadside field thronged with Pinkfeet meant i just had to stop. In amongst them, and as close as I've been able to get to one this winter, was a white morph Lesser Snow Goose. Not sure iof this was the Heigham bird as it had rather a large amount of staining around the face from feeding in the beet fields. Having just fixed my coolpix, I thought I'd try and get a shot but it was a bit too dull. I got one passable shot and might up it later on. Also a few Barn Owls on the way to and from work today.

Feb 20th

Warmed up quite a bit. Lesser Snow still knocking around, Pink flock lessened in size a little

Feb 22nd

Ross's reported in the fields around Horsey Gap area. The 'scaup' in west Norfolk turned out to be just that, and a pretty chunky-looking one.

Feb 23rd

Two Ross's Geese first thing this morning with around 2,000 Pink-footed Geese just north of Horsey Gap. Must be the birds from the Halvergate area of late. Perhaps varying slightly in the amount of dark on the proximal half of the bill. Neither showing any sign of staining on the face as the Lesser from Halvergate/Thrigby/Heigham. Also a leucistic Pink the colour of milky tea and two collared birds. The 'owner' of the camp site came out and got all threatening to me and another chap about parking in the entrance to the campsite. Actually asked us if we fancied a fight. He was a big man but he was out of shape. Not what you need on a Sat morning. I moved the car as slowly as I possibly could and left it a few cms from 'his' entrance.

Took the bike down to Horsey in the afternoon, 20 Cranes on the way, and got a view of a white goose south of the mill in with pinks - looked like the Lesser Snow Goose and after waiting for about 30 imns for it finally flew out from behind reeds to feed in the rough pasture. Easily recognised on a half decent view due to the staining on the face. Peregrine knocking about to and Black Redstart. A fantastic day, Two Ross's and a Lesser Snow on the local patch! 

 

And here's two truly awful pics of the Lesser Snow Goose, it was getting dark, bird was distant, hand held etc but you can just make out the face staining. I will start to use the camera properly soon as I have fixed the broken battery cover etc. Just you wait.

Click for larger/blurrier images

 

 

 

Feb 24th

Took Ben down to Horsey this morning. Lesser Snow Goose still present and Peregrine in the fields. On the way back home for breakfast stopped off to scan over Brograve and had one of the Ross's and the leucistic Pink-footed Goose again. Black Redstart still present. After a bit of late morning breakfast I headed out on the bike, passing at least 800 Black-headed Gulls and a few Commons feeding in freshly ploughed fields between Sea Palling and Waxham. Cranes were in their usual spot. Met Graham on the straight and had the Peregrine again, and seven Redwing over while Ilya had the Lesser Snow again near the mill and another (or the same) Peregrine. Met a couple of chaps who asked about the Dartford Warbler - they went off and found it within minutes. I went up there with Ilya, found the blokes in fields they shouldn't have been in but we couldn't relocate the warbler, neither could Bradnum senior or junior who we met there. Did have a stonking male Hen Harrier though and a few more Cranes and three Great-crested Grebes on the sea. And dozens of people wanting six-figure references for anything on their pagers. Ouch!

 

Click to enlarge for Bob Cobbold's fantastic shot of the long-staying Black Red.

Feb 26th

A walk around Horsey beach after work only turned up the three regular Cranes and a couple of divers. Three Dark-breasted Brents were on the sea.

Feb 27th

The journey to work in lovely, bright, early morning sunshine brought three Cranes very close to the road indeed. The journey back was memorable for a ringtail Hen Harrier that came over the car and lingered for a minute or two. Had to stop and have a look as I never tire of hens. A walk with the dog produced a single Purple Sandpiper and Black Redstart. One Ross's Goose at least also still present.

Here's another shot of the Lesser Snow (many thanks to Bob Cobbold for the pic) from late last year, perhaps the one kicking about now...? Click for a HUGE picture!

 

 

 

 

 

Feb 28th

Returning home from work we spied the three Cranes in a roadside field at the closest range I've even seen them. We stayed in the car of course and enjoyed some breathtasking views of these fantastic birds. No matter how many times I see them I still get a buzz out of it. Bob Cobbold has managed to get a shot of the birds and I've created a little photopage here for them

EastNorfolkBirding - in tune with nothing. Don't touch that dial kids...

March 1st

March arrived with blue skies and scudding white clouds. The wind was strong, coming from the west initially veering to north-westish later on. Very few geese were in evidence today, guessing now that they have moved north... Horsey was very blustery and the fields were full of pigeons, Lapwings, Stock Doves, a few Skylark, 120+ Golden Plover and several Reed Buntings. Three Cranes were feeding south of the mill and while walking on the loop I flushed a male Hen Harrier at fairly close range. He got up and flew low over the sedges, gradually making his way towards the mill. He climbed up a little way and crossed the road with the mill behind him - would have made an excellent picture! The sea was very high and it wasn't possible to get on to the beach. A few Guilliemots and divers were passing, former south and latter north. Several Dunlin were also seen heading north. A ride around Sea Palling, Eccles and Lessingham later in the day failed to produce anything out of the ordinary.

March 2nd

So blustery out here and westerly that it was almost impossible to do anythingn productive birdwise. Settled on Buckenham Marshes. Pretty grim. Lots of wind, some ducks and 120+ Black-tailed Godwits. A few thousand Golden Plover, 35+ Dunlin, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine and a few Barnacle Geese. excellent close up views of Bearded Tits by the old mill but no sign of any Wapits today.

March 3rd

Tides still very high. Barn Owl on way to work

March 4th

Barn Owls on way to work. 35 Turnstones in ploughed field by south track in village. Very cold tonight on the way down to the bar for a quick one to celebrate a fine victory by Arsenal. Wind seems to have veered round to north-easterly.

March 5th

Barn Owls again on the way to work. More Cranes and a Firerest has been at Winterton for a couple of days - might try to pull it in after work tomorrow night as it was such a poor year for them last year and this weekend I have to head north for a mate's 40th, meaning I will get serious patch withdrawal symptoms. At least Mr K is away so he won't be finding anything in my absence. Does mean though that the area will be underwatched/not watched at all this weekend.

Just a thought after watching the ridiculous Champions' League game Chelsea vs Olympiacos. What is the point of that whole league set up? There are about 5 or 6 teams good enought to win it and they can't play each other until the quarters. How can Chelsea, Man Utd etc get to this stage of a worthwhile competition only playing teams of the Jewson League standard? It's a money-spinning mockery of a once great competiton called the European Cup. A return to the two leg knockout comp would be a dream but it will never happen due to lost revenues. Imagine Man Utd vs Juve or Barca vs Real Madrid in the first round. You'd see some football then! Coming first in a six horse race once every 15 years (or not at all if you're Arsenal / Chelsea) isn't much to crow about. Unlike the achievements of Notts Forest and Liverpool. Here's John McGovern - (who?) He lifted the European Cup as Forest captain TWICE! in the days before TV overated every 'famous' footballer and when English players appeared in overseas leagues because they were actually worth buying.

 

March 8^th

A day out at my old stomping grounds in Derbyshire. Carsington still had the long-staying Great Northern Diver, also Buzzard, Oystercatcher freshly returned etc but, as ever, nothing to get you excited. On the canal were a Grey Wag and several nesting Little Grebes. Also picjked up a Willow Tit nearby. Wyver Lane had a few Goosanders and manky geese. Anyway, it wasn't about the birds... Gaz's birthday party was a fantastic suprise affair and he really enjoyed himself. Our friend, protest folk singer Chris Butler (played along with Re-entrants and the punk band Eastfield too. See http://www.butler1389.fsnet.co.uk/ for Chris' site. All were very good indeed, particularly liked Chris's 'Celebrity Bus Crash' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XK3GUOGTR4 Welcome aboard Lady Thatcher. Ding Ding! Everyone had a riotous time, Gaz couldn't walk home, fell on my dog while playing pool and Brian looked like an advert for Two-Tone, complete with pork pie hat. Daz still looked like Paul Simonon. After a few depressing years back in the home town it was good to see old mates in good health too. Hope it continues. Great people.

March 11^th

Strong westerlies from the Atlantic storm continuing. Andy had two Poms off Eccles in the early morning. About 10 Meadow Pipits in the dunes north of Waxham in the evening along with 20+ Common Gulls in Sea Palling fields. The Lesser Snow Goose and Ross's Goose were still present on the Holmes too. And another mind-bendingly twattish update from Mr Hill on his (don't laugh) search fo the IBWO here

March 12^th

blustery night, still very strong and westerly - woken up a couple of times due to strength of the winds. Got up early and did a bit of seawatching for 50 mins or so before school. Gannets heading north in small numbers but higher counts of Kittiwakes heading south, perhaps 50+ or so in the time I was there. A few distant auks too. Small flock of 40 or so Pinks at Horsey again and Barn Owls. Cracking game of football tonight. Bad-tempered, high tempo and even – the best type of game! Ghosted in for a header, plus a Baresi-like run from my own half, a one-two on the edge of the box and buried it left side of the goal with the return (think goal at 2:33 here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fuVO_jq9A with a more emphatic finish) Baresi – the first name on the sheet. No one read the game better. Not even me. Ahem. 

Hopefully the birding will improve very shortly and I can get back to writing about that. Which should suit everyone!

March 13th

Three cranes exceptionally close again in roadside fields. And a couple of Barn Owls including one just down the road in Sea Palling seen hunting twice now along the back of the dunes giving marvellous views. About 20 Pied Wags going into the roost.

March 15th

Started out a little damp with light drizzle and south-easterlies. I decided to walk down to Horsey so got the ED50 out for the first time this year. Great to be out and feeling light again, it's such a great little scope. The overcast and foggy weather turned up four Chiffchaffs - all between Sea Palling and Waxham and all presumably fresh in during the last 24 hours. Great to see. Also 10 Cranes at Waxham, 20+ Mipits, only three Stonechats - down on normal and I note there was an influx up on the point today with 40-odd there.  At least four pairs of Ringed Plover were on the beach between Waxham and Horsey and a couple of parties of Long-tailed Tits were encountered but there was only a single Goldcrest in with them. About 35 Chaffinches in a flock at Sea Palling and 20 Linnets at Waxham. A small southward movement of Greenfinches was apparent with a few singles overhead. Also of note was a huge flock of Starlings south of Horsey, swirling around in their thousands.

A Spoonbill was on Heigham today, along with the still present Ross's Goose. Hopefully the weather will cause a few other bits and bobs to drop in overnight. Several Firecrests were found in Suffolk today and one of those would be nice

March 16th

Blustery and wet first thing. Braved the elements on the bike. A pretty good day with birds moving here and there. Two Black Redstarts, one at Eccles, the other between Eccles and Cart Gap, Chiffchaff and White Wagtail. 15 Fieldfare in the village, pair of Stonechats at Eccles, a dozen Mipits etc. Birds seen in east Norfolk include Wheatear, White Wagtail and Sand Martin. The wind was onshore north-easterly and pretty ferocious at times. Good seawatching weather! Six 'blue' Fulmars (and a Bonxie) were among over 100 normal-phase birds seen by Andy while I was just inland looking for passerines. Seawatching throughout the day produced 100s of Kittiewakes and lesser numbers of Gannets. Also Common Scoters, two Red-breasted Mergs, Dark-bellied Brent, a few Snow Buntings, 40 Turnstones but no Firecrest. Two Egyptian Geese at Waxham if you like that sort of thing and the Ross's still present. One of those days when you really know you've been out in it!

March 17th

Result! A walk north before school turned up trumps with a male Firecrest in the hedge just on from Gerry's. Views down to a few feet of this showy bird were much appreciated. Also the local Barn Owl hunting on The Marrams and 20 Fieldfare and two Redwings

March 18th

Bit rough today, still north-easterly. Four Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff in the stand of four pine trees on the Marrams. Barn Owl again and a Curlew. 40-50 Starlings headed south. Seven Blackbirds and 20+ Fieldfares in the paddocks too. Popped in to see the Glauc at Gorleston as it was only a few hundred yards from school. A great 2nd yr bird, very pale with the typical heavy bruiser Glauc structure and dipped in ink bill.  160+ Woodpigeons near Poppyland. A walk down to Waxham early evening didn't produce anything of note bar Chiffchaff and some Long-tailed Tits. Predictions of snow at the weekend could be interesting...

March 19th

Very little in terms of migrants today but Fieldfares were up to 25+ and more Starlings were heading south. 7 Tundra Beans reported from Horsey late morning but I could only find a few Pinks with the Greylags when I got there late afternoon. And a few Cranes.

March 20th

a few hundred geese on the Horsey straight this morning but no time to stop. Saw Mr Grieve there and if there was anything among them he'll have picked it out. Was very dull and rainy after school so no birding today... up early in the morning though. And no school for two weeks and four days!!!

March 21st

managed to get out for fa few hours despite the NW winds and persistent rain. Seawatching early on produced a fair few Fulmars heading south but too distant to pick out any 'blues'. Kittiwakes and Gannets too, five Golden Plovers heading north and a single Purple Sandpiper. South of the mill were around 400 Pinkfeet and 20 or so Greylags but nothing else among them. Managed to find the Lesser Snow Goose in the West Somerton - Martham area with another 400+ Pinks but no sign of the Ross' Goose. Finished off mid afternoon with a cracking White Wagtail in with 15 or so Pieds at Waxham - a lovely male with clean flanks, well marked wings and a good cut-off between light grey back and black cap. A bird I always enjoy seeing and it's nice to be able to find a few of your own and enjoy them in solitude out here, even if it was a bit alarming to have 40-odd sheep totally fixated on me a few yards away while the White Wag ran around between their legs in the pouring rain and gusting winds. Football training later on, but I reckon I need to shed a few pounds so might have to get back to running every day... for a couple of weeks at least.

March 22nd

Rather sore after a double football session in the driving rain and hail last night. Strong north-westerlies again with gusts and a fair amount of precipitation incl some quite wintery showers. Didn't venture out until after lunch but did find the Lesser Snow Goose at Horsey with c. 400 Pinks, showing very well for once. About 70+ Common Gulls were around Sea Palling / Waxham and 22+ Pied Wagtails but no sign of any White Wags. 300-400 Starlings and about 10 Stock Doves feeding in fields near Waxham Barn.

March 23rd

Dismal. Football was rubbish - yet another game ruined by an officious official.

March 24th

Greenish article added here and before I go out birding I thought I'd share a Walcott Winter Wonderland extravaganza courtesy of Bob Cobbold's lens:  Three plumages of Med Gull, second cy, third cy and adult winter, and a Purple Sand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 24th contd

Snow showers and strong north-westerlies made birding very difficult but it was kind iof nice to be out in near blizzard conditions - not sure the dog agreed though and Holly said she was most definitely staying indoors. Walked up to Cart Gap and back, 300-400 Golden Plovers in various states of plumage now, two pairs of Stonechats at Eccles, 20+ Fieldfare in the paddocks still and a few odds and ends but nothing to get too excited about. Horrendous walk back in the driving snow. Andy had a good count of Purples in the morning. Found a lost terrier in the village and Holly entertained him for a few hours until we could contact the owners - lovely little dog apart from trying to piss on the floor.

March 25th

Clearing and sunnier today. Got sent for the shopping in Caister but stopped off at several spots on the way. Waxham produced another Black Redstart - my fourth on the patch this spring already - and a few Mipits and Skylarks and a few yarrellii wags. A couple of hundred Golden Plover and several large flocks of Starlings were wheeling around the coast today, including an absolutely huge one of several thousand birds near Poppyland. At one point I found myself right in the middle of them as they were bombing about me at head level and below, like something out of The Birds! The male Black Red at winterton was only a 20 yard detour off my route and what a stunner he is, showing off in the sunshine. Took the bike up to Cart Gap in the afternoon - pair of Stonechats, 20+ Fieldfare, a few yarrellii wags again, and more sizeable flocks of Starlings. Hopefully the improving weather will see some migrants moving tomorrow...

