Norfolk birding (22 Viewers)

Awesome Day

Got up silly time in morning and left King's Lynn 6.15am and arrived to a very blustery Cley Coastguards at 7am.

Front section of shelter was full, so I stood in the side section by myself until my friend Pete S. arrived at 7.45am. The sea looked exciting, massive waves crashing down on to the shingle. Had 5 razorbills, 9 bonxies, tons of gannets (stopped counting) both adults and juveniles. 1 kittiwake. Pete arrived and after that along with other birders saw 3 arctic skuas, 2 Manx shearwaters, 2 arctic skuas (1 pale faced), 1 Pom skua, 2 red throated divers, 2 little gulls, common terns, loads of teal and wigeon streaming past. I made the MASSIVE mistake of going to the loo and when I returned I had missed a bl**dy Leach's Petrol:C:C:C - unfortunately for Pete I didn't stop 'going on' about it for most of day and declared I wasn't leaving until I had seen one, just couldn't believe it!!!!!!!

On Cley marsh 28+ Golden Plover, pied wagtails, marsh harrier. Stayed here until about 11.30am and then went to Cley Spy to buy a new heavier tripod - as usual, extremely helpful, patient staff and excellent price.

Went back to Coastguards for sandwiches, tea etc and then heard there was a Grey Phalarope from Dawkes Hide. So parked cars nearby and had stunning views of the Grey Phalarope (2pm) along with 5 Little Stints and 3 Curlew Sandpiper.

Then we drove to Happisburgh to see a nice little bird a Buff Breasted Sandpiper!!!!! (3.40pm) which was teamed up with 3 Ringed Plover in a field, not far from the tearooms from the carpark by lighthouse - stunning views in sunshine and strong wind and also 2 beautiful marked Greenland Wheatears. Beautiful scenery this end of the coast.

Trundled back to Cley Coastguards for 2nd seawatch (my navigator got us lost and we ended up in North Walsham - god knows how that happened!!!!) Got back to Cley Coastguards for 5.20pm. Eddie Myers shouted out 'Sabines' as Pete and I were getting out of car and we raced over just in time to see what I think is my first Sabine's Gull!!!!! (Thank you very much Eddie:t Went back to car to get scope and made a quick cuppa - the wind was incredible now and it was dangerous even opening the boot of car - if you let go of anything it was gone!!! Pete had to sprint after his sandwich box twice!!! I made my 2nd MASSIVE mistake of the day - stood my new tripod down (the legs were at the lowest level) and as I was putting on my 2nd woolly hat!!! - it flipped over, to break the screw thread section from the telescope:-C:-C:-C - am gutted and will have to go straight to dear old Cley Spy tomorrow, the second they open to see what can be done - typical - peak migration coming up and no scope, really hope it can be resolved quickly - like tomorrow morning!!! So after this, just had to watch with bins. Saw flock of turnstones flash by, 2 arctic terns and 2 more Bonxies. I think Eddie M. had a Leaches half distance in what was now ferocious waves, but I couldn't pick it up. The sea when we left was spilling over the shingle!!!! and each tide until Saturday is higher each day!!! Saturday being the highest at 8.5 metres. Had quick cuppa and arrived home at 8.15pm.

Out again tomorrow - lets see what it brings

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Great day, Penny. Will and I were at Cley from about 12 till just after 3. Sorry we missed you. Similar sightings to you though no Sabine's for us and we had quite a few Sooty Shearwater and a group of 3 Long-tailed Skua. I only got such a short glimpse of a Leach's that I don't feel I can tick it. I'm hoping to get back again at the weekend - today was brilliant.

Glad everyone did well today. Gutted I didn't see/missed all the petrels/sabs/scarse skuas. I'm not bitter though

I hope to do much better tomorrow though. Gonna spend the whole day out on the coast (with some proper lense cleaning stuff!) and then spend the night on Blakeney point for an early friday morning. Will hopefully turn up something good.

