Karl J
Friday 17th October 2003, 19:08
Thought I'd take a good look around today, pay a good bit of attention to the trees & shrubs to hopefully catch one of those fancy warblers that have been around recently.
On my arrival the incoming tide was still low so I took the opportunity to look across the river to the mudflats of Breydon for any good waders and maybe even the American Golden Plover thats been about. The usual mix & match of Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover were at the shallows with Blk-tail Godwit, some of the Curlew, and Avocet in the slightly deeper water, with 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Turnstone, 1 Knot & several gulls around and about in various places. Searching among them, good fortune came to me with 1 Little Stint chasing about on the waters edge (glad it was near the Dunlin, made the id easy ! ) , and in among the ducks ( Shelduck, Wigeon, Mallard etc ) were 4 Brent Geese.... 2 New birds after only 15 minutes !! Looking through the flock of ~200 Golden & 20 Grey Plover, I couldn't see the AG Plover anywhere though.
Ok, it was now time to move on. With the fairly brisk east wind behind me I made it to Burgh Castle in what must be record time - Very good exercise but not too good for enlarging the list !! Not to worry, coming back would be against the wind, so there'd be no choice then but to slow down. Wandering around the roman ruins & adjacent fields of Burgh Castle I gave good time to the trees and shrubs hoping for that rare warbler. But no, nothing rare to report but still, I did see 2 Jays & my first Redwing. And a Snipe was the first one I've seen here, sitting at the edge of the reeds, occasionally preening before going back to sleep, various other birds nearby also. Until the Marsh Harrier came and scattered the flock that is. After a bit of a walk around and a sit down on the vantage point which looks across to Berney I thought it time to head back homeward.
The path here is quite sheltered as it runs between the reedbed and a wooded slope, so taking it slowly I thought maybe another good idea for that rare warbler, who knows ....???. Taking it slowly was certainly a good idea, but no rare warbler though, instead from across the top of the reedbed I saw a rather odd looking gull .....(bins now coming out)... hmmm ??? ... gulls don't look like that .... nor do they have black tipped wings with fingers, do they ..... Strewth .... a Hen Harrier ... not my first, but certainly my first in this area. It flew across my path, from the style of flight it didn't seem to be out hunting, but more 'going somewhere', which meant it didn't hang about long and was soon up into / behind the trees, but still ....Wow, could this get any better ? Well, 'yes but not much' is the answer to that.
On the way back I stopped to look at a reed lined ditch for a while and caught sight of a flock of 'crows' scattering from a field. And there flying low over the fields is the Hen Harrier, this time with my scope on it gave much better views of the bird. The grey wings with black wing tips & fingers, pure white underparts with a 'backwards D-shape' white rump area. Also views of it in normal flight also 'harrying' low & diving down, Even though it never actually made a catch that I saw, it was a fantastic quality sight.
Nearing Yarmouth again and I came across a group of birders .... looking into a field ... and on my asking was told it was the American Golden Plover, so up went the scope again, though it was a bit distant this time and I couldn't really pick out any detail except the much broader white supercillum (compared to the European Golden Plover).
And to end off - the 4 Brent Geese in flight plus 1 Little Egret, bringing my total for the day to 49, which was 1 short of record equalling. But in terms of the views, this has to have been the best.
On my arrival the incoming tide was still low so I took the opportunity to look across the river to the mudflats of Breydon for any good waders and maybe even the American Golden Plover thats been about. The usual mix & match of Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover were at the shallows with Blk-tail Godwit, some of the Curlew, and Avocet in the slightly deeper water, with 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Turnstone, 1 Knot & several gulls around and about in various places. Searching among them, good fortune came to me with 1 Little Stint chasing about on the waters edge (glad it was near the Dunlin, made the id easy ! ) , and in among the ducks ( Shelduck, Wigeon, Mallard etc ) were 4 Brent Geese.... 2 New birds after only 15 minutes !! Looking through the flock of ~200 Golden & 20 Grey Plover, I couldn't see the AG Plover anywhere though.
Ok, it was now time to move on. With the fairly brisk east wind behind me I made it to Burgh Castle in what must be record time - Very good exercise but not too good for enlarging the list !! Not to worry, coming back would be against the wind, so there'd be no choice then but to slow down. Wandering around the roman ruins & adjacent fields of Burgh Castle I gave good time to the trees and shrubs hoping for that rare warbler. But no, nothing rare to report but still, I did see 2 Jays & my first Redwing. And a Snipe was the first one I've seen here, sitting at the edge of the reeds, occasionally preening before going back to sleep, various other birds nearby also. Until the Marsh Harrier came and scattered the flock that is. After a bit of a walk around and a sit down on the vantage point which looks across to Berney I thought it time to head back homeward.
The path here is quite sheltered as it runs between the reedbed and a wooded slope, so taking it slowly I thought maybe another good idea for that rare warbler, who knows ....???. Taking it slowly was certainly a good idea, but no rare warbler though, instead from across the top of the reedbed I saw a rather odd looking gull .....(bins now coming out)... hmmm ??? ... gulls don't look like that .... nor do they have black tipped wings with fingers, do they ..... Strewth .... a Hen Harrier ... not my first, but certainly my first in this area. It flew across my path, from the style of flight it didn't seem to be out hunting, but more 'going somewhere', which meant it didn't hang about long and was soon up into / behind the trees, but still ....Wow, could this get any better ? Well, 'yes but not much' is the answer to that.
On the way back I stopped to look at a reed lined ditch for a while and caught sight of a flock of 'crows' scattering from a field. And there flying low over the fields is the Hen Harrier, this time with my scope on it gave much better views of the bird. The grey wings with black wing tips & fingers, pure white underparts with a 'backwards D-shape' white rump area. Also views of it in normal flight also 'harrying' low & diving down, Even though it never actually made a catch that I saw, it was a fantastic quality sight.
Nearing Yarmouth again and I came across a group of birders .... looking into a field ... and on my asking was told it was the American Golden Plover, so up went the scope again, though it was a bit distant this time and I couldn't really pick out any detail except the much broader white supercillum (compared to the European Golden Plover).
And to end off - the 4 Brent Geese in flight plus 1 Little Egret, bringing my total for the day to 49, which was 1 short of record equalling. But in terms of the views, this has to have been the best.