March 26th

A few hours of mooching around east Norfolk produced only a single Black Redstart, five pairs of Stonechat between Waxham and Horsey, a flyover Snow Bunting and some common dross such as 15 Mipits. The spring really got into action though with a white-spotted Bluethroat Luscinia svecica cyanecula (the 'central' european race as opposed to the much more regular Scandinavian red-spotted L.s.svecica) at Winterton this morning. After having not seen a birder all week in east Norfolk, several all appeared at once! Initially discovered early morning, I made it down there from Waxham in mega quick time, before the crowds descended but unfortunately the bird had gone to ground. Help was at hand though when John Furse turned up with an MP3 (Here's one). A couple of judicious plays and the bird appeared on a fence wire nearby allowing brief flight views showing the diagnostic tail pattern. It then returned to the thick gorse it had came from. By now Steve Gantlett had arrived with a lens that was nearly as big as himself and rattled off a few shots as the bird appeared in the ditch - they ought to be good so check the Cley site. The bird flew up a nearby ditch, started a minor panic as a few folks completely spannered it and a couple followed the bird up the adjacent ditch. However, the bird soon returned to its favourite ditch and then proceeded to put on a bit of a show for the patient few who had waited. One thing that struck me about the bird was how pale it appeared on the upperparts when it flew, almost a silvery grey hue at times. A wonderful sight, to see the bright white throaty spot framed in blue, black and orange, jutting out from the lush green grass. After some bumper years in the past, Bluethroats had become a little thin on the ground in recent times, hopefully this one will be the forerunner of a good spring for them... great day, spring is finally here!

Football training hard again tonight and before I sneak of for a rest with a crafty pint and to see the England game, here's some stuff on Bluethroat variation (the gist is that there are not even any 'proper' subspecies) here

Many thanks indeed to Bob Cobbold (left and centre) and Ollie Richings for the photos below - click for big!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Luscinias - don't you love 'em? One of my fave genera. Here's one I managed to get pretty close to at Lao Shan, Xining: Oh to find one of these in a 'private garden' in Sea aPalling.

 Click to big it up! Photo by Keith Blomerly.

March 28th

to follow

March 29th

After last night's beers in Sea Palling with Dave Showler and Simon Mustoe (my old birding mate, now resident of Australia) we made a remarkably early start...

during an almost full day in the field, top birds were Swallow, six gorgeous White Wagtails, two Black Redstarts, single Little Egret and two Buzzards. Also seen out east were Woodlark, Grey Wag and a Nordic Jackdaw etc. Details to follow

 

March 30th

busy day!

Eccles - 4 Black Reds, 2 Chiffs, 2 Wheatears, 2 House Martins, 2 Grey Wags, Song Thrush 7, Redwing 1

Sea Palling  - White Wagtail  9,  Corn Bunting 1

Waxham  - Purple Sandpiper, 3 Chiffchaffs

Walcott - Med Gull 2

Beeston Bump - Buzzard 1

Cley - Lap Bunting, Snow Bunting 4, Sandwich Terns 2, Firecrest (Whalsey Hills)

Kelling - Great Grey Shrike, Dartford Warbler 4, Redpoll

 

March 31st

Walk north of the village produced a Swallow heading north, good numbers of Wood Pigeons and Corvids moving etc and a couple of Siskin. White Wagtail in the paddocks. Later on I biked down to Winterton and was rewarded with a single Wheatear. Stocked up on punk recomended 'value' energy drink x 2 and consumed a whole pack of Haribo Fizzy Cherry Bottles. Spent the rest of the afternoon being dragged round Sainsbury's by the missus, feeling very sick. Andy recorded a couple of Firecrests later on and three Brambling, Tree Sparrow. 

April 1st

Showery with clear spells and a moderate southerly wind. Had a good search of the Eccles and Sea Palling areas turning up a single Firecrest, White Wagtail and an early Tree Pipit. The pipit was on a closely cropped lawn and showed well down to a few metres. Andy was nearby and we both enjoyed excellent close views of the bird as it made its furtive way across the lawn, bobbing its tail almost constantly. Good head streaking, bold malar, nice rich colours and fine lower flank streaks. It occasionally flew up and looked as if it was for the off only to come back to the same spot of turf again. Called twice and was otherwise silent when it flew. A lovely bird.

Other stuff included 200-300 Starlings heading south, five yarrellii wagtails, a couple of flocks (c.40 each) of Chaffinch, four Bullfinch, three Chiffchaffs, four Goldcrests etc. and smaller groups of Linnets, Greenfinches heading south. Also still a single Black Redstart and a Little Egret feeding in a ditch beyond the paddocks. Brambling on feeders on the Bush Estate.

April 2nd

After a long night in the bar last night post-football, wasn't really up for much this morning.

April 3rd

Very slow today, little moving at all. Wind seemed to be all over the place. Lapland Bunting found by Les up in Eccles but bar that and a reasonable amount of effort, very little else - just a Black Redstart in Sea Palling of note. Cetti's have been vocal in Sea Palling and eccles over last few days Met a chap who'd had a Firecrest at Waxham in the afternoon. Three Adders were basking very close to the track and reminded me to be careful where I put my feet now that spring is here. Was at least hoping for a flyover Red Kite or something this morning in the nice weather but not to be...

April 4th

Quite a pleasant morning, warmish and with a slight breeze. Not a lot moving but a few birds of note were seen. My first Willow Warbler of the year at Waxham although I only heard the bird. Single Swallow moved through north. Eight Mipits at Sea Palling, Cettis Warbler and Black Redstart at Eccles and Andy had a Firecrest between Sea Palling and Eccles plus House Martin and Brambling over. Two Firecrests reported from Waxham but we couldn't locate them mid-morning. Two more Adders in the dunes. A few Corvids were moving north and a few Linnets too.

April 6th

Spent an hour in the morning around the patch and then an hour at Hickling but the weather was not at all conducive to migrants and even worse for seabirds, so later on when a message about a Hawfinch came through I drove the very short distance on to Rollesby Broad where I met Andy. We'd spent half an hour or so searching for the Hawfinch when I spied a large pied bird soaring at a distance. Turned out to be a White Stork and it soared around for a few mins before drifting off south of the broad. Couldn't see any rings on it but given the location it has to go down as being from Thrigby. Nice to see though. 20+ Sand Martins over the broad.

April 7th

Back to work, and a good day for it. Woke to light snow so sacked off the search for a Red-rumped for a return to life sous-duvet. An after work sojourn in tempestuous squally weather produced a Black Redstart within the first five seconds of birding. Not bad! And a nice close-in Marsh Harrier over Hempstead. No sign of the Short-eared Owls from two days ago though. The weather looks set to improve though so I'll get out before and after work as much as possible this week...

April 8th

Early morning, cold but clear with frozen marram grass and sand. Gorgeous sunrise. Black Redstart and a Firecrest that had just come in-off the sea and was slowly making its way inland. Just amazing in the early morning light and a great start to any day. In the evening just a single Black Redstart and another Chiffchaff in the first bushes landward of the dunes. Four escaped Black Kites from London Zoo have hampered the chjances of a self-found good one in the next few days...

April 9th

A walk around Sea Palling before work revealed that the Black Redstart was still in the paddocks. A few Mipits moved through and a few small groups of Linnets too along with the odd corvid and Wood Pigeon. After work I popped into Hickling with the dog to try and locate the summer plumaged Slav that Andy had seen earlier in the day. Unfortunately it was on an inaccesible part of the broad. Three Cranes and a Garganey were reasonable compensation though and it was a pleasant walk in fairly warm evening sunshine.

April 10th

Black Redstart still present.

April 11th

A lovely morning again, crisp and cold but bright sunlight. Watching from near the 'hole' I picked up a Short-eared Owl coming in from the sea and slowly descending, finally making land on Hempstead Marshes before moving north up the coast a short while later. Great way to start the day!

Here's a shot of the Hawfinch that's been frequenting the Eel's Foot Pub garden and driveway. Nice bird, worth seeing! Thanks to

Bob Cobbold for the cracking pic. Click to see it in all its cherry-stone cracking glory...

.

 

April 12th

BLACK KITE(S)!

After a morning of not much at all in Sea Palling and Eccles, with a fairly strong westerly wind, I returned home to a message of a Black Kite nearby... Being a bird I hadn't seen in east Norfolk I shot off straight away. The bird was moving south but proving difficult to locate. I headed to Winterton where it was last reported circling over the village, having moved south from the original sighting at Horsey but after a few mins it became apparent that the bird was not there and in my opinion had continued on south. So rather than stand there like a lemon with the bird obviously somewhere else, I headed south towards Caister. The bird was again seen at Scratby just before I passed by there so I settled on Caister Second Avenue as a reasonable spot.

When I arrived there I only found Barry Bradnum looking. After a few mins I picked up a very distant silhouette that rang alarm bells straight away, and when the bird banked I was sure I caught a glimpse of paler upperwing coverts. Given the flight manner it had to be a kite and Barry agreed so we headed off to get our scopes and called the bird in to RBA. We both enjoyed scope views of the bird as it moved slowly south at distance. The tail shape with its sharp corners and shallow fork was obvious and upperwing coverts were clearly seen, along with the typical twisting flight and arched wing attitude confirmed the identity. The tail was brown above, almost concolourous with the uppers while the underparts were dark brown but with a subtle rusty hue, seen better when the bird was closer. The bird then flew out of sight and we thought that was our lot. However, I managed to pick the bird up again, much closer and it slowly moved west, towards us on the coast. It hit the coastline about 300 yards north and then caught the updraught and slowly began to move south. It looked as if we were going to be in for a real treat as the bird approached our vantage point, and indeed we were. The Black Kite passed right by us, at times only 50-100 yards or so away and just above head height allowing views I could only have dreamed of.  

What a great, tense, exciting and ultimately rewarding experience. I never imagined seeing a Black Kite in the U.K. at such close range. It was absolutely breathtaking and a shame that there were only three people there to enjoy it. It was a textbook Black Kite and appeared to be an adult, apart from having a few obvious flecks/blobs of white in the lower back, a narrow but distinct crescentic white area at the base of the tail, and some paler flecking on the greater underwing coverts (signs of immaturity?). No rings were visible but it wasn't really practicable to see them properly if they were. It also appeared to have a slightly dark eye-surround but I couldn't be totally sure it wasn't shadow. Later arriving birders who had been to look at sites where the bird was previously reported were sadly disappointed. Sometimes it pays to take a chance.  

It seems that two birds were involved with two birds seen over Winterton, an an individual seen over Breydon Water at the same time as another individual was in Scratby and Caister. A Red Kite was also seen in the Yarmouth area this morning. Black Redstart and Firecrest at Eccles. Here's a link to a pic of one of the kites as it flew over Winterton - note the wings swept back at the carpal joint in typical fashion and the sharply-cornered tail. Nice bottle of Rioja in the evening to celebrate!

April 13th

But of a quiet day today after all that kite chasing but three Sand Martins (Waxham) and two Swallows (Sea Palling) were noted and four pairs of Stonechats around the pipe dump area including one continental-looking male with a good collar and prominent whitish rump area, along with a strongly rufous upper breast and white lower breast. Several of the Stonechats you might encounter on this stretch of the coast are quite intriguing though. Spent a good half hour watching a male Marsh hunting alongside my car in Horsey as I listenend to the football - it's been a great weekend for excellent views of raptors if not for football with Arsenal losing again despite playing some untouchable football at times. White Wagtail in Sea Palling in the evening.

April 14th

north-westerlies still with patchy cloud. Took an early walk around Sea Palling; one very smart White Wagtail parading around on the grass and one Yellow Wagtail went over calling away - my first of the year. Two Mergansers past north were notable, it having been a pretty useless year for them so far. A few attractive Marsh Harriers from the car on the way home and after work, following an impressive downpour, a brief jaunt around Waxham on foot produced my first Grasshopper Warbler of the year, and rather better, a Tree Pipit in full breeding finery on the short turf. Flushed, called and flew up into trees, bit of a bugger to watch at times as it kept getting up, circling around me and setting down in tall bushes or juncus. Nice and bright with weak flank streaking, prominent super, brownish mantle, lovely peachy flush to the upper breast, bright pink legs and very pale/white lower underparts.. It also once gave a fiiiss...chuup' call, as it got some grief off a pair of Meadow Pipits.

April 15th

First Ring Ouzels of the spring this morning with two in Eccles / Sea Palling area. Got a text about one a few minutes before I lifted my bins onto a fine silver-winged male. Swallow over and Yellow Wagtail, Curlew  north. Andy had a Spoonbill on Swim Coots in the afternoon.

April 17th

A cloudy and chilly early morning produced very little. Popped into the Eel's Foot for some Hawfinch action on the way home. Eventually enjoyed first rate views of the bird in the afternoon sunshine. It's looking in first-class condition. Walked down to the pipe dump later on and had a couple of Rouzels around the general area, a Whimbrel over and a couple of Whitethroats (first of the year). Met John Hampshire at Horsey; he counted 342 seals on the beach. Not bad!

April 18th

Still easterly and quite blowy today.Two Cranes at Horsey on the way home from work, also Swallow. After work, two Common Terns in-off and a couple of Ring Ouzels in the dunes at Waxham and a few Gannets south testimony to the quite strong winds.

April 19th

Long hours today but it seemed just too windy and rather cold. Still easterly but nothing seems to have happened yet... Two more Ring Ouzels at Waxham, two Whimbrels over and a Tree Pipit. White Wagtail near Sea Palling. The Spoonbill was still at Hickling around 1:00 pm but not since and the two Cranes were still in the Horsey area and very close to a road today.

April 20th

"BLACK LARK WINTERTON NORTH"

The kind of text message (thanks Andy!) that engenders a sense of crazed urgency, a disregard of any other matters and a blind panic imbued with nervous excitement. Or so I thought. The bird hadn't been put on the pager system yet, so I called a few mates including Dave, Alex, Bob, James and Craig Robson.  When I pulled in at Winterton, I found only four cars. On scanning the north dunes, no birders! Mmm.... I knew I would be one of the first on the scene but this had me wondering what was going on. A pager report just then of 'wholly unconfirmed' would have really made my heart sink had I not already known it was a gen sighting. It would, however, mean that the pager crowds wouldn't be on scene for a fair while yet. I started jogging north with the dog and spied two birders a little way in front. I quickly caught them up and ascertained that the bird was further north still. A few hundred yards jog later, just as I was feeling extremely knackered and faint, I crested a hill and found a handful of the East Norfolk Mafia watching the bird, including Sean, the finder of the bird, who I now owe at least two beers. Game on.

see Rob's video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uniwGJxV990 and a pic on the collective site  http://www.birdwatch.plus.com/ 

The bird was soon located but amazingly flighty, often moving large distances over the dune system.  We enjoyed views at medium distance for several minutes when the bird opted to fly towards us and passed by closely, calling as it went. Black Larks are one of those birds that are so special that words don't really do them justice. I went all the way to Wales for the first British record thinking a repeat was unlikely... one turning up ten minutes down the road was the stuff of dreams. Simply a stunning bird, the flight action, the jet blackness of the plumage, the overall jizz, the oft-uttered call, those pale fringes, the size of the thing...  and not least the location which in the late afternoon sun and clear skies looked like something from Kazakhstan or Tibet, all added up to an unforgetable afternoon. Don't take my word for it, look at the pictures. I'm sure there will be several. What they can't capture, however, is the magic feeling of a Black Lark heading towards you and flying past only yards away, chirruping its head off. (It even sang at times). The next thirty minutes were spent enjoying the bird and getting friends to the right spot. Although the bird was 'flighty', I wouldn't have said it was 'flushing' at all, as Black Larks are quite a 'tame' species as a rule.The bird was presumably looking for somewhere decent to feed and not finding much - hence it kept moving quite large distances.  I wonder whether it will stay given this possibility or move on in search of better feeding? 

By now, birders from other parts of Norfolk were beginning to appear and a crowd was developing. Thanks to the local network, I had managed to enjoy some excellent views in relative peace before the official message went out. After that I just relaxed, had a chat to a few friends, did an 'interview' or two and enjoyed the day. There are a couple of amusing stories from the afternoon but they'll have to wait. Other birds I saw today included five Rouzels, four Whimbrels and a Barwit (Waxham), an Osprey and a Spoonbill (Rush Hill). Several Swallows, two Chiffs (including a bird that only had a greeny tint on its rump and was otherwise rather pale), and 80 Bar-tailed Godwits (Rush Hill) were also seen. Another flock of c.100 Barwits passed thru before i arrived 

 

Thanks to Peter Simpson for the pic. Peter has a site with lots of excellent Norfolk bird pics here: http://www.blueskybirds.co.uk/

But Black Lark! I love it out here. 

