NGB - 'Norfolk = Great Birding'

I've not been much of a social birder since I moved away from the area of my hometown RSPB group, and rarely had much to do with birders my age at any time.  Not really through choice I hasten to add, though I've certainly enjoyed the freedom of birding alone.

 

So, when I got the chance to join with the Next Generation Birders on a weekend in Norfolk, I put in a great deal of effort to get the time off work, and sort out accommodation, in order to go.

 

After coming up to King's Lynn late on Friday night (picking up Amy Robjohns, Liam Curson, and Ollie Simms on the way), we were out first light on Saturday to stake out Golden Pheasant at the famous Wolferton triangle.  Despite seeding the verges, there was no sign, with only a calling Brambling by way of compensation.

 

We gave them some time to appear, and popped down the road to Roydon Common, a site I've not been to before. 

 

 

We were hoping to see the Shrike, but despite a report that it was still present, we failed.  We, being a group of 13 or so of us.

There was little of interest here otherwise, other than the nice New Forest/Thursley Common-esque landscape.

We headed back to Wolferton, only to immediately come across the hoped-for Golden Pheasant. Clearly it appreciated the peace and quiet away from us!

Onto Hunstanton and a brief look from the cliffs there.

As you can see, we were all captivated by the tick of Fulmar!

Holme golf course was the next location, and on arrival we flushed a pair of Grey Partridge, and had a Red-throated Diver fly past.  Eventually, the hoped-for flock of 9 Snow Bunting made an appearance.  Just before leaving, I got a glimpse of a Long-tailed Duck landing behind the dunes. Never saw it again frustratingly!

We moved on to Thornham Channel...

...where a nice flock of Twite showed close-to.

Titchwell is a must-visit whilst in the area, and as always, it produced the goods.  A Water Pipit was immediately found on the freshmarsh, and a very distant Great Northern Diver was on the sea - much rarer here than back home.

A quick nip into Choseley guaranteed us Corn Bunting, and a look at Burnham Overy found us the first of many Barn Owl.

Another site it's illegal to bypass whilst in north Norfolk is Cley, and our determination to go was heightened even more by news of an American Wigeon.  While this turned out to be phony, we did however have other goodies to look for, with a distant White-fronted Goose, and the overwintering Garganey, showing to us.

After a failed attempt at wild swans, we headed to the roost at Stubb's Mill, Hickling Broad.  We were worried we'd be too late, but as it happens it was very good timing. 

A male Hen Harrier was a fantastic sight as always, along with 2 ringtails.  A few Chinese Water Deer were around too.

We eventually got onto 2 rather elusive Crane nearby, but as the sun set, we were worried that would be it from our main target.

But, just as we were leaving in almost complete darkness, we heard the evocative and unmistakable sound of a large flock of them coming in to roost.  32 to be precise - the largest number for a while there apparently.  This video is a documentation of the moment (and sounds), rather than the visuals!

I finished the day on the personal total of exactly 100 species - by quite a margin my most prolific day ever.

After a night in Norwich, Sunday dawned, and my birthday - would it be fitting as a birthday treat?  We started off at the promising-looking Breydon Water - another first-visit for me.

We were rather hoping to see the Richard's Pipit that had been around all winter, but there was initially no sign. 

113 Avocet were on the water (yes, I bothered to count them), and I heard a Spotted Redshank, which later showed well to all.

As we approached the limit of the Pipit's favoured range, a bird was flushed, and flew off into the distance.  During it's rather long flight, it joined flocks of Skylark, and then Meadow Pipit, allowing a perfect comparison.  We concluded it could only really have been the Richard's Pipit! Good thing it wasn't a lifer!

We moved down the road to Halvergate Marshes...

 

Where, as I experienced 2 weeks ago, a Rough-legged Buzzard was immediately in view.  Although others were disappointed to see it sat around, I enjoyed seeing it like this, being the opposite behaviour to the Jevington bird.

 

 After that, I was incompetent in not seeing the Bewick's Swan flock that everyone else was looking at, at a nearby site.  Then it was on to Thorpe Green, Norwich, to twitch a species I see every day.