Jason

Penny Clarke said:

Trundled back to Cley Coastguards for 2nd seawatch (my navigator got us lost and we ended up in North Walsham - god knows how that happened!!!!) Got back to Cley Coastguards for 5.20pm. Eddie Myers shouted out 'Sabines' as Pete and I were getting out of car and we raced over just in time to see what I think is my first Sabine's Gull!!!!! (Thank you very much Eddie:t Went back to car to get scope and made a quick cuppa - the wind was incredible now and it was dangerous even opening the boot of car - if you let go of anything it was gone!!! Pete had to sprint after his sandwich box twice!!! I made my 2nd MASSIVE mistake of the day - stood my new tripod down (the legs were at the lowest level) and as I was putting on my 2nd woolly hat!!! - it flipped over, to break the screw thread section from the telescope:-C:-C:-C - am gutted and will have to go straight to dear old Cley Spy tomorrow, the second they open to see what can be done - typical - peak migration coming up and no scope, really hope it can be resolved quickly - like tomorrow morning!!! So after this, just had to watch with bins. Saw flock of turnstones flash by, 2 arctic terns and 2 more Bonxies. I think Eddie M. had a Leaches half distance in what was now ferocious waves, but I couldn't pick it up. The sea when we left was spilling over the shingle!!!! and each tide until Saturday is higher each day!!! Saturday being the highest at 8.5 metres. Had quick cuppa and arrived home at 8.15pm.

Out again tomorrow - lets see what it brings

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

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Must have been too busy looking at the sea to see you Penny! I was in the white Peugeot 205 parked up on the sea wall. Glad you saw the sab gull. Was a bit worried as the people in the car next to me didn't see the first one that went by (the 5:25ish one was the second one I saw) and I was a bit worried that nobody else had seen it! Cracking birds though

Helenelizabeth2 said:

Great day, Penny. Will and I were at Cley from about 12 till just after 3. Sorry we missed you. Similar sightings to you though no Sabine's for us and we had quite a few Sooty Shearwater and a group of 3 Long-tailed Skua. I only got such a short glimpse of a Leach's that I don't feel I can tick it. I'm hoping to get back again at the weekend - today was brilliant.

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Hi Elizabeth, sorry to have missed you too - FABULOUS day, hoping tomorrow will be just as good.

Have a good day's birding on Saturday.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Ilya Maclean said:

Must have been too busy looking at the sea to see you Penny! I was in the white Peugeot 205 parked up on the sea wall. Glad you saw the sab gull. Was a bit worried as the people in the car next to me didn't see the first one that went by (the 5:25ish one was the second one I saw) and I was a bit worried that nobody else had seen it! Cracking birds though

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I was standing the Salthouse side of the shelter - I did walk out once though and stood on shingle in desperation to see a Leaches!!!- you wouldn't have recognised me anyway, I had several layers of clothing on including khaki green coat with hood pulled over 2 wool hats and black waterproof trousers on over trousers and tights!!!!! - looked like the Michlin man today!!! - was determined not to get cold! Sadly I didn't have anywhere near the views that you had of the Sabines - hopefully tomorrow morning though

more of the same today if the state of the sea off Sea Palling this morning is anything to go by...

good luck...

Tim

anyone know if the buff-breast is still there this morning? I'm just getting ready to head out but would like to know either way before setting off.

What a Morning!!!

What an excellent morning. Fed the chickens at eight then headed off to Cley. On the way out of Stiffkey, found the Snow Goose in a field of pinks by the bait diggers path. Got rather wet at Walsey Hills and even wetter at Cley.

Arrived at Dawkes Hide and got excellent views of Grey Phalarope, lots of Pinks, Lapwing, Golden Plover, 4 Little Stint, Curlew Sand and a rather unwell Fulmar on the BOardwalk outside the hide.

Back to work for ten o'clock and as i entered Stiffkey by Lord Buxton's Marshes a Sacred Ibis sailed over the car and settled right beside me.
"F#%*$!g Hell !!!" i shouted rather too loudly to myself in the car as i pulled over.

Suffice it to say, i was a little late for work!!!

Andy

I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Sacred Ibis is almost certainly of suspect origin, being ringed and relatively tame. I suspect it’s the same one that has been frequently reported from Holkham freshmarsh and I had last weekend at Stiffkey. Always nice birds to see and nice one on the rest of the stuff though.

Managed an hour’s sea-watching from 6:15 this morning. The tide was well in and the cliffs here were taking quite a pounding; Happisburgh’s watery grave creeps ever closer! 5 Bonxies, 3 Little Gulls and a juv. Arctic Tern were noted and numbers of wildfowl and waders were well up on recent days. Most interesting sighting however goes to a group of 8 Grey Herons that first appeared on the horizon and came in before heading west over the village.

