Wolfeton Triangle

Had a quick drive around at dusk to look for Golden Pheasant with the family before visiting parents. Managed to keep my 100% fail rate at the site. However we did enjoy fantastic views of a Woodcock just a few yards from us caught in the car head-lights. Also a Stoat.

Pink-footed Geese

Went to Snettisham to watch the Pink-footed Geese come in. Took the family and met my parents and brother with his girlfriend. They gave up because of the cold and missed a spectacular show. The most I’ve seen come in, maybe due to the low moonlight? They saw the Knots put on a great display though, particularly after a couple of Peregrines put them up.

Tried a picture of the geese after dark. Terrible picture, but does show the beautiful sunset colours. Venus is in the background.

Snettisham
28 December 2013 14:36 - 17:14
Sunny 3C 8SW
Pink-footed Goose, Greylag Goose, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Pheasant, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Greater Canada Goose, Peregrine, Coot, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Shelduck, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch

Christmas Bonus Brünnich’s!

Amazingly a  Brünnich's Guillemot was found on Boxing day. I casually went to see it the following day. Great close views. Also two Black-throated Divers and a Black Guillemot. I celebrated at Chesil Beach with Turkey Sandwich whilst watching the spectacular storms that came in just after leaving Portland.

Parrot Crossbills?

Went to Mayday Farm for a few hours early afternoon. Found a good ‘candidate’ male Parrot Crossbill, in the location that a flock had been reported. However, I dismissed this as being a Common Crossbill, of which I saw about twenty in total. However, I’m fairly sure the birds I had seen were later reported as being Parrot Crossbills. Having spent many hours looking through photos, the male bird I saw may have been a Parrot. Not convinced though, so I plan to return.

Fowlmere

An early morning stroll in the fog. Not a lot to see, but some atmospheric scenes.

Amwell

Went to Amwell for a few hours this afternoon. Two Cetti’s Warblers (one seen), a redhead Smew, and an adult Yellow-legged Gull were the highlights. Low point was the flap on the hide falling down and giving me a huge wack and a nasty bruise on my forehead.

Bearded Tit

A Bearded Tit was heard pinging at Fowlmere during a very quick visit at first light in order to see if the gales had blown anything in. They hadn’t.

Fowlmere

Very quiet until I flushed a Woodcock just before dusk. Nice colours over the mere…

There she doesn’t blow!

Went to Eccles* to look for the Humpback Whale that has been reported on and off over the last few weeks heading slowly North along the East Norfolk coast.No birders, no whalers, a lovely afternoon, but no Whale.

Big compensation would have been a Lapland Bunting that flew over but couldn’t be relocated. I assumed it may have been with the hundred or so Snow Buntings on the beach but I couldn’t find it. Two Black-throated Divers lingered off-shore for a while and two Red-throated Divers flew past. Other than that, a few flocks of Eider, a flock of Common Scoter, and the occasional Gannet were noted along with a lot of Grey Seals.

*A place I knew from my many boyhood summer holidays spent there. I worked out it was about 35 years since I’d been here last!

  

Otter

No birds, but an Otter glimpsed at Fowlmere. My first for quite some time.

Fowlmere
14 November 2013 12:40 - 13:39
Patchy cloud 11C 15NW
Grey Partridge, Grey Heron, Buzzard, Black-headed Gull, Woodpigeon, Barn Owl, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Skylark, Long-tailed Tit, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Robin, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Corn Bunting, Rabbit, Otter

Fowlmere

A very quick early afternoon stroll in the sun. Surprise find was a pair of Blackcaps. Some nice Autumnal colours

Fowlmere & Shepreth L-moor

Extremely quiet. Hardly a bird seen at Fowlmere and less at dusk at Shepreth. A couple of late Common Darters enjoyed the winter sun, including this one resting on the bridge. Maybe this is the last one I’ll see this year?

Glossy Ibis at Rye Meads

Back to my very first patch from when I was a seven year old to tick the Glossy Ibis that I missed two days ago and returned this morning. Quite distant, but a county tick all the same.

Fowlmere

A windy Fowlmere isn’t as exciting as a windy Cornish headland. Results can be pretty similar, in this case: No birds. But the anticipation factor isn’t the same.

A late Red Admiral and Common Darter were enjoying the November sunshine. Four Grey Partridges were in long grass and a Barn Owl in the nest box.

Hermit Thrush at Porthgwara

Back to Porthgwara for the Hermit Thrush. About ten of us were lucky enough to see it at dawn. Although the views were great, the light was a bit dim so I hung around. After a couple of hours there was no further sign so I went for a walk to St. Levan. Not much was seen, but on my return, early afternoon, I arrived at just the moment the Thrush was re-found and I enjoyed more good views in good light!

After a pasty to celebrate I did Nanjizal. Again, not much. I then went back to St. Levan where a few fields from where I was looking, a Red-breasted Flycatcher had been found and enjoyed good views. Finally I did a quick look around at Porthcurno before the rain began to come down heavily.

Long-tailed Duck at Amwell

A first for Amwell: A Long-tailed Duck. Managed to get there with ten minutes of light to spare!

Cornwall (Day 3)

And another tough one. The overnight storm that was apparently to bring the country to a standstill didn’t happen to the degree it was supposed to. Very windy the next day. Had the kids (but no Michelle) in tow. St. Levan, Porthcurno, Porthgwara, Nanquidno: Nothing. Finally a Yellow-browed Warbler found in the Cot Valley. Calling loudly but not seen! Oh well, time to reluctantly pack up for this year.

