Pegwell Dog Show

27th September 2009

With a shortage of lifers for Gary this year, he decided to drive to Kent to look for the Fan-tailed Warbler. Me, Adam & Phil all came along for the craic, and we arrived at Pegwell Country Park around 8. The sign at the entrance told us of the "fun dog show" on that day, and we joked we should go. After 30 mins of inaction, a mini-stampede set off, presuming that someone had located the warbler. They hadn't, a dog walker had whistled to his dog, which set everyone off. That was as close as we got to a cisticola. It wasn't seen all day, except by the guy that saw a Wren in a different way to the 100+ crowd.

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In between burgers, tea, and pointing at freaky dogs ("that doesn't count, it's a rat!", "it's got a vest, why has it got a ****ing vest?" etc etc) we did a few laps of the site and a lot of staring at saltmarsh. Some of the more interesting moments were digiscoping opportunities for Ring-necked Parakeets and Whinchats, a number of Roesel's Bush Crickets, and a Clouded Yellow spotted by Gary. A large number of Blackcaps were gorging themselves on elder berries. At 2:30, all the other birders had left, it was just us and the dog owners. They started the fancy dress competition and we left. Everyone has limits.

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On the way back we spent two hours in Southend looking for the Ring-billed Gull. It's always there apparently. A local gave us some useful gen, it likes the area near the ice cream parlour apparently. No s**t it does. But not today. Gary picked up the same Med Gull about 5 times as we worked backwards and forwards along Westcliff seafront, and I found a Mistle Thrush, but couldn't string a White's Thrush out of it. My first twitch out of Norfolk & Suffolk, and not a successful one, but hey-ho, better luck next time.

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Spotted Crake

26th September 2009

An early morning trip to Caister St Edmund, and finally an ibis! It won't live long in the memory, brief views as I inadvertantly flushed it from the river, and watched it fly downriver towards Soke Holy Cross. I walked as much of the river as was accessable and hung around for another hour, but it didn't return. A bright morning and a couple of Kingfishers made the morning even better, although between 7:30-9 I didn't see another birder, which I found odd.

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I had considered staying the day at Caister, but I wanted to see the Spotted Crake at Cley, following a few years without a visible one in Norfolk. I walked back from Caister and straight to the station, arriving at Cley just after 12. The crake wasn't showing, and a number of birders gave up or went to look for the Snow Buntings. Eventually I was the only one looking from the hide, and after a Water Rail (no confusion thanks to the big red beak) I saw the crake come out of the reeds in the ditch close in to the hide. I got the rest of the people in the hide onto it (they had been watching a Green Sandpiper on Pats Pool) and had another look, before going outside and calling in another 10 or so birders who were waiting near the pool along the path. The Spotted Crake re-appeared from behind some overhanging vegetation and strolled up the ditch. A cracking bird, probably my favourite bird of the year.

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I walked along East Bank, hearing lots of Bearded Tits and 2 Water Rails. Walking along the shingle bank I came upon a flock of around 20 Snow Buntings, which came close when I stood and waited on the ridge. I also found what I presumed was a seal carcass (suggestions so far are Harbour Porpoise or Tuna), and had a dark-phase Skua sp. past west.

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The consensus appears to be Harbour Porpoise, another dead mammal tick!

Tame Snow Bunting

More Ibis dippin'

23rd September 2009

After work I managed to get a lift down to Stoke Holy Cross mill, where there were no ibis. I walked along the road to Caistor St Edmund Roman Town, scanning the ibis-less fields, before bumping into Gary and Nick Elliston at Caistor, to be informed that there were no ibis on the stretch of the river there. We teamed up and looked out at all possible vantage points between the mill and Caistor, with no joy. I never liked ibis anyway. My hopes are now pinned on early morning Saturday.
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Me & ibis in happier times

Birds, Moths & Fungi

Mid-September 2009

A brief catchup post. Two trips to Wells, with satisfactory results. I finally caught up with one of the Red-breasted Flycatchers in the Dell, and also saw Pied Flycatcher, Bullfinch and Firecrest amongst the commoner stuff, although still no Redstart. The second time the woods were much emptier (seemingly), with a Chiffchaff the only interesting bird, although skeins of Pink-feet were starting to fly over. The harbour held one Grey Plover, and towards Warham two Kingfishers and an out-of-place white Domestic Goose were pleasant enough. I also went crabbing (joining the legions of people who have caught crabs at Wells, ha ha etc etc).

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Saturday 19th was National Moth Night, but as the only Norfolk event was at Lynford, we settled for moth-catching in Cath's garden. Predictably we did badly, catching only three species, but one of them, Large Ranunculus was new for me. Pictures to follow.