April 21st

Black Lark hangover. Top marks to my colleague Terry, who was down their early and refound the bird. However, the prediction was correct - no sign of the lark after around 7 o'clock. Oh dear. The Winterton boys have their peace and quiet back sooner than some hoped. Just a million dogs, moto-cross and lost Yarkos to contend with now then... Subalp, and a bit of scarce did turn up though in the form of Wryneck and Hoopoe but a desparate day for many. Ha ha ha. It surely goes to show just how underwatched parts of the coast are. So all you lazy tossers sitting by your pagers, get off your arses and get looking. We would all benefit. With the continuing weather, post-twatch talk yesterday was of White-winged Lark or, dare we even think of it, a Syrrhaptes paradoxus (or seven). Keep the phone on and keep it close.... and look out for sand-coloured birds rolling over the dune tops...

Even saw a birder at Waxham this evening. Also a single Rouzel and a single Whimbrel south among other dross not worthy of a mention at the moment. But it's not about numbers or scarce at the moment or even rare - it's those once in a lifetime, hushed tones sorts of things...

And it's the NUT strike day on Thursday... couldn't have planned it better.

April 22nd

3 White Wagtails in the late evening in fields at Waxham. 130+ Linnets.

April 23rd

Early morning produced Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Siskins, Brambling and lots of corvids and Wood Pigeons over. Warblers were obviously moving in, in good numbers and lots of Willows were seen. Good numbers of birds were recorded from Waxham before I arrived with passage tailing off around 7:00. Missed everything later on due to school commitments but a Nightingale was near Lokeside and a Common Redstart was showing off in the paddocks...

April 24th

Strike! Everyone Out!

Made the most of the morning with an early start. Bright and sunny but with a slight chill in the air, some mist and a light southerly breeze. Fairly quiet to begin with - only a couple of Yellow Wags over. Things soon livened up with 6 Curlew and a single Whimbrel. Corvids were moving north in good numbers as were Wood Pigeons. A harrier appeared, revealing itself to be a ringtail Hen and gave excellent views as it flew over us and headed out to sea. It was later seen just a few miles up the coast. A Ring Ouzel was on the lawn by Sea Breeze and shortly after, at around 7:20, having had a tip off from further north I picked up a raptor heading towards us fairly low. As it approached on flat wings, slightly dipped after the carpal bend, it became clear it was a 'Black' Kite. It flew past us at 50m or so and still quite low. The white primary patch on the bird was very bright and akin to that seen on a Red Kite. Indeed we thought it was a Red as it approached as even head on the white opatches on the underwing were very obvious. The tails was a pale cinnamony colour and several tail bars could be seen. The rest of the bird, however, was fairly standard, albeit rather rufous below. It seems, then, that this was a lineatus Black Kite or if you like, a Black-eared Kite. A bit of a surprise! This bird was also seen by another observer and followed by car south to Winterton, where I hear it was photographed? It turned around here and started to head back north.

Moved on and just after two Fulmars came past (inland!) Andy received a call giving us a heads-up on a Hooded Crow at 7:40 heading south down the coastline. This would be a great patch bird and a very good Norfolk bird to boot. We headed up to the dunes and waited. After 10 minutes or so I picked up a likely looking corvid south of Happisburgh lighthouse - the pale areas of plumage just showing in the sun. The bird kept coming and eventually passed almost overhead. A fantastic sight and very pleasing and definitely not a hybrid!. Another Whimbrel, another Tree Pipit and a few Siskins moved north. After a Black Redstart and a coffee break atop the dunes we headed back to the paddocks where a bright female Yellow Wagtail had pitched in and the stonking male Common Redstart had gone back to his favourite patch. Back home for more coffee...

Later on, ten Whimbrels and a Barwit were south of the village along with an Ouzel and another Black Kite

A few hours later a Black Kite was found at Waxham and this was probabvly the bird which moved up to Sea Palling and frequented the dunes for 45 mins or so before moving to Hickling Lane. This bird appeared to be a standard Black Kite, the white primary patches being inconspicous etc. It was however reported as a 'Black or Black-eared' which led to a lot of confusion, especially among people who only read pager messages instead of / or before, going out to look at birds. This bird moved off south and was seen moving through Waxham and down to Horsey. At this point we recieved another call to inform us that the Black-eared Kite was back up around the Bacton area. We headed off and connected with the bird at the Lighthouse inn and then again at the Water Tower and watched it pick up a lot of height and head towards the coast. This bird was seen very well as it passed overhead, showing a rather pale head (apparent at distance and at odds with a typical adult lineatus?) with the dark mark backwards though the eye, the pale-looking tail with several bars noticed, dark line across the underwing covs and it looked superficially like a Red Kite. The tail in particular was perplexing at first as it was so pale. This was the same bird that moved south from Bacton thru Sea Palling and on, this morning. Around this time, another kite (different to the individual that headed south earlier) was seen around Sea Palling and thought to be a standard Black. It may be that three birds were seen and this was the opinion of a couple of respected observers, although I'm not sure. I have also heard that two or three well-known birders are of the opinion that they have observed a Black-eared on the north Norfolk coast recently. Interesting stuff. In between all this I ran into another Short-eared Owl at Sea Palling and Josh had a Whinchat at Waxham.

A cracking day with the local mafia, full of fun and laughs and wonderful birding and people watching. All on a 'work' day, ha ha ha!Pity all the kites are escapes. And if you want to see a Whimbrel or Ouzel etc, don't ask, just go and look for one. It's easy.

bird of the day? The Hooded Crow of course. Fantastic!

April 25th

to follow

April 26th

Fantastic Day again... details later but roughly:

Black Kite, Black-eared Kite, 45 Whimbrel, 3 Ring Ouzel, 6 Wheatear, Hobby, Blue-headed Wagtail, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 12 Cranes 2 Swift and finished off with a Hoopoe. Ilya just beat me to the shout of Hoopoe! as it flashed across in front of us. We then had it perched up at close range for a short while. It was unfortunately on private land. I knew the landowner and despite us having a word with him he was adamant that we didn't release news, although he was happy for a very few people to enter his property. A cracking bird and one more for the self-found list! Also around were three Red Kites, Buzzard, Spoonbill, and a Wryneck at the pipe dump

April 27th

Another excellent day today. Warm and sunny for the most part, with a southerly breeze. Full details as soon as possible but after a few beers and some serious pool the previous evening, three of us found ourselves at Waxham - the area produced Two Med Gulls over (ad and second-summer), Hobby, Merlin, Tree Pipit, Whimbrel, several Yellow Wags. No sign of the Hoopoe this morning though. Moved back to Sea Palling and had five 'Blue-headed Wagtails, including one Channel-type, five Wheatears, two Ring Ouzels and a ringtail Hen Harrier. Back home for breakfast then Sea Palling again. More Yellow Wagtails, more Whimbrels (flock of 12 still present), three Cranes and then a phone call alerted us to the presence of a Rough-legged Buzzard nearby. We only managed views of a very distant buzzard species though - certainly the bird that was being watched but just too far to identify it. Two Cuckoos and numerous Lesser Whitethroats and a late afternoon drive after a few Dotterel reaped no rewards other than three Cranes, two White Wagtails and a single flavissima. A final bike ride around the paddocks late on showed that all the flava wags and the chumps had gone and just four flavissima were left.

Wagtail photos (top two Channel-type flavissima x flava bird, below right flavissima and below left a flava with slightly dark ear-coverts - superfically like an iberiae-type but the super and throat are at odds) Click for the full effect. Thanks to Bob Cobbold for remembering his camera. Black Larks look even better if you remember your bins too Bob...!

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 28th

Red-rumped Swallow reported yesterday at 1:30 Waxham. Great. Buy a mobile phone. I have also been told that at the time the Black Kite was reported over Horsey, again a day late, a friend of mine was watching a Marsh Harrier there. Still, who knows.

Plenty of Whimbrels around today (max of nine south of the village plus several singles, pairs and small numbers), and several Ring Ouzels, including three at Waxham this evening. Serin reported briefly at the pipe-dump (11 o'clock) but not since. Nice views of Cuckoo and four Whimbrels in the rough fields at Sea Palling in the evening. Earlier on in the morning, three SEOs at Horsey and a Montagu's Harrier past there also. Yellow Wags still passing in small numbers and Swallows now present in numbers but House Martins still releatively scarce

April 29th

Nine Whimbrel south of the village and two Wheatears in the north paddocks this morning and a White Wagtail at Waxham with 10+ Pied Wagtails.

April 30th

early morning produced four Yellow Wagtails in a short visit to the paddocks and three Whimbrel were still south of the village on the way home tonight.

 

 

May 1st

April showers still this evening. Hobby on the way home from work on the Horsey straight. Rush Hill scrape after work only had another Hobby, a couple of Avocet, single Kingfisher and a first-summer Little Gull. A heron species flying very high over the broad failed to reveal enough detail to identify it. 12 Deer in a roadside field at Ingham were a real suprise

May 3rd

Southerly winds and mild. A Stone Curlew was reported in crop fields a few miles away, calling, but it never revealed itself. A check in the evening failed to turn it up either. Aside from the usual Barn Owls, Couple of Tree Pipits, Redpoll, Siskin, a Ring Ouzel early morning, a Blue-headed Wagtail and a Whinchat in the paddocks there was very little to write home about all day. Golden Oriole seen south through Winterton.

May 4th

Southerly winds but overcast at first with a small amount of rain, clearing by mid-morning. Up and out at 5.00 am. Wheatear in the paddocks and two Yellow Wags. A disappointing morning given the conditions. Biked up to Happisburgh and had a look at the Sand Martin Colony. After a breakfast back at home I had a look in the ploughed fields south of the village where Steve H. was watching Swallows moving south. Two Blue-headed Wags were in the fields currently being ploughed (a male and a female) along with a couple of Yellow Wags, single White Wagtail and a few Pied. Swallows were fair hurtling through in almost three digit numbers per 15 minutes but we never did get that Red-rumped - next time Steve!. A check of the north paddocks turned up only more Yellow Wags. By late afternoon there was only a single Blue-headed remaining but the Yellow count had risen to five. A Short-eared Owl patrolled the rough sedge and pasture behind the paddocks and three Whimbrels were in the field. Two Brent Geese were late moving north and a couple of Cuckoos were seen. Finished off with a visit to Hickling - A fine drake Garganey paraded himself on Rush Hill. Also there were a single Little Tern, Spotshank, Common Sand, Kingfisher, Greenshank and two first-summer Little Gulls. Reed and Sedge were singing about 10 metres apart allowing comparison of their vocalisations. Hunney Buzz was reported over but no further details and an Osprey spent the afternoon at a site a few miles away.

Have a look HERE for Tim Hemmings' pix of the Black-eared Kite that's was about recently. Also shows a Red Kite for a good comparison and there are some comments from Mr Grieve.

May 5th

Firstly, cast your eyes on Bob's shot of the Osprey that spent yesterday at East Ruston. Bit of a cracker!

 

Click for full size

 

 

Hot and calm today, only a slight easterly / south-easterly. Started off on foot with the dog in Sea Palling - seven Whimbrels and a Short-eared Owl. Met Dave B. at Waxham and grilled lots of Swallows steadily moving south, something like 100 per hour with the odd few House Martins but hardly and Sand today. A walk down to the pipe dump produced two Grey Partridges and a single photogenic Ring Ouzel but very little else bar a bugling Crane and a fat Greenland Wheatear. Picked up Holly and cut my losses with a Ploughman's at Waxham cafe and after a call from the upper echelons of Punkdom bemoaning the state of the north coast and the chump takeover of the point, I decided to head up to try some quieter part of the north coast.  Kelling Hard was lovely but only gave up another Greenland Wheatear and a Chieftan Tank that sounded like it was in dire need of some oil. Ended up at Stiffkey. The fen held three Black Terns and about 15 Blackwits etc. Was on my way out when two small waders flushed with a snipe and flew past quite closely. The trilling gave them away as Temminck's Stints. Can't count them as Steve told me as I arrived that there were some 'somewhere'! Back to east Norfolk via Cley Deli (Garlic Olives, Ginger Cake and Baklava easily the highlight of the day so far).

Hickling Broad was looking pretty gorgeous in the late eveing light but birds were again thin on the ground - two first-summer Little Gulls, Hobby and a Greenshank of note. Finshed of the day with Punk Rob and Ilya, listening to the sounds of a Spotted Crake and watching an erratic satellite go overhead. 'Geostationary or Low Polar?' being the only identification problem of the day. Pleasant but ultimately disappointing - where were all the rares?

May 7th

And on the seventh day a Subalpine Warbler flew in to Sea Palling!

The Mediterranean marvel was first seen by Andy around the paddocks at about 5:45. It showed very well at times, often at close range, but also skulked, as they do, at others. A first-summer male by the looks of it, the wings being quite brownish. The reddish colouration on the throat and upper breast cutting off from the grey/pale breast and the fairly good white submoustachial stripe point to albistriata but the call, given constantly at times, was more the 'tek' of a cantillans... rather than the disyllabic tret of Eastern, hence the bird is a western cantillans, the call being diagnostic. Sang once and sat up regularly in the tops of brambles right next to the road. Only two minutes from home and a wonderful bird for a couple of dedicated patchers to enjoy in total early morning peace. Siskin and a probable Tree Pipit (call was slightly odd - but not in a Red-throated Pipit way though!) over calling.

 

Click to enlarge. Note the admixed brown feathers on the mantle and the worn and brown juvenile flight feathers. The suffusion on the breast is rather restricted and weak. Well done Bob for getting the shot of a tricky bird. 

 

 

 

Plumage-wise, it's quite similar to an albistriata but the upperparts tone is a shade bluer and a shade less grey while the submoustachial is not prominent enough (it appears more prominent on one side than the other). There is a very weak pinky-orange suffusion to the breast-sides. The iris was orange and the eye-ring was an orangey-red. Watched it again with Josh this evening, and a small group of birders, and enjoyed some good views again but not often as close as first thing this morning. An absolutely splendid bird. Also present were White Wag, two Whinchats, two Yellow Wags and two hefty Greenland-looking Wheatears. Finished of with a celebratory pint with Josh in the Reefs Bar.

May 8th

Bit tired at the moment so not out until 6:30 this morning. The Subalpine had moved on but a male Blue-headed Wagtail was feeding in the paddocks. Basically had a day off birding today.

Football tomorrow and a long weekend of looking for Red-footed Falcons etc meant conserving some energy was probably a good idea. The anticyclone over Europe has been there a fair old while now and the winds are still south-easterly. Holland is heaving with good birds. Surely something will happen this weekend, so stay off the beer Friday night, get some sleep and get out there.

Click the chart to see the detail

 

 

 

 

May 9th

Evening walk around Sea Palling and Waxham turned up a few Whimbrels, Groppers, Yellow Wag, Lesser Throats but nothing special.

May 10th

Lots of walking but little to show for it. Very hot too. I do note though that two Bee-eaters were at Horsey at 3.30. The message made the pagers at 10:23 pm. If these birds were rang in at the time of the sighting then I'll wager several people might have been able to see what is still a very difficult bird to connect with. Seven Red Deer a

May 11th

Still very warm and calm. Horsey early morning saw 7-8 Wheatears, most seemed to be chunky Greenland birds. Six Cranes over and a Hobby. A few corvids and pigeons south. Missed the Grey-headed Wags by twenty minutes. Plenty of Groppers and Lesser Throats around. Linnet numbers around Palling and Waxham have dropped markedly of late. Two Sparrowhawks Sea Palling - male and female.

May 12th

Still warm and calm. Before work in Sea Palling and after work at Waxham were both uneventful bar the regulars. Little Terns at Eccles becoming conspicuous.

May 13th

The long hot spell has finally ended with overcast skies this morning and winds now from a north-easterly direction. Only Little Terns and a Siskin over this morning of note. A walk around Waxham and Horsey and Hickling saw very little - only Bearded Tit, Sparrowhawk, Reed and Sedge, two Green Woodpeckers and a few Marsh Harriers.

May 14th

Biked down to Winterton through the dunes this evening. Nine Wheatears at Horsey, mostly Greenland I think. Two Whimbrels in a roadside field with three Barwits and a single flavissima wag at Waxham.