  

Edit (29/10/2013): A Hermit Thrush in Porthgwara carpark. In the spot we were the previous day!

Cornwall (Day 2)

A real tough day. Mousehole area, Cot Valley, Nanquido, and Kenidjack. Tried hard but saw very little. A seawatch last thing was also disappointing although others apparently had better luck. Best sighting all day was a Hummingbird Hawk-moth(!) found by Tom in the morning.

Cornwall (Day 1)

Arrived with the family early morning at the scenic location of Morrison’s carpark, Marazion, to take in the juvenile Rose-coloured Starling which was seen, albeit briefly, after twenty minutes or so. Then on to Porthgwara where after taking breakfast at the cafe, we walked to the Minack Theatre along the coast, cutting in to St. Levan, and then back to Porthgwara and up to the watch. A pleasant walk; not a great deal of Passerine activity, but a Merlin and Peregrine were seen.

 

I then took the family back to our base at Mousehole, and I walked Lamorna Cove. Unfortuantely the rain came down very heavily and I saw very little.

Fowlmere

Not a bad late afternoon stroll. Nine Siskins, four Redpoll, and a Chiffchaff calling. Plus a great sunset.

Landgard

A free day, and so I’d planned to go birding either in Norfolk again, or Suffolk. However, torrential rain was forecast all day, and that is what I awoke to. Around midday however, the rain cleared, and so I decided to make a dash for the nearest potential migrant spot which I worked out as Landgard. Bad choice. Hardly a migrant to be seen. A few Redwings in-off, and a Blackcap, but nothing like the weekend before. A Mediterranean Gull was probably the highlight. Probably would have seen more if I’d stayed in bed.

Bramblings! Garden Tick!

Had a lie-in as I stayed up through the night to watch the Dodgers fail miserably  in the NLCS. Made a cup of tea and went back to bed with my binoculars as there was a lot of movement in the churchyard tree next top the bedroom, with an obvious influx of Redwings feeding on the berries. And then, two Bramblings! Wow! Something I hadn’t expected to see in the garden, particularly whilst lying in bed!
Fowlmere was very quiet in comparison. This Cormorant was the only bird of note.

Ruff at Fowlmere

Walked around Fowlmere when the sun eventually came out just before dusk. Absolutely nothing until I walked into the main hide and Doug had a wader in his scope. There was some initial debate as to its identification but to my mind it was clearly a Ruff. The forth record for the reserve apparently, and my second.

Also there was the eclipse male Shoveller a (or probably several) Wigeon were heard.

North Norfolk Migrant Hunting

The weather was calm after yesterday’s northerly, and with a free day I arrived at Burnham Overy Staithe at exactly 9am. Checking the bushes and scrub it was clear there had been a big fall of Robins, sometimes with three or four in a bush; throughout the day I must have seen over a thousand in total. Blackcaps were also numerous and there had clearly been a fall of those too. Thrushes were not as numerous as predicted.

Walking towards the coast, around 10am I stopped at the sluice gate to look at what turned out to be a Goldcrest (also numerous), when a Great Grey Shrike flew into the bush! A great find but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

I then carried on my walk and near to where the path splits towards Gun Hill and Holkham Pines there were a large number of small birds. Mostly House Sparrows, Blackcaps, Goldcrests, and Robins, but also a Chiffchaff and two Mealy Redpolls. I was also told about an interesting Eastern-type Lesser Whitethroat. I quickly picked this very pale looking bird up and managed a couple of photos:

 

I headed left towards Gun Hill and did a seawatch for half an hour, but there was little going past apart from Gannets. Walking to the tip by Scolt Head, I found little apart from lots more Robins, Goldcrests, and Blackcaps, as well as a Common Seal. However, on my return, I did manage to pickup four Bramblings. Redwings were coming in-off which is always good to see and allowed for the odd photograph as they plonked themselves down to recover.

 

I then headed towards Holkham Pines, bumping into a party from Tom’s new school, Hills Road! In the dunes I found another Great Grey Shrike! I guess it could possibly have been the same bird but it was a reasonable distance from the first and there was obviously a fall along the coast. I managed a distant photo:

Birding was quiet until I got near to the pines where there was a large Long-tailed Tit flock that included quite a few Warblers (nothing special, just Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs). However I soon found a Redstart followed by a flyover Ring Ouzel.

The rain started to come down heavily at this point so I went into the pines to shelter and bumped into some people watching a Yellow-browed Warbler! The rain showed no sign of stopping so, rather tired and it beginning to get dark, I made the long walk back to the car.

Redwings

Went to Fowlmere last thing where it was blowng a gale. A flock of about fifty Redwings was flying around. Winter’s here! To confirm identity I took a rather blurred photo of this North American Signal Crayfish.

Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Just a ten minute stroll around 3pm and nothing to report, but: Only a camera phone shot yet the low autumnal light made these flowers really stand out…

Fowlmere

Rather dull. Only migrant was a Blackcap and a Red Admiral. Did manage to catch up with the Shoveler that had been put on the board for the last few visits but which I had missed. It was mainly fairly well hidden and is actually a male in eclipse.

Trimley Marshes

Made a made dash to Trimeley Marshes, racing against the light in order to get to a Siberian Stonechat, probably the commonest of birds I’ve not seen in Britain. Made it by (for the second time this year) running the whole three miles. Was in the hide next to John Richardson who took the excellent picture.

 

Fowlmere

A very quick spin around the reserve. Not much, but tested the new camera on a Common Darter and a Grass Snake.