 

Even so, it was showing rather well...

 

I'm being unnecessarily facetious really, cause it was nice to admire the 1st-winter Mediterranean Gull so close.

 

We then moved south to the Breckland of Suffolk, and the curious site of Santon Downham. 

Curious, cause it seemed to be a small reedbed in the middle of a woodland.  Nonetheless, it did hold the species we'd missed the day before, a Great Grey Shrike.  A close-up view revealed scaly underparts (indicating a 1st-winter) - not something I can remember noticing before.

A site which is always worth a visit is Lynford Arboretum (despite my previous visits being Two-barred Crossbill dips).  The main target was elusive, with only a Brambling the compensation once again. 

Luckily though, two Hawfinch were eventually seen round the usual paddocks.

We then briefly popped into a site for Goshawk, but failed, only seeing a Red Kite of note.  A short-tailed passerine I glimpsed was probably a Woodlark, but I didn't get enough on it.

Our penultimate stop was a housing estate in Mildenhall...

...where a Waxwing showed beautifully - always a pleasure.

The rather fitting finale was a dusk visit to Lakenheath Fen...

...where a Great White Egret was flying around.  But, the highlight was the still conditions, red sunset, and the sight and sound of thousands of Jackdaw and Rook coming in to roost above our heads. Mind-blowing! 

 

Personal trip total: 120 species.

 

A wonderful weekend then, and it was great to meet all the brilliant young birders.  A big thanks to them all for the great company, but particularly James Shergold and Jake Gearty, who did most of the organisation. I look forward to the next one guys!

 

Mmm. Maybe I should start birding Portland again? I almost forgot! ;-)

 

I suppose it's back to being a birding-loner once again. :-(

Who Wants to be a Kumlien-airre

Oh dear, I've just realised how awful that title is.  I can only apologise.

I've rather lost track of the events of the last five days, suffice to say, they were really enjoyable.

One 1st-winter Iceland Gull has made itself a fixture of Chesil Cove, with a second briefly joining it on the 2nd March.

In fact I've spent quite a bit of time seawatching at that site, with little reward in terms of passage. Just a bit of obvious small Gull movement, including a number of Black-headed Gull flocks circling into the sky to take a short-cut across Portland Harbour.   Also the odd Common Scoter and Diver.

It's great to see the community getting together to clean up the legacy of the storms.

A few visits to Ferrybridge have yielded great action from the now smart-looking Mediterranean Gull.

On the 1st, I met up with an enthusiastic young naturalist called Megan who is currently doing a community engagement and wildlife course with the Dorset Wildlife Trust. See her excellent blog here http://mshersby.wordpress.com/  She is eager to learn as much as possible about the wildlife of Portland, and I was delighted to be able to show her the local Barn Owl pair that evening.  They put on an excellent show for us, as they called to each other, and prospected nest sites.

Today

On what was a beautifully still day, I took the opportunity to go on one of my long rambles, first round Barelycrates/Reap/Suckthumb, then to Chesil Cove and back.  I can really sense that a summer migrant is just round the corner, though not today sadly!

I again bumped into a/the Firecrest at Suckthumb Quarry, but there was little else of note around.

As soon as I set up at Chesil, an Iceland Gull honed into view.  I saw nothing particularly unusual about it, till it was almost out of view as it carried on south towards the Bill.  Was that darker primaries I saw?  I wasn't sure. 

Almost immediately afterwards, the now regular (and perfectly regular) Iceland Gull appeared, showing on and off for the rest of the morning.  But, is this the same as the bird above?  I don't think so.

Sea passage consisted of a Manx Shearwater, a Red-throated Diver, and three Common Scoter.  Only a tiny improvement on recent sessions!

My first butterfly of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell, was seen.

As I walked back along the West Weares, I made a point of checking the seas, just in case.  This paid off, as a very quick scan of the water south of Blacknor Point produced an Iceland Gull-type.  I took out my scope once again and had a quick look, not expecting much.  Initially, it appeared pretty normal, but then it turned round, revealing it's primary projection, clearly with dark-tips.  It was unfortunately always distant.

