WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2025

February 2026

The 2025 Whitlingham Bird Report is now available here

As always a big thank you to everyone who has supplied photos or recorded birds at Whitlingham, Thorpe and Trowse in the past year. Particular thanks to Rob Chittenden, Ed Mackrill and David Ratcliffe, whose photos make up the bulk of the images.

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2024

The Whitlingham area bird report for 2024 is now available to read and download here. A big thank you to everyone who reports sightings from the area and who has allowed their photos to be used in the report, particularly Robin Chittenden and Ed Mackrill, who have supplied many of the pictures.

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2023

10th January 2024

I have now completed the annual bird report for Whitlingham & Thorpe 2023 - you can download it here

A big thank you as always to everyone who has reported sightings, provided data or allowed me to use their photographs. A special mention to Robin Chittenden, Ed Mackrill and David Ratcliffe whose photos have enhanced the report significantly. Here's to an interesting patch 2024!

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2022

I have finished working on the Whitlingham bird report for 2022, which you can now download here. A big thank you to everyone who reported sightings from Whitlingham last year and who allowed photographs to be used in the report.

In particular thank you to Justin Lansdell for providing an article about the changing number of Pochard overwintering, to Robin Chittenden for providing some excellent photos to help illustrate the articles and systematic list, and to Stephen Vickers for providing updates on the local ringing work.

A reminder that you can report locally ringed Mute Swans via Norwich Swan Project sighting submissions  and Black-headed Gulls, Greylag Geese etc here: Seen one of our birds? – Waterbird Colour-marking Group (waterbirdcolourmarking.org)

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2021

The Whitlingham Bird Report 2021 is available to download now 

A big thank you to everyone that reports bird sightings from the area, either directly, to the bird news services in the case of scarce species, or via local WhatsApp groups, eBird etc. When I first put together a bird report in 2012 I had no idea if other people would be interested to read it, so I'm glad that ten years in people are still reading them!

 

For reports from previous years (2012-2020) see the links on the Whitlingham Bird Report page

WHITLINGHAM & THORPE BIRD REPORT 2020

January 2021

I am pleased to say that the Whitlingham & Thorpe Bird Report for 2020 is now complete and you can download it via the link here. Thanks to everyone who has reported sightings from the area over the past year - this has been even more important than usual as I was unable to visit during lockdown and made fewer visits than normal throughout the rest of the year. In particular I am grateful to Gary White, Justin Lansdell and Stuart White who sent through lots of records and also between them managed to photograph many of the species present. Gary has also put together a Youtube video of clips of many of the species seen, which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGwzAYjaGHA

 

You can also still view or download all of the previous Whitlingham & Thorpe bird reports using the Whitlingham Bird List & Report page at the top of the blog and a reminder that if birds aren't your thing then there are various species guides covering animals, insects, plants and fungi on the Whitlingham Species Guide page.

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2019

January 2020

Happy New Year everyone. Are you missing 2019 yet? Well why not look back on the previous year at Whitlingham and Thorpe using this handy bird report?

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2018

Thanks to everyone who has reported sightings from Whitlingham during 2018, along with those who have kindly allowed me to use their photographs. You can download the report by clicking on the link below the cover picture.

Download the report here.

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2016

I have finished compiling the 2016 Whitlingham Bird Report, and you can now download it here. Many thanks to everyone who either sent me records or put them on Twitter, BirdForum etc. I am also grateful to those birders who allowed me to use their photos - not only does it break up the text of the report but it also acts as supporting evidence for the scarcer species.

After a slow start 2016 turned out to be a good year locally for me - I saw 109 species, only one short of my highest total (missing a few relatively common species too), and pleasingly added four species to my Whitlingham area life list, as opposed to the usual one per year.

Whitlingham Bird Report 2015

Before 2015 fades into a distant memory I have put together the Whitlingham Bird Report for 2015, which I hope you may find interesting. Thanks to everyone who has passed on sightings throughout the year.

You can download it here:
Whitlingham Bird Report 2015

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT 2014

I have now completed the Whitlingham Bird Report for 2014, based on a combination of my sightings, those told or emailed to me by other local birders and sightings posted on the internet. Hopefully other local birders will find something of interest amongst it. You can download a copy from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_juW4cq34V3TXVFTzl1bWw3MG8/view?usp=sharing .

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT - Sightings please!