May 15th

May 16th

Double training precluded any birding this evening. Three header hat-trick worth a mention though.  Famous footballing pop stars No 1: Johnny Marr - as handy in the six yard box as he was with his telecaster or Les Paul: too cool by half

May 17th

North / north-easterlies and a bit of drizzle early on. Single Turtle Dove on the deck at Waxham, single Wheatear and seven Cranes. Very slow at the moment and the fact that there only seems to be two of us birding a large stretch of coast makes it likely that things are being missed. Some of the people who turn up within 30 mins of a decent bird going on the pager might like to try their hand at finding something? And some of those who keep seeing Red-throated Pipits, Subalps and Bee-eaters (another late record from Holkham today) on the north coast, might like to put them on the info services within a reasonable amount of time so that birders nearby could confirm the sightings... Given the winds I might hit the north tomorrow. Something's got to give... maybe this will be the day 

May 18th

Headed up north as planned. Houmous and Carrot cake from the deli to break up the journey. Decided to start at Burnham Overy Dunes thinking it would be quiet. Just ten minutes before I get to the parking spot a Hoopoe is reported. Oh dear, there goes my quiet wanderings and 'hello chump city' or so I thought. Headed out to the dunes and almost the first bird I saw was a distant stocky egret with short-looking legs. The first thing I thought of was to get a good look at the back to see if it was a Squacco but no go. The the penny dropped. It was the Cattle Egret that had been around Burnham Norton the day before. Ploughed on and met Steve in the dunes. After a brief bite to eat we set off to scour the entire dune system while Ilya was twatting about trying to borrow some steps off his neighbour so he could get his keys from out of his house. A distant Buzzard and a close up Red-breasted Merganser held faint hope of something better. With an ear ever ready for a flyover Ripit or Bee-eater we bashed the bushes. A total of 7-8 Wheatears, couple of Whimbrel and not a lot else. Swallows were moving west in dribs and drabs and Swifts were now in good number. Steve flushed a Ring Ouzel that immediately went to ground and didn't show again. Steve had to leave early to mow the grass for his new missus or something but on his way he refound the Hoopoe and kindly gave us a bell. Managed a few brief views of the very flighty bird (also Whinchat and Whimbrel) and it eventually settled a little but proved very elusive. This wasn't helped by several muppets who went over the fence and into the field desparate for a view. Put a message out asking people not to go over the fence but no-one took any notice. Tried the verbals and it seemed to work but the bird wasn't seen again. Moved on and met a really nice Scottish chap. After several minutes gabbing we chanced upon a Spoonbill opposite. A pleasant surprise. It was now getting a little late so we made steady tracks back to the car, via a few Blackwits, and home for kebab, lager and carrot cake. Mmmm-Mmmm.

May 19-25th will be written up ASAP incl Blue Fulmars, Red-foot etc.

May 26th

early morning seawatching in strong north-easterlies produced c 110 Gannets per hour, 50+ Fulmar per hour (mostly south-east) including one fantastic blue-phase bird that performed in front of me for a few minutes at reasonably close range - first picked up on its darkish head lacking contrast with the upperparts as is often so apparent in a light-phase bird. Watched a few minutes in different angles of sunshine, heading both north and south, enabling me to get a proper feel for these birds. The underwings were darkish, more so on the underwing coverts but still noticabley 'smoky' on the rest of the underwing surface and lacking the high contrast between the white underhand and dark primary tips that is usually apparent on a light-phase bird. The belly was pale and blended into the grey-blue head and tail. This wasn't a double-blue individual but certainly a good single and at the dark end of things too. Dark-phase Arctic north and a few Sandwich and Common Terns. Two Purple Sands still. No Arctic Terns or Manxies for me today but Andy scored with a Puffin around 10:00 a.m.

May 27th

The wind had abated slightly this morning but visibility on the coast was limited and seawatching was a no-go. Left it until later when it had calmed down a bit to venture out. Still an easterly wind but now overcast and looking pretty good for migrants. A walk down to Waxham was uneventful aside from two Spotted Flycatchers but just north of the pipe dump I came across a field with an amazing 18+ Wheatears in it. Several Mipits too but nothing more interesting. Headed back for some tea and stuff stasrted appearing on the north coast and it was looking excellent here too, so I had another bash around the village and north. Met Andy and we rounded the corner by the conifers only to be overflown by two male Common Crossbills - a patch tick for me. They alighted in a nearby conifer top and we had a minute or two's view of them before the moved back a bit into the main body of trees, looking as if they were going to roost there tonight. Another Spotted Fly hinted at what could be a good day tomorrow - fingers crossed!.

May 28th

Fingers crossed indeed - Icterine Warbler on the patch!. Started off nice and early after last night's impressive display of lightning had kept me awake. A Redstart on the the way up to Eccles was small beer but a young Common Crane on Hempstead was encouraging and Andy had five Common Crossbills in the pines, probably all in last night. Wandering through a particularly well-vegetated section of our patch I heard a strange song that I just couldn't put my finger on - seemed like several species of warbler all rolled into one. A sudden blast of obvious Nightingale mimicry livened my ears up and faced with a Marsh or highly mimetic Reed I called Andy over. We had very poor views of the bird over the next 20 mins and couldn't get past 'unstreaked Acro'. Although the bird was giving a very varied song with lots of whirrs and mimicry and not going into typical Reed (no jag-jag etc), at no point did the bird give any obvious Bee-eater or Hoopoe calls etc so we eventually left it as a very mimetic Reed. A similar bird was recorded at the same time a few miles north at Bacton giving a very similar song, including obvious Nightingale, hinting at a common origin? This bird could very easily be taken for a Marsh Warbler and I wonder how many of the Marsh Warblers on the east coast yesterday were heard giving a full Marsh repertoire including African stuff like Hoopoe and Bee-eater? The bird at Eccles did, however, sound ten times more like a Marsh than this bird which generated a lot of enthusiasm http://media.putfile.com/Marsh-Warbler-Frodsham-May-2006. Here's a typical Marsh http://www.istra.hr/.app/download.php?file=acrocephalus_palustris.mp3

During the time we were listening to the Reed Warbler, another warbler started up ony 30 feet or so away. Again intrigued by this, Andy suggested an Icterine this time... could be.... after a few minutes a stonking Icterine perched up in front of us for about 15-20 seconds. Huge bill with orange lower mandible, all yellow below, chunky blue-grey legs and a very impressive wing panel. A couple of other locals arrived and after 30 mins or so the bird appeared to move off.   Extremely pleased to get such a cracking individual on the patch. This is why patch birding out here is such a fantastic way to pass your time. Another Redstart on the way home and then a rather poncy continental breakfast to celebrate. Link to the Icterine in Suffolk (2004?) http://www.soundsnap.com/audio/mp3/4163/icterine+warbler+song%2C+suffolk+310504.mp3

Spent the rest of the day with Alex Lees harrassing migrants on the east coast. Total of five Redstarts, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellow and Grey Wags and about a dozen Wheatears. 

May 29th

Tawny Pipit? That'll do nicely sir!

 

 

See below for a proper pic!

 

 

 

 

A pretty unproductive early morning with just a Yellow Wagtail in the paddocks. Strolled down to Waxham around lunchtime - five Wheatears in freshly cut fields still and about 40 Starlings. Two Marsh Harriers blogging around. Just as I rounded a corner I flushed a large pipit sp. Immediately suspected Tawny... the bird flew a short distance and alighted allowing me to comfirm my instincts of Tawny Pipit. Over the next couple of hours the bird hung around the pipe dump area showing well, albeit being slightly skittish at times. Called several times, most frequently giving a softish 'chlup' or 'chleeup' type of thing. When seen in good sunlight it was very pale below and hardly marked at all on the breast save for a milky coffee suffusion on the upper breast sides. The upperparts were a lightly marked light brownish. The remiges were dark brown, edged paler brown and the greater and median covert edgings formed two thin wingbars. It also had a short dark sub-ocular mark and very thin moustachial stripe. The dark lores and an eye that really stood out against the pale face, obvious pale super combined with pinky legs and creamy outer tail feathers all added up to a very pleasing slightly pot-bellied, tail-bobbing sight as it strolled around on the short turf.   The photos are with a phone and hand held to a Nikon ED50. This may have been the bird first seen briefly by Rob a full week previously over on the camp site? I called a couple of local birders and relocated the bird a little later on with Andy. We enjoyed a nice if damp hour watching the bird. Another one on to the self-found list!

Bob C managed to get some amazing shots of the bird including one frame-filler with the bird's wing outstretched showing the entire dark median covert bar. Will upload them later on today...

May 30th/31st

Spent an hour or two early doors enjoying the Tawny Pipit with David N and Bob C. Nice to see a couple of chaps not so bone idle as to 'wait on news' (see 'things wankers say' No. 4) Rod had a word with the farm manager about a few birders being around the dump and hopefully it smoothed things over and peolple didn't go a-wandering everywhere. Spent the afternoon with a few other observers (NOT near Sea Palling or Eccles!) trying to nail a probable Marsh Warbler. We're going back a little later on this evening but it sounds promising so far. Watch this space... Red Kite over while we were waiting...

Some Tawny Porn for you... click to make it bigger... courtesy Bob Cobbold

  

It was all too much excitement for some though....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The confusing acro continued to confuse and opinion remains divided. Certainly odd but a few of us didn't hear enough mimicry etc. It may not have been 'full-on' song but even so it was very chirry and whirry and babbly at times. We did hear Chaffinch, Goldfinch and a little Swallow but not a lot else in a long time of listening this afternoon and evening although there may have been something like African Sedge Warbler in there. Certainly nothing like a typical Reed though. It was mimicing a lot this morning with several species quoted but you can only go on what you experience and we never heard those species whilst we were there. It was commented on that it sounds like a bird that doesn't know how to sing yet (maybe a 2nd cy?) but apparently first-winter Marsh are excellent mimics on their African wintering grounds. Response to a Marsh tape this evening was poor. A photo has been taken showing the wing formula nicely. This appears to show primaries that are not particularly well-spaced, but eight tips are visible and the wing looks long. The primaries are pale-tipped (after checking a few pics these do seem quite 'bright' cf scirpaceus). Exceptionally difficult birds as far as I'm concerned. I wonder how many east coast Marsh Warblers were properly identified, not just a snatch of song or a brief view etc? I wonder about the bird at Eccles doing Nightingale impressions... it similarly never got going and wasn't convincing during the short time it was present...

No emarginations can be seen clearly on the pic but it may be that the length of P2 in relation to the other primaries can be seen. On 84% of Marsh it is level to or longer than p4... might help... I've added straight lines in to help you see the feather tips and the arrangement of the tips. Hope I've managed it accurately enough. Very difficult to see if the end of P2 appears to be shorter than P4? Try sliding the edge of a piece of paper up the folded wing as this makes it much clearer to see. Check the juv. Marsh on the Punkbirder link below these pics to the see length of P2 on a Marsh. (long eh?!)

 

 

Click to enlarge the pic.

Cheers Bob.

 

 

 

Spent the afternoon in a local private wood and then on Hickling Broad. Had a trip out on  the boat, kind courtesy of Andy, and a look at Swim Coots for the first time and Rush Hills from a different angle. Two Whimbrels over, Greenshank, four Sanderling and several Ringos and Dunlin. Osprey was present earlier on. A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Little Ringed Plover over Eccles calling in the morning.

June 1st

Well, at long last after several hours of waiting the bird has finally got its arse into gear and this morning it filled the still quiet early morning air with typical Marsh Warbler song! Well worth the perseverance. Quite a pallid bird, it sang for nearly and hour and a half non-stop with a lot of mimicry and was showing as it clambered about in a willow. The wing-point looks very long and the gape interior was seen by a friend to be orange surrounded with yellow. The contrasty tertials can just be seen in the above pic. The bird also does a fantastic impression of a Buzzard! An enjoyable bird if a bit of a pain in the arse at times. Felt quite rough this morning - thanks to Mick for a kindly cup of tea that perked me up! Before I'd finished it we got wind of the Trumpeter Finch and Mick was off like a flash - quicker than my greyhound moves these days...

Acro heaven or hell here: http://www.freewebs.com/punkbirder/acroholics.htm 

I spent a bit of time in our local bar last night chatting to the manager of the farm where the pipe dump is. He said most people behaved fine but a few people did walk up the track to the farm to follow the bird when it went behind the dump, despite explicit instructions to keep to public rights of way. And the farm manager was rather irate, apparently. Should be fun next time I see him down the bar. Thanks to those people that complied with the request. As for the others, well...  Johnny Cash said it best here

After Mick's hasty exit I hastened home with the dog (he won't walk on shingle all that way!) and had a meal and some tea to beat the hangover. Made it out to the point in decent time setting the pace for Mr Evans a few yards behind... A horrific and gruelling slog all the worse with an injured toe. Fortunately the bird was behaving and I joined the 'twatty throng' (copyright Dave Farrow) to view the bird. Coincidently it was Faz who was stood next to me and he kindly let me have a gander through his scope at the Trumpeter Finch. Pretty duff really as the bird was so far away but at least the bill and rump shone out a little. I know there were ground nesting birds in the vicinity but it would have been possible to view from a much more advantageous position and not cause any disturbance. Still, I guess they have to cater for all birders and it was probably the safest way to do it. Most useless directions of the day goes to the chump who said 'It's on top of the pebbles' - er yeah, that'll be some of the 6 X 1000000000 pebbles in view. Or 'next to the pink flowers' - yeah that'll be one of the six million thrift plants in front of you chumpy. Special mention to the chap who was like a blind man in a dark room looking for a light switch... I wonder if he ever saw it. Uneventful intensely painful slog back maded all the more intersting by taking a dodgy short cut and wading through some quite deep water that is still reeking on my feet despite removal of socks and shoes. Hot bath coming on...

June 2nd

Had a half-hearted mooch around before and after work but felt rather tired after some long days and hard effort recently.

June 3rd

An evening stroll produced eight presumed Tundra Ringos heading north up the coast this evening along with Six Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern. Swallows and Swifts heading north in good numbers and three Groppers reeling away around the patch

June 4th

no proper birding today due to football commitments and writing sections of the 2008 bird report but 'steady-hands' Bob Cobbold has been in action and managed to capture the Marsh Warbler at last. I will also have a professional quality sound recording of this bird to add shortly. There is also a photo of the Black-eared Kite from 24 April on GYBC site courtesy of Andrew Grieve.

 

Click for a full frame view!

 

 

 

and the Trumpeter was done as well! Cheers Bob, you're a star!

June 7th

Wet and quite miserable weather meant a bit of a lie-in and i was looking forward to a leisurely day listening to a bit of music and the build-up to Euro 2008. Consequently I got wind of the Bee-eater  at Northrepps a little late. Although I'd been hoping that my first Norfolk Bee-eater would have been a flyover past Eccles Sea Palling or Waxham I couldn't resist one of these mediterranean marvels so close to home and made the short drive up there in a very short space of time! After a bit of piss-taking on my late arrival I had a look through Andy W's and Justin's scopes at the bird. No superlatives needed - bit of a shame that it wasn't more Bee-eater weather. Would've been nice to have seen it in blue skies but you can't complain.at extended 100-yard views of a perched Bee-eater. It was having no trouble catching airborne prey and only failed in two sallies the whole time we were there. While we were watching the bird we were treated to a half-hour of comedy insights from Justin and Andy K et al into women, Norfolk drivers, the 'continental' approach to the 'Beautiful Game', football hooliganism, errant children, more on women and finally, women again. None of it repeatable I'm afraid. I was in absolute stitches at times. Cobbold's Photographic Enterprises were on the scene and a frame-filler should appear very soon... here it is:

 

They don't often hang around for long this bird was a welcome change.

Thanks Bob.

 

 

June 8th

Bittern at Rush Hill and a Swallowtail, Norfolk Hawker

June 9th

Spot Fly by Keith Farm this morning and Turtle Dove

June 10th

The excellent year continues with another patch tick - this time a Marsh Warbler. Andy heard what he thought was probably a Marsh sing briefly this evening. Despite over an hour of listening it never sang once while we waited. Around 9 pm though it burst into life and sang on and off until we left the bird (in a private garden) at dusk and I returned to my hurriedly left pint on the bar at the Reefs. Well worth missing the dour Greece-Sweden game for. It only showed briefly and occasionally but the song was very impressive and Bee-eater was in there among many others. A very pleasant experience listening to the bird in the still evening air with the crescent moon as a backdrop.

And rather annoyingly, I thought I may have had brief views of a rosefinch this evening perched up on a distant sallow (dark head, pale from chest all the way down the underparts and 'dark' around the upper chest face but too distant to get proper detail or colour) and Andy independently thought he heard one - in the same spot only 20-30 mins later. Will be getting up mega early to have a good scour of the area! Also a splendid male Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl, Turtle Dove and Gropper in the area.