No time to look for the Buff-breast although I gather it’s still present today...

EDIT: Quality passerines are now starting to be found; Little Bunting & Yellow-browed Warbler (Wells Woods), Greenish Warbler (Holkham Pines) plus supporting cast of Redstart, Pied Fly Bramblings etc......


James

Yellow-browed, Little Bunt GG Shrike today

time to get out there folks. I'm racing off home now for an evening's birding...

must be a good chance of a Richard's now as well...

Hi all,

I'm stepping out of Derbyshire tomorrow for a day trip to the north Norfolk coast...haven't got any bird news services to check so would anyone be nice enough to suggest some locations? I will probably start off at Holkham and Wells and work my way through the pines to Meals house. Then visit Titchwell, Holme etc, haven't the time to venture to East Norfolk coast unfortunately

Ilya - Whats the seawatching looking like for tomorrow?

Thanks all, I will post my findings tomorrow night!

lots about today - great grey shrike at Thornham point, little buntings at Weybourne and Wells wood, yellow-brows at Wells wood, grey phal at Cley and a few sabines along the coast... no doubt there's more to come.

on the pager today:

Snow Goose- Still Holkham west of Lady Anne’s Drive this morning, then Stiffkey.
Little Auk- 1+ Cley, 1 Scratby, 3 Holme NOA
Sabine’s Gull- 3 Titchwell RSPB, 2 Holme NOA, 1 following tractor near Holme village, 1 Overstrand, 1 Cley, 1 Salthouse
Long-tailed Skua-2 Titchwell RSPB, 1 Overstrand, 1 Sheringham
Greenish Warbler- 1 Holkham Pines near of crossroads with tit flock though mobile.
Grey Phalarope- 1 Cley NWT on Simmond’s, 1 Salthouse on sea, 1 Overstrand
Buff-breasted Sandpiper- 1 still Happisburgh on clifftops near lighthouse.
Rough-legged Buzzard- 1 in off sea at Great Yarmouth
Pied Flycatcher- 3 Great Yarmouth Cemetery, 1 Walsey Hills NOA, 1 Wells Wood
Redstart- 2 Great Yarmouth Cemetery, 1 Wells Wood
Little Bunting- 1 Wells Wood near pine plantation by track, 1 Weybourne trapped and ringed at Denmark House.
Yellow Browed Warbler- 1 Wells Wood near boating lake.
Brambling-many
Great Grey Shrike- 1 Thornham Point, just west of Titchwell RSPB, pos in off sea at Happisburgh

Sabines’s Gull y/day Pentney GP’s (Black Tern + Arctic Tern still today)

phew! Today I had 1 Swift over Wisbech (know its just into Cambs...) and 2 Swallows over Dersingham

Also seems like plenty of finches and thrushes arriving at all locations up and down east coast with more to the north and south. Tomorrow should be good. grrr.....

Cheers

Plenty to be seen on the coast today, went for a casual days birding with a chum and ticked the buffbreasted ..which showed quite well.

Shortly after saw a Redwing land in the grass hedge in the same field.

Star of the day (for me and finder) was the Great Grey Shrike found at the bottom of Happisborough cliffs around lunchtime and later caused much chagrin in the following attempt to relocate the bird after a dash to the car for scope!

Also nice to see a few groups of Brents off the sea, also plenty of Wheatears about the place which added to the general feel of a classic Norfolk 'fall'

Matt

Hello all, just moved up to Norfolk to study at UEA, my first post on this thread. Matt, I too was at Happisburgh and ticked off the Sandpiper, awesome! Had a look out to sea and saw around 14 Brents, 3 Razorbill and a few Sanderling on the shore. On my way back to the car, around 4pm, I got a poor view of what I assumed was a GG Shrike in the horse paddocks. I was on my own at the time, and later a couple of birders helped me look for a while, but other than a distant view on telegraph wires no sign. Glad to hear someone else got a look at it. Still a great afternoon, and signs that today was the first real day of autumn.
Cheers,
Jim.

Great, many thanks Connor and posty....looking forward to the birding!

Had a poke about this morning at Happisburgh. Didn't see the Buff. