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. :-(

Standard Fair - Part 2 (Days 2 + 3)

Our first full day started with the early check of the Heligoland traps.  This only produced two birds, a Song Thrush and a Chaffinch, but luckily, the mist nets back at the obs produced the goods with an adult and a young male Brambling.  

 

 

Just after breakfast, I was trying to get some shots of this Twite from the lounge window...

...when I noticed some movement in the bushes behind.  This proved to be a Goldcrest and a Yellow-browed Warbler.  Not the first I've found, but nice all the same.

As I waited outside for the others, first a Peregrine, then a Merlin circled about overhead. 

On our way south to the crofting area of the island, a couple of flocks of Whooper Swan flew over, and two Redpoll confused us as usual, but were probably 'Northwestern' Mealy Redpoll.

We made another attempt at seeing the Bluethroat, which this time showed immediately, although briefly.  It took a lot more waiting for it to show properly.  The wait was punctuated by a marauding Yellow-browed Warbler, which almost landed on my nearby tripod!  So strange seeing one out in the open, perching on wires and posts. 

These are the derelict buildings and small patches of Nettles of Pund, the home of the Bluethroat (and later Little Bunting).  As you can see, the weather was being kind (at the moment!).

On the way back to base for lunch, we flushed a Jack Snipe, and watched a juvenile Hen Harrier hunting. 

Our afternoon ramble took in the north of the island.  Some of the scenery was pretty dramatic.

The reason for going as far as the North Light, was to look for Snow Bunting.  It took no time at all to find a flock of 7, plus this loner.

Having Snow Bunting and Wheatear in the same scope view was quite surreal.

As was having to be blasé about Great Skua flying over.  ''What's this! Oh, it's only a Bonxie''.

One of the only Linnet of the week flew past.  Yep, we were actually searching Twite flocks for Linnet!

Back at the obs, I took the short walk down to the Havens below.  This area was continually swarming with Grey Seal.  A female...

...and a male.

The third day dawned to a decent start, but it was pretty windy out there!

From the Obs, we were able to see a male Scaup down in the Havens.  Once out, we headed down there for a better view.  There was no sign, but there was a cracking summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver instead.

On our walk back down south, we flushed a Jack Snipe from the roadside.  The bird had clearly been busy!

As we relaxed at the only shop on the island, we suddenly got the sight of a bird literally falling from the sky to our feet.

 

It was a Whinchat, and it was clearly exhausted.

 



I attempted to feed it with some woodlice and slugs that I found nearby, but it just wasn't interested.

  (c) Nicole Burgum

Unsurprisingly, the bird was later found dead.  The perils of migration are plain to see at this place.

The only other notable sighting from the day was a pair of Pochard flying over, a Fair Isle rarity.

A late round of the traps produced a few birds including a Twite and this Goldcrest.

The forecast for tomorrow is terrible!

Standard Fair - Part 1 (Journey + Day 1)



On the 2nd October, I travelled the 5 hours (with a few closed roads and satnav malfunctions not making it easy) up towards Spurn Head, overnighting near Goole.  I then drove the final hour or so for dawn at the famous point.

 

I was there to see the Masked Shrike that had been there for the previous 13 days.  A good search of the fields and hedgerows between the triangle and the listening dish revealed the bird to have left!  This is where it was!

 

 



There wasn't a great deal in the way of consolations either, with just a load of Tree Sparrow flying around, and a lot of ducks passing on the sea.

I then did the rest of the 8 hour journey up to Aberdeen.

I got an early flight over to Sumburgh, only to hear of a Siberian Rubythroat just up the road.  I had 5 hours till my flight to Fair Isle, so this was rather convenient!  I got a lift with some birders who were twitching it, and I was soon on site near Levenwick.  The twitch (with typical Shetland scenery in the background):

The weather was pretty bad, and 3 hours and a soaking later (good thing I had a case full of dry clothes!), I had not seen the bird.  It was present, but being very elusive and was only seen briefly a couple of times whilst I was there.

The only distractions were my first Shetland Wren (seemingly, the only other bird in the tiny garden) and some Black Guillemot offshore.

I was able to take a (very expensive) taxi back to Sumburgh, and meet up with the group from Heatherlea and leader, Dave Pullan ( www.davepullan.co.uk/ ), before our flight.

I chose to do the trip to Fair Isle with a company in order to take the travel organisation out of my hands, as it seemed so complicated.  It was also nice to be with someone who knew where to go on the island.  I know exactly what to do next time!

The flight to Fair Isle was in a tiny eight-seater plane, and was a very novel experience.  I was disappointed I didn't get to ride in the co-pilots seat, as one of the guests got to!

After checking in at the very well-equipped new Bird Observatory, we immediately headed out for some afternoon birding.  Typical Fair Isle scenery:

 

It was amazing to discover that the commonest birds flying overhead were Great Skua, and one of the commonest passerines on the ground were Twite.

It was great to see a large amount of Geese about, mostly Pink-footed Goose.  But also, there were a few flocks of Barnacle Goose, which were my first proper wild ones!

We were attempting, and failing, to see a Bluethroat that was around some derelict buildings, when we learnt of a 'red-flag bird' on the island.

We got lifts with various people, and ended up at the top of a moorland hill in the north of the island, setting our eyes on a White's Thrush!

The bird barely moved whilst we were watching it, as it sheltered under an overhang.

It was a fantastic bird, and what an introduction to birding on Fair Isle!  The twitch (basically everyone staying at the Obs):

The sun even poked through the clouds towards dusk, shining on the North Light.

On the walk back to the Obs, I marvelled at the massed Fungi on the verges.  Loads of Scarlet Waxcap...

...Golden Waxcap...

 

...and Meadow Coral.

Back at the Obs, I managed another tick, or be it a lepidopteran one, as a Red Sword-grass had been attracted to outside lights overnight.

After a substantial meal (as they all were) we reflected on our first day, and particularly, the star bird.  It was in rather better condition than this one from the early 1900s, on display in the shop!

With easterlies now dominating, tomorrow could bring anything....