June 12th

Balearic Shearwater past Eccles (Andy) and a couple of Manx

June 13th

Josh came down from Sheringham and we enjoyed two cracking games of football, a few beers and, best of all, the Marsh Warbler in full voice for a short while at dusk. It's not bad standing outside your local as the sun sets listening to a Gropper going for it for two hours and having a Marsh singing nearby too... the pale and well-marked male Marsh Harrier put in a close fly-by appearance again too. Also three Arctics past this morning, Siskin and three Crossbills (AK) - I've got to get the hang of this 'working less' thing very soon.

June 14th

Pair of Yellow Wags in the pea field near Keith Farm, Marsh Harrier, Gropper etc.

June 15th

After a tip off from a Waxham resident who regularly walks the area, Andy and I went down to the camp site field north of the pipe dump and enjoyed an adult male Red-backed Shrike in elder bushes at the base of the dunes. An exquisitely plumaged bird and one of the smartest Red-backeds I've seen. It had a lovely flush on the breast that kept changing hue with the light, as did the head which at times appeared dark grey but at others a very pale powdery blue. It was having no trouble dispatching bees one after the other, although at one point it started 'coughing' and a few seconds later a live bee flew out of its bill! We rang out the bird to the pager as it probably wouldn't draw much of a crowd and was away from the pipe dump area. However, it may be that access will soon be curtailed due to incidents during the Tawny Pipit's stay. Hope not.

June 16th

What is probably the Red-backed Shrike that we had at Waxham yesterday appeared in the paddocks north of the village this morning. Perching up on fenceposts, making the occasional sally after a bee or two. A beautiful, bright, sunny morning and a great way to start the week.  Still there in the evening but we couldn't find any of the Crossbills in the conifers - must have moved through pretty much straight away. Did flush a Tawny a few times though.

June 17th

Red-backed Shrike still present this morning before work. After work I spent two and a half hours around the marrams and enjoyed excellent views of the Shrike and others including a Turtle Dove on the deck. A jog up to Eccles and back found a Tawny near Castle Farm that flushed a few times. The moon was full, large and yellow, the sky was blood red and it all made an impressive backdrop to my jog back along the beach.

Here's a couple of shots of the shrike - does look like the one from Waxham. Thanks for the shots Bob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 20th

Lesser Grey Shrike - the shrike bonanza continues!

Spent the evening watching a Lesser Grey Shrike with three other birders. And Bob when he finally got there; I think he stopped off at the farmhouse for a cup of tea first. Found by Andy - still on his golden run - this little eastern Lanius was interesting bird, being a little dishevelled around the lores but scope views of the rounded head shape, dinky black bill, small dumpy shape, large white wing patch on long pale-tipped wings, white throat contrasting with weak, peachy breast etc clinched it. Photos will be up tomorrow - attempts to arrange access are being made at present as the bird is in a difficult location - the info services will be notified shortly and hopefully many people will be able to enjoy the shrike. If it does pan out okay then respect the granting of access and follow any directions given as things are a bit awkward out here at the moment. Caught the second half of the football in the bar (another corking finish) and had a late walk on the beach to watch the sun setting 'in the sea' - only happens here on a couple of occasions a year in mid-summer.

   Click to big it- Bob Cobbold strikes again!

 

A great evening watching a great new patch bird in a lovely location - East Norfolk Birding at its best! What's next then?

June 21st

With the Lesser Grey safely under the belt last night, I rose feeling relaxed and ready for an early morning seawatch - only turned up a few groups of Gannets heading south, roughly 50:50 adults:imms and a very smart male Eider inshore of the reefs. Sandwich and Commons in good numbers but nothing like a Roseate yet... Met Dave Farrow about 8:30 and we were a little surprised to see the Red-backed Shrike still present after there being no sign of it yesterday. This no doubt gave many visitors the chance of a two shrike day which many took up. Several visiting birders came down for the shrikes and it was nice to see Mark, Eddie and Steve from Cley, Justin, Andy and Chris et al and Mr Evans. The dog was particularly pleased, scavenging bits of cheese rolls from the plebs and individual quiches from the well-heeled! A few Curlews moved south through the day. Two Great-spotted woodpeckers over to the conifers and back and Two Sprawks

June 22nd

Bright but blustery south-westerlies. Red-backed early morning, along with Marsh Harriers, a Hobby through, several Common Terns heading inland with food from the reefs, total of five Curlew south, single Kittiwake. Sandwich and Common numbers increasing, Lesser black-backs too. Best bird of the day was a first-summer Med Gull I watched feeding inshore of the reefs for a few minutes the warm evening sun - even if I did get sandblasted. Was hoping someone might pick up a Roseate or something nice but then I remembered that would entail having to actually look for something. So no chance then.

June 23rd-27th to follow

June 28th and 29th

Up in Derbyshire for Chris Butler's wedding reception. Excellent night, lots of drinking and quality music from Eastfield, The Re-entrants and the guitarist from Blyth Power. All the best to Chris and Lorraine for a long and happy marriage! Bird highlights were few as it was Derbyshire but Crossbills along Flash Lane were the best it was ever gonna get.

June 30th

Evening on ther beach watching the terns. A second-summer Arctic was the highlight and eventually managed to make the closest approach of any of the terns on the beach. Had a partial white forehead, dark reddish bill, (traces of a dark lesser covert bar, traces of grey-white plumage underneath mentioned in Larsson and Olsen) all white secondaries and red legs. Quite a few Commons and good numbers of Sandwich present now. Herring numbers up, Commons too and the odd Greater and Lesser black-backeds. First-summer Med Gull inshore of the reefs, couple of Guillemots and six Gannets.

 

 

 

 

July 1st

Woken by the sound of bugling Cranes at 4:30 or so - I often hear them from home but it's particularly nice on a sunny calm early morning like today when I'm half asleep in bed. Early seawatch from 5-7 a.m. 132 Gannets, mostly south, 37 Common Scoters south, 8 Curlew south, 6 Lapwing in-off, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Guillemot, lots of Sandwich Terns south and smaller numbers of Common Terns and a couple of Bar-tailwed Godwits.

Had a quick look at the shrike and then on the sea but very little this evening with relatively few terns and gulls. Only three Gannets past south and a Bar-tailed Godwit of note.

July 3rd

Red-backed Shrike early doors. Seven Little Terns

July 5th

10 Whimbrel south (party of five and five singles) and two Curlews, second-summer Med Gull, second-summer Common Tern (prominent carpal bar, fullish black cap and longish red legs) , adult and first-summer Little Gull, Kittiwake, Razorbill, 3 Little Terns, 13 Common Scoter, plenty of Gannets etc. And one **** who decided to go into the paddocks for over an hour to get even closer to the shrike - where do they come from?

July 6th

Back in Jan, I mentioned a mate of mine was trying to set up an Asian bird sound website... well he's done it and the results are amazing. The site is http://www.xeno-canto.org/asia and is part of the already well-known xeno canto South American site. It's a remarkable result and Dave has done a cracking job - I'd like to think I could take a tiny bit of credit for our initial discussions on the need for such a site and for badgering him to get working on it. Not only are there sound cuts of species but also Google Earth locations, a forum and links to photos on OBI

Here are a few cuts that illustrate the magic of Asia:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/AZXHPBEVSA/BlythsTragopan180306_3m.mp3 Oh the fun I had running up a soaking bamboo covered hillside at first light chasing these buggers.

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/ZLOFZBWWBW/Bugun%20Liocichla.mp3 This one made the hairs on my neck stand when it started up

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/EHKRFBKGNU/Sphaenocichlahumeihumei_song_FEllin.mp3 likewise this one - one of the birds I'd always wanted to see.

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/FKYXAHGMVM/BandedPittaRobson.mp3 An unimpressive noise from perhaps the most stunningly coloured bird on the planet. After waiting ages for one to show, it perched up about one metre away from me and fixed me with a glare

Photo by S. Klabdee on Nick Upton's very good Birding in Thailand site - an excellent resource if you're heading that way. Visit the site and see for yourself http://www.thaibirding.com/index.htm

Finally one that got away: http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/FKYXAHGMVM/PurpleCochoaRobson.mp3 Imagine this monotone whistle coming throught the treetops in a fantastically rich and lush cathedral-like silent cloud forest. I was desparate to see Purple Cochoa and when one started calling on our final morning in Arunachal I thought a long-time ambition was about to be fulfilled. Alas despite searching for a long time the bird was too deep in the forest to be observed and eventually stopped calling. Gutting. All the worse as Dave, Frank and James had one (along with eight Green Cochoas in Mishmi Hills) the following week.

Anyway, explore the site and see what some of those amazing vagrants we get here sound like or just what a racket laughingthrushes and hornbills can make. Then you'll be hooked on Asia

Seawatching this evening. Single dark-phase Arctic Skua north, adult Little Gull south, 2 second-summer Common Terns among 25 or so adults. One first-summer? Arctic - very much like the bird seen a few days ago but this individual had dark, rather than red, legs. Two Curlews past but no Whimbrels. Red-backed Shrike still.

July 7th

Four Arctic Skuas and two Curlews (south) this morning between 0500 and 0700, along with 25+ Common Terns and numerous Sandwich Terns. This evening a seawatch saw 35 Manx Shearwaters (9 in the largest party) heading south off Sea Palling between 1900 and 2030, and 6 Arctic Skuas including four blogging around for half and hour or so. Also 26 Common Scoters (15 north and 11 south). Good numbers of Gannets predominantly south and a few Kittiwakes as well.

July 8th

Woke to the sound of nearby Cranes at 0445 this moring. Then a seawatch and wander along the beach for a couple of hours. 5+ Arctic Skuas with a group of four blogging around and at least one other individual that moved through north. Couple of Curlews over and the usual terns. Single Razorbill, several Kittiwakes and Gannets. In the evening a Hobby over the beach and just a single Arctic Skua offshore. Red-backed Shrike still. Couple of Red-throateds off Eccles per Andy.

July 9th

Red-backed Shrike in the paddocks early on. Single Arctic Skua offshore with a few Kittiwakes and small numbers of Gannets.

July 10th

Fantastic early moring sunshine - extremely warm at an early hour and clear as anything. Several terns on the beach, just Common and Sandwich though. After work I took a stroll up to Happisburgh and landed a Roseate Tern on a groyne close in. Was able to have a good close up study of the bird perched and in flight. The bill had only the slightest tinge of red at the base and was otherwise black. A subtle pink flush was present on the breast but was quite subdued. The bird was rung on the right leg and was presumably the same individual as that seen recently by James. Pale backed and with gleaming white underwings as it twisted around the groynes in flight. Showed a good dark wedge on the outer primaries (contrasting with otherwise pale primaries when perched) but apart from this was nice and pale above too. This was an east Norfolk find for me having missed them last year so very pleasing. Also present were a Kittiwake, two Eiders and a Shag.

July 12th

A good Kittiwake and Skua passage west from north-east Norfolk early morning. 40 Kittiwakes, 150+ Sandwich Terns on the reefs in the late afternoon and the Roseate Tern put in an appearance flying past south and then reappearing later and hanging around the reefs feeding for a while. Four Arctic Skuas and a few Little Gulls too (adults) and 10 Common Scoter north. Red-backed Shrike still entertaining visiting birders.

July 13th

Spent a long period in the dunes today, having a picnic, a beer and lots of seawatching. Very quiet for most of the time but eventually scored with a Roseate Tern north and then the same bird or another individual (probably the sane bird) later on, feeding just behind the reefs for 15 mins. Also two Eiders, 6 Common Scoter north, single Little Gull, a few Fulmars and Gannets, 12 Guillemots loafing around in family parties, single Dunlin north and about five Arctic Skuas just blogging around offshore. Red-backed Shrike.

July 14th

A good Gannet passage this morning with well over 200, nearly  all south, between 0500 and 0700. A few Arctic Skuas too and a female Common Scoter. Red-backed Shrike still. In the evening walked up to Happisburgh and had a single Shag and a returning Sanderling. Back at Sea Palling at least 10 Arctic Skuas moved north, six Turnstone on the beach and single Razorbill and a few Guillemots. Well over 150 Herring Gulls now and Lesser black-backed Gull numbers building

July 15th

Andy recorded over 40 Arctics in two hours early morning and also an excellent Kittiwake movement of over 1200 birds and 5 Black Swans!!! Four Arctic Skuas north this evening, shrike still present, six Sanderling on the beach, single Arctic Tern among the more numerous Sandwich and Common and three Curlew north. A handful of Kittiwakes still loitering around the reefs.

The Happisburgh / Sea Palling Shag and one of the Eiders

 

 

 

 

 

July 16th

No birding as totally knackered. Got my new camera (Panasonic FZ18) and I'm very, very pleased with it. I'd heard some rave reviews but for my needs I can't beleive how good it is. One of those bits of kit that fills a gap like the Nikon ED50. Now I can carry my bins, mega light scope and a small, light camera with the ability to get decent record shots of reasonably distant birds and quality shots of closer birds. Brilliant bit of kit. Just got to learn how to use it properly now.

July 17th

Red-backed Shrike still. Arctic Skuas still moving past (25 off Waxham reported) and an adult Little Gull on the beach with the terns. Managed a ropey shot in very dull light and even a flight shot with the hand held FZ18

Added some new tunes to help those birders who might just be losing it as they age, not that 95% birders were ever known for having it in the first place. http://www.freewebs.com/punkbirder/theblog.htm As for birding slang, don't wanna poke my oar in yet but always liked Born Cunting (sorry Mum, if you ever read this)

July 19th

several hundred Kittiwakes moving north - probably over 1000 all in. Gannets also in good numbers, 20+ Common Scoter also north, and the Roseate came in onto the beach, straight out from my seawatching position. This bird was rung on both legs. Two Curlew and a Whimbrel over.

July 20th

An Arctic Tern pitched in this afternoon and paraded on the beach for my new camera. Also Two Curlew and a Knot over (still nice and red on the unders). Six Sanderling.

 

 

 

 

 

July 21st

Winds and tides up, Storm Petrel reported on the north coast, Popped up to Walcott (Arctic Tern and a couple of Meds) to try out the camera. Here are a few shots, all hand held and unaltered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 22nd

50+ Common Scoters north, a few Skuas and Gannets etc, Red-backed Shrike and single Arctic tern

July 23rd

Lovely hot sunny morning. Between 05:15 and 08:30 7 Arctic Skuas north, 22 Common Scoters, 4 Sanderling, Curlew, Whimbrel, Turtle Dove, Red-backed Shrike and Cranes calling across mist-covered fields. A few more boring pics, all hand-held and unaltered. I'll lay off the pics in a day or two when the novelty wears off and save it for something decent in the coming return migration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the view from the dunes in the golden early morning light.

Not a soul on the beach until 8 o'clock or so. Beautiful.

 

 

 

July 24th

A quiet early seawatch saw nothing of any note except 37 adult Lesser black-backeds and seven Little Terns on the beach and a handful of Kittiwakes. Red-backed Shrike had moved up the road a bit asnd was showing at clsoer range today. Went up to Cley to gen up on Yellow-legged Gulls and managed to find the Pec for myself but couldn't avoid being put onto the White-rumped Sand by loads of chumps in the hide. Despite both birds being observed many times throughout the morning, no one had thought to ring it in, so I did the obvious.  Had a lovely afternoon watching waders from the hides, including Wood and Green Sandpipers, Spotted Red, Knot, Curlew Sandpiper and Icelandic Blackwits etc. Met Josh and we were sitting by the old beach hotel when news of a probable Brunnich's came through... we both thought FLOB (F... load of B...) and went back to the cafe. Ninety minutes later it came on again at Salthouse so I bollocked it over there to find Andy Stoddart and Big M among others searching (you've to got to give it a go...). A close in Razorbill had some idiots celebrating for a few seconds (before withering disdain from certain quarters crept in.) I believe a couple of the observers of the initial bird also saw the 'American Golden Plover' at Waxham last year... so I left to spend my cash in the olive shop! The bird was subsequently reported from Sheringham but was widely considered to be Mozzarella. Thing is, when a bird like this turns up, you need to keep on it and get others to see it as soon as possible.

Scotland tomorrow (Oban area / Mull) for a week . Mainly to relax after school, see a few eagles,  and gear up for the coming autumn migration soon to commence... here's hoping I don't miss anything on the patch!

 

Aug 3rd

Returned early evening to find a shot of the Roseate Tern at Happisburgh / Eccles / Sea Palling recently courtesy of Bob. This was one of the individuals - at least one other bird was seen bearing rings on both legs (one of the Coquet Island birds?)

