EAST NORFOLK: Roe Deer & Hoopoe

Mid-April 2019

Adam & I met up in North Walsham for a look around a few sites in East Norfolk. We started by heading for a lake that sometimes attracts Ospreys on passage - no luck this time but we did see a pair of Marsh Harriers. The winds had been stifling the arrival of migrants, and a walk along the dune scub at Waxham turned up nothing better than a Blackcap, although we did see the two Ring Ouzels that had been present in that area for a while. Good views of a Roe Deer were the highlight of the visit.

Neither of us had seen a Hoopoe for several years, so we decided to head to Winterton, stopping briefly on the Horsey straight to see the Tundra Bean Goose and Great White Egret. At Winterton we walked quite a way down the south dunes, seeing only a pair of Stonechat and some Skylarks, before hearing that the Hoopoe had last been seen near the toilet block. Deciding to check the north dunes we were on the verge of giving up when someone gave us a thumbs up and pointed in the direction they had come from. A few more minutes searching and we located the Hoopoe, which showed well until accidentally flushed by some walkers.

On the way back we called in at a site that used to hold Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers on the off-chance, but there was no sign of any, albeit by then it was mid afternoon so this wasn't a surprise.

THE FAR EAST: Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth

1st January 2012

My first bird of the year was predictably Collared Dove, but the second bird was less so.  Whilst I was having a cup of tea I heard Pink-footed Geese, and looking out of the window a skein flew high westwards.  Whilst finishing breakfast news came through that the Hoopoe was still at Lowestoft.  Cathy's interest in birds is partly linked to mine, but she had wanted to see a Hoopoe since she was given her first bird book as a child, so we put plans to go to Whitlingham on hold to go and see this iconic bird.

Arriving at Lowestoft we found the green roofs that the Hoopoe had been favouring, but as it happened it was now feeding on nearby wasteland.  A cracking bird, and easily the best bird I've seen on January the 1st.  After a while we went round to ASDA, and a look upriver gave us a masterclass in diving, with a Black-throated Diver, a Red-breasted Merganser, Shag and Cormorant.  It was almost enough to make us start a "birds seen from supermarket carparks list."

The birds active feeding was too much for my poor digiscoping 

Rather than go back to Norwich directly, we headed off to ASDA in Great Yarmouth.  We walked around to Breydon Water, although seeing someone in the hide I decided not to make the assumption that it was a birder and to look from the path.  The tide was in, making for a bigger spectacle but more distant birds.  There was no sign of the Spoonbill that has been overwintering here, but loads of the commoner waders.  On the way back we added Kestrel and Sparrowhawk to the year list.