But, with the support of Martin, I was delighted to call it a 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull.  My first!

I was able to get a little closer to get this footage, but the sun was causing a bit of saturation.  The flaps it does was the only time I saw it open it's wings (pause it, and you may just be able to see the key features!).

I'm pretty happy with that find I have to say!

Later on whilst on my break at work, I was able to pop into Ferrybridge, and just catch a Buzzard flying from the island onto the mainland, over Portland Harbour.  Proper migration!

I predict the first Wheatear tomorrow (though I won't find it, as I'm working all day!).

I do realise my posts have been a little Gull-heavy lately, but what can I say, they're big and easy to photograph!

Everywhere and Everything

I've been quite widely-travelled today, visiting every corner of the island in my quest for migrants!  There's something for everyone in this post.

I headed out first thing in the hope of bumping into some new migrants.  Well, having negotiated Barleycrates Lane, and seen nothing, I wasn't at all hopeful of any repeat of yesterdays fall.  I took a different route this morning, via Suckthumb Quarry, finding a gem of a mini woodland I had not visited before on the north edge.  There was at least a few Willow Warbler here, but nothing else.  On exiting the quarry, I heard the distinctive flight call of a Green Sandpiper, as it flew overhead (later seen over the Obs), though I failed to locate it.  A nice Portland tick! 

I moved up into Top Fields, and started to scan around.  A few more Willow Warblers were about, moving between clumps of bushes quite quickly.  A nice find in one of the horse fields here, was a few specimens of the dung-fungus Snowy Inkcap Coprinopsis nivea.

 

I scrutinised Culverwell as best I could, but I only found more Willow Warbler.  On the way down the road to the Obs, I again heard the flight call of a wader going over, this time a Redshank.  Yet again, I failed to find the bloomin' thing.  Are these waders higher than they sound?  It seems there had been quite a lot of wader migration activity today, as the Obs had also had LRP, Ringed Plover, Snipe, and a Wood Sandpiper!

 

On the way back, I went via Reap Lane and the West Weares.  On the path here I found 3 Wheatear together.  Probably the same as I had seen in the area the day before (joined by another).

 

On return home, I decided the next port of call had to be Ferrybridge, what with all this wader activity.  When I got there, the tide was almost fully in, which meant that the massed waders were all really close to the visitor centre, and appeared to be little bothered by people walking around.  An excellent opportunity to refine my phonescoping.  Despite the hope, there was actually little unusual, with around 150 Dunlin, 12 Sandering, 1 Turnstone, 2 Oystercatcher, 80 Mediterranean Gull, and the ever present Little Tern.  There was a steady southerly passage of Sand Martin, Swallow, and Swift.  A very strange sound turned out to be a Black-headed Gull choking!  It seemed to recover okay.

 

I think I've finally sorted the best settings for my scope and phone to produce the clearest shots, with no vignetting.

 

Dunlin

 

 

Ringed Plover

 

 

Turnstone

 

 

Mediterranean Gull (immature - ringed YAA2)

Black-headed Gull (also ringed) 

 

Mediterranean Gull (juvenile - 1 of 3)

 A mass of waders (notice the 2 Sanderling, centre right)

And finally, this was a rather fluky shot.  I'm not sure how I persuaded those Dunlin to line up with the Little Tern in front (the right hand bird's a juvenile)!

 

 

Earlier, I had bumped into the Saunders', and they had informed me that they had seen a Whinchat by the pools.  So, I followed this up by walking along the edge of the car park, back towards Portland a little way.  No sign of it.  Maybe it has crossed the road, I thought.  I'd walked halfway back towards the centre, when, bingo!  Shame I didn't have my scope at this point, so I had to make do with phonebinning, with poor results!  You'll just have to take my word for it.

 



 



 



This evening, I fancied a little more exploring, so checked out the area of Yeolands Quarry between Easton and Grove.  It's a fantastic little site, complete with two stands of reeds, presumably where ponds once were.  But, yet again, what really characterised the area was the sheer number of butterflies, particularly Chalkhill Blue!  How many can roost on one grass head?