It's the time of year when I start to bring together the 2014 Whitlingham Bird Report. As a result of the mild start to the year the number of species reported so far is rather modest, so I would be grateful for any sightings. Of particular interest are any locally scarce birds, counts or sightings of colour-ringed birds, whilst another area that is always under-represented is flyover birds like wild geese and swans.

Below is a list of birds that might reasonably be expected to be seen here that I have not heard about at Whitlingham in 2014:

• Bewick's Swan
• Whooper Swan
• Pink-footed Goose
• Red-crested Pochard
• Common Scoter
• Smew
• Red-legged Partridge
• Any of the 3 scarcer grebes
• Osprey
• Woodcock
• Med Gull
• Yellow Wagtail
• Spotted Flycatcher
• Mealy Redpoll
• Brambling
• Crossbill

As well as Whitlingham C.P. I include records from the surrounding area (i.e. Trowse Meadow, Trowse Woods, Thorpe Marsh, Whitlingham Marsh, Whitlingham Sewage Works) see the map below

To report a sighting you can either email me at: whitlinghambirds 'at' yahoo.co.uk, leave a comment on this blog post, message me via BirdForum or via Twitter (@Norwichbirder).

If you want to see what the bird report looks like then there is a link to the 2013 report at the top of the blog.

Thanks to everyone who has already emailed sightings throughout the year. Sightings posted online will have probably been added, but if posted under a pseudonym may not have been properly credited, so feel free to let me know if this applies to you and I shall add your name to the acknowledgements section.

Unless we have a bird-filled end to the year, the final report should be released during the first week of January 2015.

WHITLINGHAM: Sightings for 2013 Bird Report

December 2013

Regular readers of the blog will probably remember that last year I collated my Whitlingham records along with sightings from fellow local birders into a Whitlingham 2012 Bird Report (still available here if you didn't see it at the time). This was generally well received, and I have been working on a report for 2013. The main part of the report is the systematic list, complete with details like high counts, earliest and latest sighting dates etc. There will also be brief articles on January's Bittern invasion and the origins of colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls seen at Whitlingham. In terms of species, 2013 has seen fewer species reported than 2012, but these have included Whitlinghams first Red-rumped Swallow (recently accepted by the Norfolk Birds Rarities Committee - see the latest work-in-progress file on their website).

I would be grateful for any sightings from the Whitlingham area (including Thorpe Marsh) this year. Records of scarce birds, flyovers and ringed birds would be of particular interest.

In particular I would welcome any sightings of the following species as I suspect the following may have been seen in 2013 but I haven't heard about them:

Whooper Swan (usually an annual flyover)
Goosander (near annual)
Smew (near annual)
Common Scoter (several in recent years)
Osprey (Regular at Strumpshaw, occasional sorties upriver)
Most waders
Any Owls (Barn & Tawny presumably resident but not actually seen this year)
Crossbills (Presumably fly over from time to time)
Brambling (as above)

Sightings can be left in the comments on this blog, emailed to whitlinghambirds 'at' yahoo.co.uk or via BirdForum, and everyone who sends in sightings will be acknowledged at the end of the report.

Many thanks.

WHITLINGHAM: 2012 BIRD REPORT

1st January 2013

Well we are now in 2013 and I have finished off my bird report. Unfortunately I have noticed that blogger doesn't host pdf files. Whilst I see if there is a suitable other way of uploading it, it is available on the Norwich thread on Birdforum here, or drop me an email and I will send it to you.

Happy birding for 2013!

WHITLINGHAM BIRD REPORT

With the year drawing to a close, I am currently compiling a bird report for the Whitlingham area for 2012. This will mainly be composed of my own sightings, but to make it as complete as possible I would welcome any interesting sightings that others have made. Anyone who sends in any sightings will of course be included in the acknowledgements at the end of the report

Of particular interest would be:

• Scarce species
• High counts
• Particularly early or late records of migrants
• Any wing-tagged/ringed/neck-collared birds

In addition, there are several relatively common or annual species, or species seen flying towards Whitlingham, that I haven't seen or heard of this year, notably:

• Bewick's Swan (now reported)
• Osprey (now reported)
• Red-legged Partridge
• Woodcock
• Jack Snipe
• Whimbrel
• Tawny Owl

Any reports can be emailed to me (address is on the right hand side of the blog), posted in the comments or sent to me via BirdForum. The completed report will be available to download for anyone who is interested early in January.