Click for full size

 

 

 

Aug 4th

Early morning seawatch in lovely still weather produced only an Arctic Skua south of note. Plenty of Gannets too, an Eider close in, three Knots north, Dunlin, three Redshank, a few Guillemots and the usual terns etc. A couple of trips to Rush Hill produced a Wood Sand (also one on Swim Coots), 22 Green Sands, Common Sand, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 3 Blackwits, Little Gull, Knot, 8 Dunlin, 40+ Ruff etc.

Aug 5th

Rainy and dull all day with frequent showers. Rush Hill still held two Wood Sands, 14+ Green Sands, 6 Dunlin, 30+ Ruff, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, Curlew, Blackwit and 19 feral Barnacle Geese. A seawatch in the evening was crap (single Eider and a few Golden Plover) so I went to the pub.

I did notice at some point today, in between watching the bean-eaters fight it out on Jeremy Kyle and doing my garden chores, that the Sea Palling 10 Km square is pissing all over the opposition in the Surfbirds 'local patch' competition. And given the fact that 'self-found' now seems to include anything found by someone you were with at some point during the same day, it's probably up there in that table too. About as reliable as the SATS results?.

Aug 6th

Two Wood Sands at Hickling. Summer-plumaged Knot, 19 feral Barnacles. 15+ Green Sands, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 30 Golden Plovers, 40 odd Ruff, Curlew, 10 Dunlin.

Arctic Tern past Sea Palling, 7 Whimbrel, couple of Arctic Skuas and at least four Harbour Porpoises

Aug 7th

Three Wood Sands at Hickling. Good numbers of Ruff and Green Sand and around ten Dunlin again

Aug 8th

Way-hey! the stringing, sorry, seawatching season has started! Plenty of Skuas, terns and stuff heading south this morning. Two summer-plumaged Knot and one winter-plumaged bird on Rush Hill. High water levels after last night's rain has muffed things up for waders a little.

And Private signs have now been posted 200 yards north of the pipe dump to 100 yards south. So all the wankers who wouldn't heed requests to stay away from the area inland of the pipe dump while viewing the Tawny Pipit, you've succeeded in getting access for everyone revoked. Apart from people who are friendly with the farm manager - like me! And for those who think they can go wherever they like... the farm owns all the land up to the high water mark (including the pipe dump, the 'path' just inland of the dunes and the dunes themselves). So your views of the next bird there will be rather poorer. A couple of us are trying to keep the farm manager sweet but don't expect full, open access like before, at least not until I can work some magic...   

Aug 9th

Up at the crack of dawn for a seawatch and at 06:40:

 

 

 

 

... also seen were 300+ Gannets, 150 Common Terns, 21 Teal, 17 Common Scoter, 5 Golden Plover, 1 Red-throated Diver, 3 Shelduck, 3 Arctic Skua, etc. And three Harbour Porpoises.

Bear in mind it's a poor artist's impression (but representative of what was seen in the field) and the colours are a bit dodgy... About 1 km out, calm weather and sea with a light breeze, (as mentioned by Bird in Birding World Vol 7 No. 7) 

More details will appear in the official submission such as distance, conditions etc but I thought I'd post this here in the spirit of openess and all that bullshit so that everyone can slate it. Anyway, Birdline East Anglia have already adjudicated on it, and put it out, so there you go. I thought that given the opinion on many recent seabird sightings I'd do it the old-fashioned way and submit it for formal acceptance before claiming it as a new self-found U.K. bird. Anyway, it might get rejected yet - if submitted. I know I'd be thinking it was stringy if I'd heard it reported (another reason I didn't put it out but instead called my seawatcher neighbour in Eccles at the time of observation to corroborate it - he was in France!) but maybe I'm more cynical than you... let's face it, it's quite likely!

Aug 11th

early seawatch. 2 Whimbrels south, 5 Redshank (4S, 1N), 100 Kittiwakes, 6 Arctic Skuas, 2 Arctic Terns south, 5 Shelduck, 300 Common Terns north, 3 Little Terns, Gannets passing steadily and Sandwich too. Single Balearic Shearwater which passed by south, only 500m out, flicking on stiff wings and shearing, was a good bird. In evening 6 Redshank, Sanderling 3 Arctic Terns north, and Common and Sandwich moving south steadily. Swallows also moving south steadily all day.

Aug 12th

Common Terns moving past north at c.140 per hour in the early morning and also south in the evening at a similar rate. 31 Redshank south in two flocks (16 + 15), 8 Arctic Skuas in the morning, two in the evening, Little Tern, Sanderling, Whimbrel, Knot, Grey Plover and Golden Plover and a Shag north. A tight flock of 150-200 waders past by but extemely distantly.

Aug 13th

Lie-in today. Afternoon seawatch uneventful aside from huge numbers of terns feeding very distantly offshore - and I do mean huge numbers. A fantastic sight.

Aug 14th

Large Common Tern movement this morning - between 05:50 and 06:50 538 passed Sea Palling with many distant birds apparent early on. Andy counted a total of 963 north in two hours. Also past Sea Palling: 5 Arctic Skuas, Roseate Tern north, Shag north, 3 Little Gulls, 3 Little Terns. At 0750 a Balearic Shearwater past, heading north. I called Andy and he was set up in time to see the bird arrive the short distance of half a mile further north at Eccles and settle on the sea before drifting back south. This individual was towards the duskier end of the spectrum with darkish underwings and only an oval whitish belly patch and slightly paler throat evident.

A good / lucky few days seawatching recently - or a just reward for hours and hours of effort? What you don't see is the up-at-dawn starts making coffee while tripping over the cat and the dog, and the endless hours counting common birds and hiding under your coat to beat the showers. Brilliant though - door to seawatching spot in about two mins (by bike or car)!

Aug 15th

nothing much happened this morning other than it was so nice at 6:00 a.m and bird-free that I fell asleep in the dunes. Very little went past this morning but I'll put details in tonight. My local fisherman friend is putting me a marker buoy out off my watchpoint so I can judge distance more precisely and accurately

Aug 16th

A very early start, the first bird being an Arctic Skua heading south against a vividly orange sky and rising sun - absolutely breathtaking sight. A further nine follwed by 09:30. Ducks were dominant this morning with at least 140 Teal north, 22 Common Scoter north, 8 Shoveler north, 25 Gadwall north and a few unidentified ducks that may have been this species, 2 Mallard north and a single Eider. Harbour Porpoise south.

Waders were represented by 31 Oystercatcher south, Single Whimbrel north, two Barwits north, single Golden Plover in-off and a single Redshank north. Also a Shag north and a Little Egret south along the beach. 40 first-winter Herring Gulls heading north in three flocks. A diver was seen that defied identification but was presumably a RTD despite not looking at all like one! Andy had another Balearic Shearwater loafing on the sea this evening.

Aug 17th

After a late night a heavy rainstorm prompted me to get out and between 11:45 and 3:45 I had a pretty decent seawatch. Arctic Skuas were moving through steadily with a total of 31 seen heading south - the largest single flock was of seven birds.. A single Balearic Shearwater blogged about for a bit, landing now and again and drifting past my watchpoint - it seemed to be associating loosely with a large swarm of feeding terns. 8 Greenshanks came in off tu-tu-tu ing as they passed directly overhead, 6 Whimbrel, 30 Little Gulls, a single Black Tern north, 2 Golden Plover, 7 Common Scoter north, 30 Teal north and 33 south, 7 Wigeon south andf the interesting sight of a flock of forty-one Cormorants heading south. Large numbers of Common Terns were passing south and good numbers of Gannets but I didn't make any measured counts.

This evening, between 18:45 and 18:45 12 Arctic Skuas passed by heading south, 32 Common Scoter south and 5 north plus a single Harbour Poropoise and 15 Linnets north. A further 12 Arctic Skuas were recorded this morning as per RBA so that makes a total of 55 south with six hours remaining uncounted - not bad at all.

Aug 18th

Seawatching this morning produced 8 Arctic Skuas (Andy) before 7:00 am and then another eight by 9:30. About 70 Teal north, 4 Tufted Duck south, Grey Plover, Redshank, Red-throated Diver, Eider, 7 Common Scoter and the usual terns and Gannets. We called it a day and the next I heard from Andy was a text of a probable Marsh Sandpiper at Rush Hill. Andy soon sorted it out and a definite Marsh Sandpiper went onto the pagers. The birds was very distant for the whole of the time I was there (three hours) but occasionally when the flock was spooked it got into the air and gave closer views. It was suprisingly easy to follow in a large mixed flock of waders, the long trailing legs and small size a giveaway. A lovely, small, graceful bird with slight proportions and slender legs, quite often looking a bit like a stilt! The white v extending right up the back weas only visible rarely while the bird was on the deck but the pale tail could be seen quite easily in flight. 2 Little Gulls and a Curlew Sand present of note. Comedy incident of the day was having to ring Andy Musgrove's wife to tell him to go back and fetch his dog which he'd left at Rush Hill.

Here are couple of shots from Bob 'no bins' Cobbold. The bird was rather distant - as you can see!

You never know what the day will bring birdwise.

Several Arctic Skuas blogging around off Sea Palling this evening (4 north and three south), hard to tell how many birds involved but at least 5. Also 8 Common Scoter north and 6 Curlew south. Had a gander for any passerines but nothing doing yet.

Aug 19th

Andy managed to obtained some better shots of the Marsh Sand today - fantastic! A new bird for the 10 km square for me. Shame the Buff-breasted never materialised. Little Stint also present.

Seawatching tonight turned up about 10 Arctic Skuas (4 blogging around and 6 through south). Five Whimbrels south, Grey Plover south, 5 Oystercatcher south, Eider, Shelduck and a Fulmar.

 

Click to see the feather fringes!

 

 

 

Aug 20th

Early morning saw 6 Arctic Skuas south before 7:00 am and an adult Little Gull south. Single Eider and Common Scoter made for the quietest seawatch for a while. There appears to be good numbers of juvenile terns though, hopefully breeding success has been high this year.

After a dull seawatch - 14 Blackwits went past just after I'd packed up (very difficult birds to get here) - I decided to break for a coffee back at home and then hit the bushes. The decision paid off and after an hour or so I nearly trod on a Wryneck in the marram grass. It shot out from underfoot and perched up in some nearby brambles for half a minute or so before rounding a large bramble and dropping into a huge mass of blackthorn. Never get tired of seeing these delicately patterned birds. The pale grey back was evident in the short flights the bird made and there was a nice fulvous wash to the throat. Despite waiting another 30 minutes the bird didn't reappear. A very welcome surprise and a great start to the autumn passerine migration. The only other birds of note were a Wheatear in dune top scrub, Lesser Whitethroat and three Sparrowhawks.

Aug 23rd

Bit of a northerly wind today and some noteable seabird movement. 10 Grey Plover in dribs and drabs (more recorded a bit further north) 28 Sooty Shearwaters (35 Eccles and 50-odd at Mundesley) 3 Shag, a few Arctic Skuas, Fulmar, Red-throated Diver, several Common Scoters, Knots, Barwits etc, 3 Oystercatchers north. Sooties passed close-in by and large, giving excellent views.

Aug 24th

Morning seawatch. 6 Whimbrel south, 5 Little Gulls north, 12 Arctic Skuas north, 4 Barwits north, Knot, Dunlin,5 Oystercatcher north, Grey Plover, Common Scoter, Common Teal, Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Sparrowhawks

Aug 25th

Bright, sunny, westerly breeze. A walk at Eccles saw two Sparrowhawks south, Turtle Dove, 5 Arctic Skuas north, Grey Plover north, Whimbrel, 2 Chiffchaffs and two Lesser Whitethroats. Good passage of swallows and martins south

Aug 26th

Bit of a quiet day on the sea with only small numbers of waders seen and a single Arctic Skua south. Wheatear on the beach, 6 Whitethroat, Shag, 2 Swift, Sand Martin, 3 Sparrowhawks through south, 25 Linnets south, pair of Bullfinch and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs.

Aug 28th

Dull and cloudy, slight breeze. Morning seawatch saw 5 Oystercatcher north, 2 Arctic Skuas south, 14 Knot south, 3 Shag, Fulmar north, 25 Dunlin south, 70 Golden Plover south, 2 Swift south and three Redshank north. A walk to Eccles on the beach saw three Wheatears, another Arctic Skua south, single Balearic Shearwater, more Knot and Dunlin and in a patch of Sea Buckthorn a few Robins, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 7 Whitethroat and a warm, rufous, young Reed Warbler.

Fri 29th

Sunny, slight breeze and westerly wind still. 10 Arctic Skuas passed through south, 8 Redshank, 3 Turtle Doves, and a few other bits and pieces but nothing much.

Sat 30th

Still (north-)westerly and calm, became more SE later on . Seawatch produced just one Balearic Shearwater south, 2 Red-throated Divers south, Eider, and Wheatear on the reefs. Afternoon at Waxham saw a Common Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and a few Chiffs and Willows.

Sunday 31st

Sunny and hot this morning with very little breeze. Wind moved round to SE as the sday went on and there was a large thunderstorm in the late afternoon.

An early seawatch saw a single Balearic Shearwater go through south close-in at 08:32, 15 Common Scoter south, 80 Teal north and 4 Arctic Skuas of note. In the paddocks were two Whinchats and a pair of Stonechat. Several Willow Warbler in The Hole, a Whimbrel and 11 Barwits over, and a single Red-backed Shrike in scrub towards Eccles. The bird sat doing nothing for a while before flying across the short-turfed field and towards Hempstead marshes. A walk up to Cart Gap to try and flush out was almost certainly a Wryneck that Andy glimpsed earlier on was unsuccessful but another Balearic Shearwater (a little paler than this morning's bird), again south and close-in was some compensation. A single Black Tern here too, in amongst a flock of gulls feeding close inshore.

Off down to Waxham where a scan of the bushes produced two Pied Flys but it was a fair old while before I managed to clap eyes on a third deep in the cover of the main strip of trees. A walk north booted up a Tree Pipit which showed well at close range for several minutes, a couple more Whimbrel, a Red-throated Diver south and a few more Willow Warblers and then the best sight of the day for me - as the sky darkened with what threatened to be a violent storm, around the sycamores by the pill box came a tight ball of at least 17 Arctic Terns. They passed by at close range, dropped over the dunes, across the beach and away - absolutely awesome sight and as pleasurable as a decent rarity.

EASTNORFOLKBIRDING - in tune with nothing!

the website that says "**** off and find your own birds!"

Sept 1st

Back to school. Fuck.

Tawny Owl calling around the house again during the night. We also have 196 or so Pipistrelle's in the roof at the moment. Early morning didn't produce the hopes for trees full of Pied Flys - pretty much nothing apart form a Sprawk south through the dunes. Late afternoon saw me at Hickling watching Andy's Pectoral Sandpiper, with Andy and Phil. A quite smart individual, but not really very close at any time, looked quite 'scaly' even through the bins and the yellowy-green legs showed well in the afternoon sunlight. Also 2 adult Curlew Sands, 5 Green Sands, 60-odd Ruff etc. Three Curlews near the church. Back in Sea Palling two Whimbrel in-off and a single Wheatear on top of a duneside telegraph pole.

Sept 2nd

Redstart at Waxham

Sept 3rd

20 Redshank over the village this morning. Plus Swift.

Sept 4th / Sept 5th

Very little action apart from a couple of Swift, Whimbrel and Redshanks south

Sept 6th

Change of scene for a seawatch at Waxham after Ilya dropped in like a grounded migrant. 6 Arctic Skuas south, Whimbrel, Kittiwake, Eider, Common Scoter, 2 Red-throated Diver, 9 Teal, Bonxie, Sanderling (north), Little Tern and a juv. Arctic Tern.

A walk through the dense vegetation gave up a Spotted Flycatcher and Chiffchaff but a Med Gull flew over to brighten things up a bit. An afternoon Seawatch produced another Little Tern, 5 Fulmar, Gadwall, 2 Arctics and two small groups (an 8 and a nine) distant birds gently shearing. White underparts but I couldn't make anything else out really. Ilya's heavy duty scope revealed dark blue/black backs making them Manx. Plus a Snipe over calling.

Sept 7th

An early start for a productive day (from dawnish untill dusk) saw me at Sea Palling for the first half and then up at Eccles for the second. Phone contact with points not far to the north and south proved to be vital today. I'll post fuller totals when I've deciphered my notebook scribbles but highlights were one Cory's past me and another that I wouldn't go further than large shear with due to conditions (it was tipping it down as I huddled under my huge umbrella). Cory's were also seen at points north and south of me and I owe those boys for tipping me off to imminent birds. Arctics were up towards 65-70 ish with others missed during a one hour hiatus at lunch and while feverishly scanning for large shears! Bonxies were at 30ish with many missed while looking low or waiting for better things. Gannets were massive with over 900 birds all-in and probably a fair few missed. Single Balearic Shearwater and a few other goodies but we failed to record any Long-tailed Skuas or Sabs Gulls although one of each was seen just to the north. Just not our lucky day. The Long-tailed stuff sounds interesting, esp the dip-feeding behaviour. I did see several Arctics 'stalling' and put this down to the conditions - but no dip-feeding. I'll be grilling every juv. skua I see from now on in and taking notes. I suspect the committee will actually be busier with records from further west than Sheringham and Cley.

Anyroad up - a great day to be long remembered in the annals of Norfolk birding and the start of a new error in seabird id. Sorry era. Sweetness, I was only joking Any excuse for this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5CltsEN8DQ You could have all the LTS in the world if I could have been Johnny Marr... 

A brief walk up to Cart Gap and then on the Andy Kane outward bound ditch jumping, grabbing onto nettles to stop yourself falling into goodness know what murky depths in the last hour of the day saw a good number of Wheatear - upwards of 20 plus a few extra on Brograve took the total to, I think, 27?

Sept 8th

Hobby at Waxham. And a few geese on the Horsey straight. Whimbrel in the evening and a flock of 21 Long-tailed Tits near The Hole. Two Little Gulls south and a single Arctic Skua.

Sept 9th

Before work the village and coastal strip was quiet apart from a couple of Wheatears. Up to Happisburgh to see if the intergarde type Barn Owl found knackered in the morning was still there - it wasn't but Andy got an excellent shot in the morning and it's on Surfbirds scarce here. Got nothing else apart from piss wet through.

 

 

The crumbling cliffs at happisburgh this evening

No wonder he hasn't got Cory's or Sab's on his TG42 list...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 9th

Forgot my notebook and now can't remember a bloody thing. Make up your own sightings. It's quite popular I gather.

Sept 10th

Three Cranes on the way to work were indicative of successful breeding. They are in a regular spot early on but get disturbed by about 8.00 a.m. currently. Green Woodpecker in from over Hempstead Marshes.

After work another Green Woodpecker on Neil's lawn, 2 Shags, Wheatear on the beach, 4 Snipe in-off (a single and a three), Mipit and 8 Turtle Doves (7 neat the conifers and one past Castle Farm. Small numbers of Teal in the brief time I looked at the sea.

Sept 11th

Cranes calling again as I woke early morning. Whinchat, a few Little Gull and Black Tern south, 2 Shags, Porpoise and Common Terns heading south in purposeful parties of 10-30.

Sept 12th

Early morning saw 17 Golden Plover south, and a few Willows and Chiffs fresh in.

After work at Waxham: Whinchat, Tree Sparrow, good numbers of Black-headed and Common Gulls (300+) feeding in fields. On the sea were 81 Wigeon north, 3 Barwit north, Knot north, 61 Teal north, 12 Common Scoter etc.

Sept 13th

Misty early on, patchy low cloud later, clearing.Slight easterly.

Slow to begin with only Redstart of note in Sea Palling. Reed Warbler in-off the sea, a few Willow Warblers and two Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Garden Warbler. Down at Waxham as I arrived at the base of the bump I recieved a call from Josh - just as he asked me about Honey Buzzards one appeared over the dunes nice and low directly overhead an inland. A pale juv. with blackish carpal patches and well-banded flight feathers but with quite a buzzard-like structure with 'shorter' wings than an adult. A few minutes later another bird appeared even lower and moved inland directly overhead again. The second bird was seemingly a darkish/rufous adult but much more likely? to be a well-marked juv. with a good trailing edge and more typical HB structure. Both birds' tails could easily be seen showing the typical well-spaced bars. Shortly after a third bird appeared (by now Rod had joined me) to the south and allowed the typical flat wing posture in soaring flight to be seen well along with the slightly dipped attitude in gliding flight. Amazingly this bird was accompanied by an Osprey! Another, fourth, bird arrived in-off slightly to the north and again only allowed structural details to be seen. A breathtaking sight and one that I enjoyed immensely - one of my best eastnorfolk birding experiences yet.

Rod had called earlier about a bird that he was sure was an Icterine or Melodious Warbler and his description over the phone certainly sounded good. I searched a little with no joy so had a seawatch notching up a few Red-throated Divers, single Fulmar, Bonxies, Brent Geese, Arctic Skuas, Little Gulls, Wigeon, Teal and Common Scoter. I missed a flock of Eider that moved north but Andy and Mick counted them at c.120. A Sparrowhawk in-off was pretty cool but not a Goshawk! Another look for the hippo was more successful with fairly close views of the bird as it went through the blackthorn below me. The bird had an obvioulsy peaked crown in typical aggressive-looking hippo fashion and the long wing point was obvious. In addition, the almost bluey legs and drab olivey-toned back and pale buffish unders confirmed Rod's suspicions of Icterine. Nice one Rod. Also in the bushes were three Garden Warblers, Redstart and a rufous imm. Reed Warbler to rounded off a fantastic raptor-fest of a birding session.

Back to Sea Palling and a call from Andy got me out to the paddocks were 6 Whinchats were sharing the 'shrike hedge' with a Stonechat. A walk around the back of the conifers produced Redstart, four Pied Flys and comedy birding moment of the day as we embarked upon another bit of Kane-style guerrilla birding and ditch jumping. Or ditch jumping into, in my case. Don't know what was in the water but it didn't half stink. A final blast to Waxham got us a Sprawk and a fantastic male Redstart.

Sept 14th

Out all day, all over the place, totally knackered now so may as well just post totals.

Between Eccles and Waxham, a minimum of 8 Pied Flycatchers, 15 Redstarts and eight Spotted Flycatchers. A Merlin over the church, three Whinchat, 3 Sparrowhawks, Garden Warbler, two Wheatear, double figures too of Willow Warbler. An absolutely cracking day again with nothing 'unusual' just wonderful birding. Highlights were a few male Redstarts, two Spotted Flys sitting a yard from each other with a Redstart nearby, common migrants in the first trees and bushes inland, and a Redstart that flew alongside me as I pedalled for home.  

Here are few pics  - finally took my camera out today - sort of getting the hang but making schoolboy errors (too much mag when it's not needed etc) Anyway, with apologies to anyone who knows anything about photography:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonder what the week will bring...?

Sept 15th

A fucking strange flycatcher (the word interesting is now banned when discussing the bird) that's what.

Up early for an hour or so before work and the place was heaving with birds. A walk around the pines and the back of the Marrams produced 11 Pied Flys and about 6 Redstarts. Birds seemed to be everywhere. Willows were calling too and conspicuous as they flitted around. It was obviously going to be a mega day... I left work as soon possible and upon arriveing home was changed and out of the house in about a minute. One the way back Dave Showler called me with news of a 1st-winter flycatcher (aged by step-like mark at tip of outer web of tertials) he'd seen at Waxham that was showing features see in Semi-collared / Collared. Dave suggested I might check it out. I decided to go for a quick scoot round the village on the bike and again noted Redstarts all over the place and Pied Flys too - even in the same bins view or darting over gardens. I was just enjoying the spectacle when Dave called again and said that I really SHOULD get down there and check it out as he now had pix on his screen and the bird was worth pursuing. I called Andy and Andy arrived with Mick at the corner, flushing numerous Redstarts on the way, and we made our way down to the spot.

After 15 mins in poor light we hadn't seen anything likely but then what was the bird was noted flying into an apple tree. The bird wouldn't shift and so Andy went in commando style and encouraged it. The bird wasn't to be seen initially but a few moments later it did appear and showed well on and off for a while. Only five of us were there and it was quite exciting to say the least. The bird was clearly greyish-tinted on the mantle with an obvious grey collar and pale buffy loral area. A lot of white was apparent in the tail when it flew and appeared to go around the base of the outer tail feather. The tertial fringes were narrow and the white outer edges were well separated along their length. The bird also showed white tips to the median coverts on both wings but better on the right with three obvious ones present. The rump also appeared paler in flight than I expected.

As time wore on a few folks arrived panting and exhausted but by then most of us had gone and I had relaxed, talking to friends and having as laugh etc. Unfortunately around this time the wrong bird was located and as can happen was then observed for a fair while in poor light as THE bird.  This was a Pied Fly - Beginning to harbour doubts I mentioned this to Ilya and Josh later in the bar and tentatively suggested they'd been watching the wrong bird, along with many others. Easy to do in the poor light and excited atmosphere.

Anyway, here you go. Lots more discussion and debate to come. A wonderful day on my local patch. The day counts made by my East Norfolk colleagues were tremendous (130 Wheatears etc!)

 

Click to enlarge - thanks Dave for convincing me to go and take a look!

 

 

 

Sept 16th

Up and out early again - Redstarts still flitting around and the odd Pied Fly here and there. Wheatears on the wires and flying over and the dog caught an exhausted Pied Fly unfortunately. It looked on its last legs though and local cats would have surely had it shortly after. Had to leave for work all to soon.

Stopped off at Waxham on the way home and had good views of the bird in better light. Not much more to say at present - got to read Mild from Birding World 7 and Shirihai and Christie tonight and let the experts give their views.

 

Thanks to Peter Simpson for the pics - click to enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 17th

Still lots of Redstarts, Pied Flys and Wheatears in the general area plus several Willow Warblers (inc some northern type birds with pale unders and a distinctly different tone of green than nominate birds

Sept 19th

A few Siskins going north this morning, a couple of Redstarts still and couple of Pied Flys. Wood Pigeons starting to move too. A rather brownish Chiffchaff was encountered giving an unusual call - almost like a Greenish Warbler, very short and disyllabic, quite unlike the normal hu-eeet. Four Redstarts on a walk around the village early evening.

Sept 20th

Many Siskins heading north this morning (I recorded around 100, Andy with an earlier start managed 200) Spotted Flycatcher, Five Grey Wags north, Whinchat, Stonechat and Redstarts. Waxham gave up a Redstart, Goldcrest, Lesser Whitethroat, a pair of Blackcaps and a Hobby. Meet Dave at Waxham and after a cup of tea we scoured Sea Palling turning up Arctic Skua, Red-throated Diver, 15 Common Scoter, 10 Wheatears, a few more Redstarts and Willow Warblers etc and the same Spotted Fly as this morning. A late evening walk around Horsey produced 7 more Wheatears and a Short-eared Owl, presumably fresh in.

We also discussed the flycatcher of course. Dave has been in touch with some ex-colleagues from the time he worked with Mild on Gotland with Pieds and Collareds - none could identify the bird safely but did give useful info on some features (and their irrelevancy!). What the whole episode does show though is that the gap between quality field birders and the 'experts' of the birding scene is very small these days.

Sept 21st

Calm, slight easterly gathering strength later, warm almost hot at times.

early morning saw a Grey Wag over, a few Siskin, 5 Wheatear, Whinchat, single Golden Plover calling mournfully nearby, 2 Stonechat and the first returning Pinkfeet of the autumn! A walk around the village with Steve saw a couple of these strange calling Chiffchaffs and about 9 other standard calling birds. 130 or so Siskins over, 23 Redpolls, another 6 Wheatear, Whinchat, around 10+ Redstarts and cracking views of a couple of obliging Pied Flys sitting on wires.

Sept 22nd 

Breezy north-easterly it seemed this morning. An uneventful early start only got me a few Mipits over north and a couple of Wheatears. A visit after work netted Dave Showler's Yellow-browed Warbler at Waxham - a silent, tricky bird to get to grips with, spending all of its time deep in the sallows. A bit of teamwork from the Allwood-Kane axis saw the bird showing at close range but being frustratingly unpredictable in its movements. 180 or so Pinkfeet were in the fields. Andy had a Puffin past this morning. A Long-tailed Skua spoent 45 minutes in the general area around Waxham between 2 and 3 pm. A very pale-headed bird with undertail covert and underwing barring. There may be pictures forthcoming if Dave H. managed to get some. I don't know yet...

And thanks to all-round top bloke Mark golley for sending me this:

Great to see aPalling get a mention...

Tues 23rd

Hot seabird action with huge numbers of Bonxies passing south and lots of Gannets too. Managed an hour in the morning scoring many Bonxies, two Arctic Skuas and a Sooty Shearwater, four Eider, lots of commoner stuff and a slim-winged skua that turned out to be another fucking Arctic. After work, hunkered in the dunes things had slacked off a bit but managed a few Little Gulls, Two Manx Shearwaters, and a patch year bird in the form of a Puffin bollocking it south just above the water looking rather dark with pretty furious wingbeats, 10 Shags and various minor odds and ends. Andy scored a huge number of Bonxies, a couple of Poms etc.

Weds 24th

Very little action on the sea this morning in the short time available - just lots of Gannets. After work I made straight up to North Gap for the Red-breasted Flycather seen earlier by Andy. It only took a minute or two before I had it in a large sycamore. The bird made its way into a nearby garden and proceeded to show very well, often coming down onto the lawn or hovering on the edge of the bushes. We missed out on the only RBFly seen on the patch last year (a very short stayer) so this one was very welcome indeed. Lovely little birds, not always as showy as this bird by any means. The typical dropped winged pose was evident on a number of occasions. It was heard to call a couple of times - a wren-like clicking trrrrrt. Called Ilya on the point to tell him he was very close to a Melodious - that's another pint mate... should be a rocking nite! Nearby were many Goldcrests and large numbers of Robins seem to have arrived, chasing each other around the gardens. Three Redstarts and a Wheatear on the track to Eccles. Golden Plover over and 30 Golden Plover at Waxham from the car. Looking good for the next few days... pity about work. I need a get rich quick scam that doesn't involve balaclavas and a six-gun!

Well, the wine has been cracked open for a patch tick and it's all looking rosy for the next few days. Hopefully we'll find something decent out here. Brown Shrike in Yorks, Sibechat in the north of the county, OBP would be nice, a Bluetail must be lurking and goodness knows what else. Must surely be worth getting out and into the mix as this is what birding is all about, not being the millionth person to see a common Asian bird on someone else's patch. Your birds or your patch - a return to core values, back to basics, call it what you like but ultimately it means so much more. Good luck to all those patchers and hard working searchers... get in there! You know it will be worth it...

Thurs 25th

A few Siskin over in the morning. Around Sea Palling and Waxham after work in delightful bright sunlight brought oodles of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs, three Redstarts, three Pied Flys, three Wheatears, three Whinchats and two Stonechats

Fri 26th

Morning saw a beautiful still dawn and a low-lying fog blanketing the fields. Birds included 26 Siskins over, Redstart, Mipits and several Robins still. Forgot to mention a couple of Bramblings over in recent mornings.

After work I decided to have a break from the patch and headed up to West Runton for my colleague Mr Furse's Blyth's Reed. John found the bird this morning and shortly after, along with with Phil and Dave H. they'd nailed it as a Blyth's Reed. Seeing as it had been showing well I hoped for a quick success and then a race back to Cart Gap and Eccles for the last hour. I had forgotten what twitching was like though... 60 people all 100 yards away from the area where the bird was last seen. Still, Pete and Andy were around for a bit of banter. Was pretty much useless with just bins. So two hours passed and nothing happened, shapes in bushes, a flit here and a flit there, cue excitement and departure of a few people at regular intervals (no doubt happy with the 'blob'). By then I was getting pretty jumpy and keen to get in closer and get to grips with the bird - if it was still present. Myself and Pete D moved in closer and Pete had a glimpse of something and I then heard the characteristic teck..teck... from low scrub. Ian and Dave Willis then had the bird on the other side of the hedge to us at close range. Andy then had it on the other side of the hedge. A bit of repositioning and careful squeaking and chacking soon had the bird performing at close range for about ten of us for several minutes. A pale bird, almost with a grey tone, lacking real contrast down the back, when see from behind the tertial edgings not really apparent etc. Pale unders, looking very snouty and long-billed due to the flat forehead. Short-winged and pretty plain-winged too, on a couple of occasions adopting the banana posture characteristic of the bird, all the time calling sporadically and moving slowly through low herbage.