 

 

And how many can you spot here?

 



 

(Answer: 7 - 6 males and 1 female)

 

I had a lovely walk around here, seeing loads of interesting moths as well, with the likes of Blood-vein and Pyrausta purpuralis on show.  I also almost bumped into a Fox!

 

Back to the old grindstone tomorrow, but I hope something rarer turns up for the afternoon.

Auksome!

Another day off today (the benefit of working part-time), and the sky was lovely and cloudy, so I thought I'd go down to the Bill first thing to look for migrants, and then do some seawatching.  Well, a quick look at Avalanche Road, Top Fields, and Culverwell produced absolutely nothing of note.  Except, in Culverwell I found a tree full of juveniles.  At one point, there were young Linnet, Greenfinch, Great Tit, and Goldfinch, and shortly after some Blue Tits and a Dunnock visited it too!  Must be the day-nursery tree.  A plant lifer here was Brookweed.

Onto the Bill then where I was greeted with little to suggest a decent days passage.  However, within five minutes of me sitting down, a Curlew, a Common Tern, and 7 Manx Shearwater went past, raising my hopes.  But, the next 25 minutes went past totally uneventfully.  That was until 7 on the dot, when I couldn't help noticing a summer-plumaged Black Guillemot passing east close-in with a small flock of Razorbill and Guillemot, sticking out like a sore thumb!  There were several sightings of a bird offshore during the winter, so this is presumably the same individual that has lingered, who knows where!  You would have thought someone would have noticed if it had been in amongst the Bill Auk colony!  That was not the end of the quality, as not so long after that, a Balearic Shearwater passed east at mid-distance.  Also seen was another 7 Manxies and a lingering Mediterranean Gull.

Frustrated that I had not yet got any seabird photos, I spent the next half-hour or so experimenting with phonescoping Gannets!  Not easy!

 

 

Next I had a quick look in the obs moth trap.  It was heaving with quality as usual.  The best was this lifer of The Shark.

 

 

 

 

Amongst the other quality was a Lackey (a species I rarely see as an adult).

 

 

 

 

This Muslin Footman, which I have only seen previously in Wales.

 

 

 

 

And a Cochylis hybridella.

 

 

 

 

On the way slowly home for lunch, I decided to pop into Cheyne Weares, for no particular reason really.  As I arrived, I could hear the small birds calling wildly, and looking off the cliff, a cloud of Pipits and Linnets appeared, surrounding a juvenile Cuckoo!  The first time I've seen this plumage.  It flew off and landed out of view in a tree by Avalanche Road.  I'm certain it was a migrant, and not a locally-bred bird.

 

I continued to walk along the cliffs, and stumbled on the Portland plant ticks of Ploughman's Spikenard, Small Scabious, and Golden-rod (below).

 

 











The sun was now out with all it's force once again, and I took the route home that took me past Suckthumb Quarry, and onto Weston St.  On this area of grassland, I found this mating pair of Crescent Plume moths (notice that the leaves of Restharrow - their foodplant - are in the background).

 

And this is not something you just come across everyday!  A female Drinker with her eggs.

 

 

 

This was all just the morning remember!  Portland is a magical place.

 

In the afternoon I thought it might be worth holding a vigil at Ferrybridge, as you never know what might drop in.  The problem with this site (particularly on a day like this), is there is always another moron happy to ignore the nature reserve signs.  Nevertheless, I managed to count 53 Mediterranean Gull in attendance.

 

 

And I was entertained by watching this Great Black-backed Gull trying to devour a gigantic (already dead) Spider Crab.

 

 

Once the tide had gone fully out a nice sandy island, where no human can tread, had appeared.  On this I found 3 Dunlin, a Grey Heron, and 3 Sandwich Tern, including an early juvenile, begging for food as usual.  Are there are any colonies closer than Brownsea?

 

I had to walk along Chesil for a little way in order to see the aforementioned sandbank, and as I did so, I found a botanic gem.  It may not look much, but this Four-leaved Allseed is pretty rare (the green one, the red one is a Stonecrop).

 

 

 

 

What wonders await tomorrow.