NORTH NORFOLK: Kelling area

11th October 2020

Having hardly spent any time with friends this year, and with coronavirus cases starting to creep up, Adam & I decided to meet up for a walk. We started at Kelling Heath, before following a footpath down to the Quags, before returning via Muckleburgh Hill. It wasn't as birdy as we had hoped, with little seen on the heath, but it was good to get out and have a bit of social contact. At the beach there was a steady passage of Razorbills and a young Gannet on the sea, plus the unsual sight of a rainbow starting off out to see then getting closer to us as it tracked a band of rain.

We watched Wheatears and Stonechats on Weybourne Camp then continued up the hill. Back inland we stopped and watched a tit flock go past, containing Blue, Great, Long-tailed, Coal and Marsh Tits, plus Chiffchaff and Robin. There was a bit of fungi about too, including some Parasols of mixed ages, Fly Agaric and Shaggy Scalycap amongst others.

NORTH NORFOLK: Weybourne Camp & Kelling

23rd April 2017

On Sunday the North East Norfolk Bird Club had organised a walk taking in Weybourne Camp, an area not usually accessible to the public, before heading past Kelling Water Meadows and across Muckleburgh Hill. I decided to attend to get a good look at the camp, and a lot of other people had the same idea. The meeting point at the Muckleburgh collection car park was already busy when I arrived, and by the start time around 50 birders were present!

We were led round by Moss Taylor, who has been visiting the area for over 40 years. We scanned some fields for migrants, seeing Stock Dove and a couple of Brown Hares, before heading over to the eastern edge of the camp. My first Wheatear of the year was seen, followed by another new year bird as two Whimbrel flew in off the sea. Sedge Warblers and a Cetti's Warbler called from the reedbed before we had a quick look out to sea.

There are some excellent looking bits of scrub on the camp, and a couple of Stonechats and a Lesser Whitethroat were present. A Whinchat was also found on a row of posts nearby. I hadn't seen many insects at this point, but we began to see large numbers of Brown-tail moth caterpillars in their communal tents.

We left the camp onto the coast footpath, stopping to to watch a colony of Sand Martins at the western end of the sandy cliffs. A couple of Grey Partridges flew up just before Kelling Quags, and a Yellow Wagtail was present at the edge of the water. At the end of the track a Hobby flew over, and as we walked along the edge of Muckleburgh Hill a Red Kite glided high above us. The last couple of birds of the walk were Willow Warbler and Bullfinch, before we returned to the cars.

Many thanks to Moss Taylor and the NENBC for organising access and for leading the walk.

NORTH NORFOLK: Red-veined Darters

24th July 2012

Following Sunday's butterfly trip, I fancied a trip to have a look for a dragonfly that I haven't seen before, Red-veined Darter.  Several of these migrant dragonflies arrived on the North Norfolk coast a few weeks ago, and I had heard that they were still present at Kelling Water Meadows.  As it was we found at least four male Red-veined Darters, one on the path level with the pool, and at least three more males flying around along the northern edge.  Everyone else who has visited seems to have got some great perched up photos, but whilst I was there they only perched on rushes a bit away from the path, so I only got this record shot.  For some much better shots try David Bradnum's Blog.  We also saw several other odonates and loads of butterflies.

Male Red-veined Darter perched on a rush stem

NORTH NORFOLK: Kelling Heath

20th March 2011

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The downside to my increased focus on local birding so far this year has been that I haven't got out to North Norfolk much. I decided to remedy this with a trip to Weybourne and Kelling Heath. This proved more problematic than it needed to be as the train to Sheringham was replaced by a coach service (taking an extra 35 minutes) and this meant missing the 2-hourly Coasthopper by a couple of minutes. Rather than wait I decided to walk to Weybourne along the clifftop path. I failed to find Wheatears or anything other than hundreds of Skylarks on the gold course, and the buntings at Weybourne were too far away for me to convince myself that they were definitely Lapland.

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Having drawn a similar blank looking for migrants on Weybourne Camp, I walked up the hill to Kelling Heath, where the first hour was similarly bird-adverse. The lizards got so used to me wandering about they stopped bothering to run off after a while. My luck finally changed when I talked to a birder who had seen two Dartford Warblers earlier in the day. With an area to focus on and some bursts of sunshine I finally got a good look at a male Dartford Warbler, sat up on some gorse. It vanished as quickly as it had arrived, and I only got one flight view in the 20 minutes or so after the initial sighting. After walking back to Weybourne I found I had an hour until the bus , which I divided between a quick seawatch and trying Woodfordes Best Bittern at the Ship Inn.