Sept 27th

The morning produced pretty much zero - the fog was low and pretty much nothing was to be seen - Sisklns and the odd Redpoll were passing over etc. Couple of Redstarts, Reed Buntings north, Pied Fly, Meadow Pipits and a few Skylarks (south) Tree Pipit, Six Grey Wagtails were noteworthy but not much else was aside the mega patch tick of a Wood Warbler - first seen by Andy and me and called as a Y-br then as a Greenish by me and finally after a half decent view as a Wood Warbler by all of us!

 Ilya popped over in the afternoon and we spent yonks looking at not much, only notching up Redstart. After trawling through loads of good habo we left the pines and set off for home before giving the sallows one last bash.... Ilya called me over to a mystery warbler... it had a wing bar... that set pulses racing! It was infuriatingly difficult to get to grips with and was only visible through a thick cover of leaves as it dashed asbout here and there. My experience in Asia had it narrowed down a bit but it wouldn't call and in the late light the green tones were difficult to sort out. It didn't show any hint of a second wing bar and had a nice thick and even super and some light green edging to the secondaries. The crown feathers were raised a couple of times a la Greenish and the bill seen from below was broad and withouth a dark tip. The chest and lower flanks were also clean and pale, not marked dull buff-grey as in Arctic. I voiced my thoughts that I was confident it was a Greenish Warbler and despite some brief playing of the wrong song (Two-barred Greenish which didn't elicit a response, thankfully!) after 40 mins we managed to nail it down as a Greenish and a few other locals such as Andy, Phil and Tim etc managed to see it well, eventually. And then I went and got drunk at Neils!.. Lovely food and the champagne went down very well. With the Wood Warbler no doubt roosting a few yards away...and very nice to meet a few of the yokels, sorry, locals

 A fine reward after a hard days searching...

Sept 28th

Despite stopping off on my drunken bike ride home to boot the bird's roosting bush it was still present first thing and showed well to Andy for 20 mins, also calling three times. Siskins and Redpolls heading north, Mipits north, several Reed Buntings over, couple of Grey Wags, 80 Pinkfeet, couple of Great-spotted Woodpeckers, five Wheatears and the Wood Warbler still present and responding to imitations of its call. About 15 Song Thrushes dropped into a stubble field neasr Castle Farm, also present wreer the usual Yellowhammers and Chaffinches etc

Sept 29th

A Short-eared Owl on the beach was the highlight of the morning - good views in flight after flushing too. A few Siskins over and a Redstart on the way to work. Wood Warbler still present and a Great Grey Shrike seen by Andy and Les in Eccles. We spent the evening hoping for a skulky phyllosc that called briefly in the morning to show. Nothing doing unfortunately, even with an mp3. Maybe it got away, or maybe tomorrow...

If you owe your bank one hundred thousand pounds,  you have a problem

If you owe your bank one million pounds, your bank has a problem!

Although we appear to be witnessing the fundamental failure of the free market economy, one thing is for sure - the birding will continue in east Norfolk. All the flash jargon and hi-tech language on the tv is doing a poor job of covering up the obvious fact that the world's banks are grinding to a halt. For weeks (probably more like years!) they've been trying to put off the day of reckoning - it might be just around the corner now. Best we go back to using money that really exists. Keep your beer money under the bed for the foreseeable future and remember:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 30th

A walk around Waxham after work saw only a couple of hundred Pink-footed Geese at Waxham and 79 Ruff, fewer Golden Plover and 30+ Cranes on Brograve of note. Little Owl tonight on post before football. The Liverpool - Eindhoven game on TV was a shocker. Champions League my arse - a pathetic apology for a game of football, rather worse than the dismal Man Utd - Aalborg game last night. What's the point of these no-hope teams that make up the numbers...? More Arsenal - Porto please rsather than the four pointless dull games against other teams that will see both of those teams through the group stages.

news you hear late from the team you really don't

want to know. Jumping into ditches on the frontline of birding.

 

freewebs (or I) managed to lose all my Oct notes before my monthly back up (now weekly!) somehow - managed to salvage a few days and the main birds are still in my notebook so I've reposted the main stuff but a lot of the seawatch stuff is now wet and indecipherable in my notebook

Oct

The cranes became much more visible throughout the month and it was usual to see them daily, often in good numbers. A few Short-eared Owls were seen and Whoopers returned.

Oct 3rd

Fri dawned with big winds and white tops. I managed to grab a bit of time before school as it was a training day and saw a few Bonxies and Gannets heading south. Made it up to Eccles via a stop off at Winterton, thanks to Andy relaying news of an adult Long-tailed Skua off Eccles just as I rang him. Met a couple of interesting characters at Winterton by the cafe – amazing that anyone can seawatch in those conditions! No real shelter there at all, constantly buffeted by the wind. Made it up to Eccles shortly after and enjoyed the tail two-three hours of the seawatch. Birds seen during the day (many missed by me) included adult Long-tailed Skua south, 58 Arctics, 53 Bonxies, Storm Petrel – picked up by Tim Nicholson - Great Northern and Black-throated Divers which both passed by close in, 16 Eider, 13 Sooty Shearwaters, 5 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Terns, 4 Little Gulls, Puffin, Balearic Shearwater, and late on four bulky dark skuas at distance that appeared to be Poms – presumably those reported a short while earlier at Sheringham?

Oct 4^th

Up bright and early to Eccles in hope of some decent reorientation. Never happened. 9 Shags, a few Bonxies, Arctics, loadsa Gannets, a few Red-throated Divers, 3 Great-crested Grebes, 5 Rock Pipits, Greylag Goose in-off, two Dark-bellied Brents, 2 Snow Buntings, 2 juv. Arctic Terns, 1700 Pink-footed Geese over, 20 Knot, Tufted Duck, a few Scoter and a probable female Pintail.

Oct 5^th

Woken by the wind and rain a few times before rising to a rather grim Sunday morning. I braved a couple of hours in the rain but nothing was doing so I called it a morning and headed for home. A late afternoon session, when the rain subsided and the wind strengthened slightly, saw me fare a better. Soon after setting up, a few Gannets and the odd Bonxie confirmed things were moving. A flurry of four Red-throated Divers south was quickly followed by 20 Common Scoter north and a couple of Arctic Terns. A small bird skittishly moving behind the reefs and looking very petrel-like caught my eye through the bins but I struggled to relocate it in the scope. A few moments later I had it heading south somewhat erratically but it looked all dark at the angle I had save for a white rump. After heading south it turned about face and came back north, closer in and allowing much better scrutiny. Seen to be dark brown above with an obvious pale covert bar going all the way to the carpals. A decent whitish rump patch was evident and on a couple of occasions the forked tail could be made out. The underwing was totally dark with no trace of the white covert bar of a Stormy. The wings were distincly angled and the bird was jinking around rather a lot. All of this added up to a Leach's Petrel – my first of the year and just as the sky was clearing and the sun was coming out. So much better when it's your own find too! A lumbering juv. Pom shortly before the petrel was a bonus and the odd Bonxie was still passing. Several auks passed by but all seemed to be Guillemots and an ultra slim skua at distance remained unidentified, no plumage details discernible.

Oct 10th

Couple of Short-eared Owls Horsey, two Cranes

Oct 11th

Great Grey Shrike flew north towards me from Dave Showler at the dump but ended up going inland - seen at the roost later on and reported as possible Steppe Grey.

Osprey at East Ruston - cheers Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 12th

No sign of the possible 'Steppe Grey' - undoubtedly just a normal excubitor. Only myself and Andy bothered to search although I guess a few more than that would turn up to see it if it were one.

Lapland Bunting and two Short-eareds on Hempstead this evening.

Oct 13th/14th

Short-eared Owl at Waxham around the pipe dump gave stunning views - best I've ever had. At one point my whole bins view was of a SEO facial disc. Quite scary!

Oct 16th

Red-breasted Merganser, Arctic Skua and two Gadwall north on a short afterschool seawatch

Oct 17th

Lapland Bunting flushed from stubble field giving its characteristic tr-r-r-r-t call

And Levi Stubbs died today.

Oct 18th

Black Redstart on the Eyrie roof.

Oct 19th

Yellow-browed Warbler in Eccles. Ilya heard one call, myself and Josh then heard it three times and we met in the middle. This one was a real devil to get a view of and along with Andy we spent a good part of 1.5 hours just trying to get reasonable views of it. Black Redstart opposite my house, Brambling over Eccles. No sign of a 'possible' American Golden Plover south of the village but a Woodcock cpasted along the dunes.

Oct 20th

No sign of either Yellow-browed Warbler or American Golden Plover but a small very grey Golden was present which was responsible for the confusion. It was, however, short-winged and legged with no obvious supercilium etc. 1362 Golden Plover though!

Dave Showler sent me a nice Crane pic though...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 21st

Golden Plover flock still present

Oct 22nd

Snow Bunting in the dunes at Waxham

Oct 24th

Possible Laughing Gull reported from Waxham. Both Andy and Phil checked it out but only had two Med Gulls (adult and first-winter) and a Purple Sandpiper

Oct 25th

Great Grey Shrike on Brograve. Showed quite well for about an hour for me, Andy, Neil and Phil. 8 Whoopers back on their roosting pool. Again no sign of the gull but now two Purple Sandpipers there.

Oct 26th

Couple of trips down to the pipe dump but nothing doing except another Purple Sandpiper.

Oct 27th

Seawatch off Eccles Slavonian Grebe, 2 Arctic, 3 Bonxies, Little Gull etc... 8 Whoopers on the pool.

Oct 28th

The hoped for rough weather never arrived but a seawatch with Andy early on anyway: Balearic Shearwater, two Manx Shearwater, Med Gull, good numbers of Gannets and Dark-bellied Brents, single male Goosander, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, Bonxie, Arctic Skua, a few Shags, a few Common Scoter, Eider, Shelduck, Pintail, Mallard, Wigeon, Goldeneye etc. Waderwise - several Knot, a few Dunlin, Redshank, 2 Curlew. Four Kittiwakes, c.20 Red-throated Divers, several auks, Snow Bunting and a few Rock Pipits over.

Just around lunchtime a Red-backed Shrike at a local site.

Here's Bob's shot it - it's a Red-backed, honest! Note the barred crown, cresecentic markings on the mantle, almost white underparts, long wing with 7 primary tips visible, shortish tail with square cut corners, greater covs pattern, weakish mask and pale lores, bill shape etc. Apart from that (!) you could mistake it for a Brown. Bob also had a Ring Ouzel in-off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

a final seawatch produced another Manx, c.50 Dark-bellied Brents, 7 Shelduck, Gadwall and a few Common Scoter.

Oct 29th

Quiet seawatch this moring then a lunchtime walk down to the pipe dump saw c.60 Meadow Pipits at Waxham. 8 Whoopers off to roost on their pool as I drove to football along Hickling Lane.

Oct 30th

Seawatching today with Andy and Tim N. 3000 Dark-bellied Brents north, just over 300 Eider, six Bonxies, two Purple Sandpipers, Two Short-eared Owls in-off, Hen Harrier in-off, Woodcock in-off. Thousand upon thousands of Starlings and hundreds of thrushes (Fieldfare, Redwing and Song) piling in including one thrush that ditched into a water grave just yards short of the sea wall. A Red-necked Grebe south early on. Good numbers of Common Scoter, Teal and Wigeon, c.60 Shelduck, lesser numbers of Pintail, 5 Mergansers, 3 Scaup, single Shoveler south, single Great-crested Grebe, a few Dunlin north. Four Snow Buntings on the sea wall and a few Rock Pipits over. We managed to turn up a Firecrest in the lee of the sycamores near Lokeside, couple of Chiffchaffs and flushed another Woodcock from very close range. Five Tree Sparrows, 3 Marsh Harriers and a Sprawk.

After loosing my Oct notes I'll be glad when this month is over. Given the weather, I reckon we've done ok. Be nice to finish it off with a Pallas' tomorrow... it goes a little bit like this:

 

and if you spend too much time looking for them, you might get a bit of this:

 

Oct 31st

And it duly arrived - get in there!!!! East Norfolk produces again. Hard work, long hours but results.

10 Black Redstarts - all different, Long-eared Owl, two Firecrests, six Woodcocks, several Chiffchaffs, a few Brambling and a stonking Pallas's Warbler. Locations and details to follow after football... gotta dash

Click for larger images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the quality of the pic - only had my phone on me. There will be better shots to come. Here's some video of the Pallas' in the hand.

 

 

Nov 1st

Out early on but very little happening unless you call a single Brambling happening. Met Josh, had a coffee and tried again but little doing except one of yesterday's Black Redstarts lingering. Ilya arrived and along with Andy we hammered some productive local spots but turned up very little, bar Goldcrests. Had a break for lunch back at home and then the four of us spent the rest of the day seawatching. Despite it starting off very slowly if rapidly turned into a fine afternoon. Gannets begin moving through and then Kittiwakes, usually in the surf just offshore affording excellent views. The odd Little Gull too and a few small groups of Common Scoter, one of which harboured a slightly larger female Velvet Scoter sat on the water bobbing about, showing its white wing flash from time to time, and occasionally the pale face markings could be seen. By now Kittiwakes were piling through in groups of 5-30 and suddenly a shout went up from Josh of Sabine's Gull, close in! Andy Josh and Ilya were in a much better position than me to see the bird and were enjoying top quality views so I had to uproot and move a few yards south to finally get onto the bird after a panicky few seconds. Being in with a flock of Kitts, the structure of the bird stod out like a sore thumb - much smaller and with a stumpy-winged appearance. It was so close in that the dark mark on the underwing could be seen quite well. A great result that provided a lot of pleasure.

Five mins later I picked up a small dark bird coming south and called a petrel. I then lost if for several seconds in the choppy sea before Andy got onto it and we ascertained it was a Leach's Petrel due to the lack of white underwing and general mode of flight and size etc. It took Ilya a few more panicky moments to pan round far enough before he too was able to enjoy the second part of a great double-headed... the Kitts kept coming and we called it a day at just over 1000+ birds. Four Bonxies were also seen south, a single Arctic Skua, 11 Snow Buntings, 2 Shags, several auks, single Red-breasted Merganser and two eared owl species in-off.

Another good day after a poor start. Top work guys!

Nov 2nd

After a night of pool (Tom n Tim 4 Ilya n Holly 0) light intake of beer and discussion of the finer points of Ficedula identification we managed to get an earlyish night and subsequent early morning start. Hammering of as much cover as possible produced a lot of Goldcrests, Black Redstart, two Woodcocks, the odd Brambling and a Short-eared Owl in-off. Teamed up with Andy and we managed to add three Greenshank over, 2 Woodcocks and a fantastic, recently in, Long-eared Owl which perched up giving us some excellent daylight views of these gorgeous birds. And it was nice to brush up our eared owl in flight id skills too - the LEO having less obvious underwing barring and more rusty/foxy tones to the wings and obvious rufous facial markings.

More hammering of cover produced a total of four Firecrests between Eccles and Waxham, another pale Short-eared Owl showing a very good white trailing edge, two Woodcocks and a Snow Bunting in the dunes.

Not the hoped for rare just yet but after a weekend of Pallas's, Leach's, Sabine's, several SEOs, 2 LEOs, 15+ Black Redstarts, 6 Firecrests and several Woodcock, all no more than a mile or so from home, well, you can't complain can you? The four of us were certainly quite pleased...

Nov 3rd

Well, seems like I've ruffled a few feathers in the Norfolk birding 'scene' with the 'anti-twitching' (?) vibe of this website. What with me twitching occasionally (BR Warbler and WC Sparrow this year) it's rankled with a couple of people. So in the interests of peace, love and harmony on the Norfolk birding scene and not 'blackening' my name, this is the end of aPallingbirding / eastnorfolkbirding. I did consider just keeping a sightings page up but it was the comment and the all the rest of it that I enjoyed most. And if you were offended, you probably deserved it.

And with Rememberance Day fast approaching, it seems fitting to end on a more serious note. It's 64 years ago tomorrow that my father's Lancaster was shot down over Germany. They used to fly out over the coast here. And sometimes they even came back. Life's different these days. Think yourself fortunate. I do.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a4420568.shtml 

http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/Canal%20raids/Loss%20PB192.html

anyway, I enjoyed 'blogging'. Hope you enjoyed bits of it too.

Tim

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EASTNORFOLKBIRDING - The news you really CAN trust from the team you don't

want to know - as opposed to half the guff that gets on the pagers these days.