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On Sunday I went to St Faith's Common for the first fungus foray of my ID course. We got 22 species, which was fairly good considering the lack of rain. Best one was Leccinum variicolour. More impressive was a find from a fellow mycologist, who brought along the 2nd Norfolk record of Devil's Bolete (Boletus satanicus). It is thought to be lethal, for soem reason there are a lack of people wanting to test how poisonous it actually is.

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Unfortunately, all of these fun things meant that I missed out on going for the Glossy Ibis on Saturday. A brief trip with Cath on Sunday ("I know what would be nice, a good old walk around some ruins. No, son't stop and read the posts, we're not at the river yet!") was fruitless. If anyone knows where they are going in the evenings please let me know so I can run down there after work!

North Norfolk

13th September 2009

Following a non-birding week (one heard-only Tawny Owl at Whitlingham the only bird of note), me, Gary & Adam started at 7. The idea was to have a look around autumn's adopted patch of Trimingham, before moving west looking for our own birds whilst being within reach of any rare stuff found by others. Trimingham clifftop wood was completely windblown, with only a small flock of Long-tailed Tits. Other areas of woodland were also barren, so we attempted a brief seawatch. Loads of Gannet, a few Kittiwake, and flocks of Common Scoter and Teal flew by. We then walked down the hedgerows around the church, with similar barren results.

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We moved along to Happy Valley woods near Cromer along with Phil, who had joined us at Trimingham. The woods were less windblown, but still almost birdless. Another quick seawatch and obligatory explanation to curious passers by (sooner or later I will reply to "ooh, what are you looking at?" with "The Sea", but I'm trying not too give birders a bad name). It was now gone 10 and we'd found **** all, so decided to bite the bullet and go to Wells Woods.

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After paying £3.50 for the privilege of parking on a field of flints, we left the dog-fouled paths and joined half of the birders in Norfolk camped out around the Dell. We picked out Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Treecreeper amongst the commoner tits and Chaffinchs, but no sign of any Icterine Warbler. A Wheatear up a pine tree was odd, and I saw the back end of a Pied Flycatcher as it dropped down into the undergrowth. The first Pink Footed Geese of the autumn flew over. We followed the tit flock, finding a Chiffchaff, then decided that it would be better to find a vantage point and wait for the birds to come to us. Well it wasn't any worse, and we even heard a Bullfinch. Phil found a Lesser Whitethroat in the landward scrub, and amongst the disappointed birders we saw our aquaintance from Herts ("Ortolan Man") and Dave Appleton. A Muntjac ran in front of us, followed shortly by a dog. Hopefully it was being led into a deer ambush.

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We decided to end the day at Cley, getting decent views of the Red-necked Phalarope right in front of North Hide. We failed to see any Leach's Petrels, but a Puffin flew through the bottom of my 'scope view, and we were able to relocate it on the sea close in. Loads of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Cormorants, and a few Manx Shearwaters and Sandwich Terns passed by, and 2 Greenshanks were on pools near the eye field. Not a bad day, but my first decent seawatch at Cley in strong northerlies made me appreciate the Shelters at Sheringham that bit more!

Red-necked Phalarope at Cley

Ortolan & some skuas

5th September 2009

With good seawatching days at a premium, me & Adam got up at 4:30 to get an early train to Sheringham. Arriving at 6:50, we found that half of the birdwatchers in Norfolk had similar plans, and settled for a vantage point on the top of the main shelters. Signs were good, Gannets were passing close in, and further out a number of Arctic Skuas were tern-bothering. As it turned out, the views were good but little out of the ordinary was seen. Two Great Skuas flew slowly west at close range, as did a Red-throated Diver. A single Balearic Shearwater was flew east, whilst an auk sp. flew west. Adam watched it for longer than I did and suggested Puffin, but without seeing the bill it has to go down as a possible. Whilst we were there a Long-tailed Skua was reported, but we didn't see it.

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I was talking to a birder who had made the journey up from Hertfordshire (although ironically leaving not much earlier than we did from Norwich) when news that the Ortolan Bunting was still present at Cley. He kindly offered us a lift, and we fluked a carparking space at East Bank. The bunting was a smart-looking bird, which would have been worthy of prolonged views if it wasn't for the fact that only about eight people could view it at once. After having a decent look we retreated to allow others in, and returned for another hour at Sheringham. A decent day, and a first (of hopefully a few) lifer of the Autumn, all five days of it.

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I forgot my camera, so here is a nice drawing I did when I got home.

Birds & Beer Tour 2009

30th August 2009

In honour of our combined love for birds, and beer, myself, Gary & Adam decided to do a bank holiday trip combining the pubs and birding habitat of North Norfolk. Gary's wife Claire came with us to Titchwell via Choseley (not a bunting in sight) to ensure we started the day with a few birds. Titchwell was relatively poor, the resident Eider,a Bar-tailed Godwit, one Greenshank and two Avocet were probably the pick of the bunch. Having spent too much time, we decided to give up on Holkham and move straight to Wells.

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At Wells we were dropped off at the Buttlands, and went into our first pub, The Globe Inn, where we began our second bird list of the day, birds seen from the grounds of pubs. After half an hour or so we walked down to the quayside and into the Golden Fleece, which offered a good viewpoint. Pub-bird lifers included flyby Curlew & Little Egret, and GBB Gull in the harbour. Our next stop was Stiffkey Red Lion, where the valley view promised much. In the end we had to make due with Kestrel, Pheasant, Swallow, House Martin & Greenfinch.

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Our next stop was Blakeney, which was heaving with people. A quick look at the wildfowl collection failed to yeald anything we were sure was wild (Pochard maybe?) so we went up the street to the White Horse. Whilst here we heard of a possible Citrine Wagtail at Cley, which would have been a lifer for me, but would have meant probably missing the last bus back to Sheringham. Luckily (although it would have been better if it had been one and had stuck around a few days) the decision was removed when it was re-identified as a White Wagtail.

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Feeling that we hadn't actually added many birds to the main days list we popped in to Cley (8 minutes on the reserve then out!), adding Yellow-legged Gull, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. On to Salthouse and the pride of place, the Dun Cow. Unfortunately a covers band were playing, and the garden was full of revellers. Ignoring the strange looks we carried on scanning the coast, and were rewarded with excellent pub ticks like Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Wheatear (scoped near the Little Eye! Pity we couldnt find the Whinchat) and Meadow Pipit.

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Last bird of the day was a Snipe, seen from the bus-stop at Salthouse. We crammed on the last bus back and went to the Lobster in Sheringham for some food. I then got the train back to Norwich, whilst my fellow alcoholics lingered another hour, also visiting the Robin Hood.

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An enjoyable day out, and being a relatively new list, its nice to be able to get a lot of lifers for my "from pubs list." As ever, if anyone knows of a pub with good birdwatching potential, let me know in the comments!

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A microlight, or "large eagle sp." as they are commonly known in Norfolk. Maybe.

Miscellaneous observations from North Norfolk

My last full week on holiday before going back to work, and an attempt to get a bit of variety in. A trip back to my home town of North Walsham on Wednesday, from where I walked to Edingthorpe, round via Knapton and back along the Paston Way. Bugger all about bird-wise, but if you like churches then I heartily recommend Knapton, it has one of the best examples of ornate roof carvings in the county.

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Whilst watching the weakest link, my faith in human nature reached new depths when a science student, when asked "which mammal beginning with P is similar to a dolphin" answered "umm, Pelican?" Idiot.

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A trip on Thursday to West Runton involved a drive through Cromer, where someone had painstakingly covered over the "Twinned with Crest" to read "Twinned with Royston Vasey". Vandalism isn't big or clever, but it does seem that bit less offensive if it makes a valid point. Rock-pooling was good fun, but we didn't catch anything that was more than an inch long.

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Seawatching on Saturday produced a moderate Manx Shearwater, Gannet and Fulmar passage east, with one Red-necked Grebe west. Kelling Meadows held a Wood Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper, Gramborough Head had one young Willow Warbler, and the hillock west of Salthouse had 7+ Wheatears. I have genned up on American Black Terns in case these westerlies carry on for the next month.

Cley

25th August 2009

Despite being taken over by lethargy, I autopiloted my way to Cley on the train and Coasthopper. The only two interesting bits to the journey were the resident Black Swan at Salthouse duck pond, and being sat in front of the only remaining person in Britain to use the phrase "Top Banana" without irony. A look into each bush along the paths failed to produce a lingering Pied Flycatcher, and the scrapes held the same waders as a week ago, with added Knot (this isn't strictly true, apparently a Bittern showed well and moonwalked backwards and forwards in front of Daukes shortly after I left).

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I succumbed to the inevitable and nestled into the shingle to seawatch. Almost everything was moving west, the best being one Manx Shearwater and six Common Scoter, along with quite a few Gannet, Sandwich Terns, Cormorants, 2 Whimbrel and several specks along the horizon that I couldn't get down to the family level, but were definitely birds. Oh for some North-easterlies.

Whitlingham

24th August 2009

As Black Terns are on the move (large numbers at Grafham and Rutland), I decided against a trip to the coast in the hope of finally adding Black Tern to my Whitlingham list. No joy, partly because of how busy it was I would suspect. I'm going to the pub to watch Norwich v Sunderland tonight rather than check out Bawburgh Lakes, Norwich's premier Black Tern site, but if any are seen there this evening, I predicted it. Two families of Great Crested Grebes had young, presumably second broods, and I need to check pictures I took of a duck to decide whether its just an eclipse domestic male Mallard, or a "Brewer's Duck." Thats how exciting it was. Still a few Swifts about, and a Sparrowhawk over Thorpe.

Bird Fair

23rd August 2009

Dad gave me, Adam & Cathy a lift to the Birdfair at Rutland Water. It was good, but I don't think I'll be going regularly. Having walked past most of the foreign holiday stands, we met Simon King, who was very nice, and caught the end of the Wildlife Brain of Britain, won by Chris Packham. Adam scraped together all of his coppers and bought himself a new telescope and tripod, whilst I limited myself to the "Birds New To Norfolk" book.

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After a couple of hours we went and did the hides, seeing two Osprey and a Wheatear on Lagoon 4, and a hunting Osprey from one of the other hides. The resident Scaup was in fron of the main birdwatching centre, as was a Green Sandpiper. We went round to the Lyndon reserve, where I got a few record shots of Tree Sparrow on the feeders. We saw 6+ Buzzards and 2 Hobbys throughout the day.

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Hickling NNR

20-08-09

A leisurely stroll around the NWT reserve, initially in the rain. We managed to find a lone Swallowtail caterpillar, but the wind was too strong to see any adults. The habitat on view from Secker's Hide looked much better than when I was last there (admittedly this was ages ago), and there was 6+ Snipe, 4 Greenshank and a party of Bearded Tits. Not much seen around the rest of the reserve, other than 2 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron from the Cadbury Hide. Back in the meadow near the visitor centre, a Peacock was strutting around. I can't quite work out why, unless its a recuperated and then escaped bird from the nearby animal sanctuary.

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Hickling (Lucky Pony evening)

18th August 2009

Last night a Red-footed Falcon roosted near Hickling, and even though there had been no further sightings since lunchtime, me & Gary felt fairly confident that it would come back to it favoured trees to roost today. There was a surprising lack of birders around (2 all evening), but the lack of waders on Rush Hills may go some way to explaining it. A walk as far as the fields near Heigham Sound produced 3 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk and a Marsh Harrier. A sillouetted dove was eventually clinched as a Turtle Dove thanks to Gary's perseverance.

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Near the hide two Bearded Tits and an Emerald Damselfly (although I'm going to check to see if I can string Willow) lightened the evening. On the way back Gary said that he hadn't seen the (konik) ponies for ages, so when I spotted the herd I yelled "PONIES!" We had stopped abruptly, and were about to set off again when an owl flew out of some bushes. A Long-eared Owl! It flew into a small woods, where it was promptly mobbed by Jays, briefly flying back out and then out of sight. Only my second LEO, and my 206th Norfolk BOU bird of the year, modest, but my record (which should grow nicely when the northerlies start).

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Walking back to the car, we noticed hundreds of geese collecting between bales in a cut field. I estimated around 700, about 200 of which were Canada, the rest Greylag. At least three hybrid geese were present, two long-necked and white faced, whilst one looked like a brownish Canada Goose. Probably all Greylag x Canada, but Gary took some photos to check. Whilst watching the geese I thought I'd got the red-foot, but a second pass showed the bird in question to be a Hobby. A dip, but a very satisfactory evenings birding.

Year list 215 species (206 Norfolk)

Winterton & Horsey

15th August 2009

Overcast with south-westerlies? That'll be prime conditions for migrants and butterflies then [/sarcasm]. With no better ideas, me & Adam went to Winterton more in hope than expectation. The South Dunes were overrun with Grayling, birdwise Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker, Stonechat, Whitethroat and a single Willow Warbler. The North Dunes were devoid of all birdlife until the track separating Horsey and Winterton, where a family of Stonechats were munching dragonflies. A Fox Moth caterpillar was apparently a first for me, and a few Wall butterflies were around, but no fritillaries. A family of four Kestrels put on an aerobatic show over the dunes. My first noticeable Gannet passage of the year, mostly going west.

London trip - photo special (!)

13th & 14th August 2009

A brief but eventful trip to London left me with the chance to have a look around the inner London parks, before getting my 3 hour + coach journey back to Norfolk. Fortunately the train strikes have now been called off, lessening my need for vitriol. Anyway, most of what I saw was plastic, so not much good for reviewing, but some good photo opportunities. Here are a few highlights.

Juvenile Reed Warbler at Regent's Park


Ring-necked Parakeet at St James' Park. Easy to hear, but I was chuffed to actually find it amongst the leaves.

The pigeons are coming - war is imminent

This looks like a Peruvian Ruddy Duck, but have I eliminated Maccao Duck?

St James' Park Pelicans - welcome at Whitlingham any day lads.

A very tolerant Grey Heron, one of 16 at Regent's Park

Bar-headed Goose x Greylag Goose

(Both parents present nearby, otherwise it could have been more tricky to tell)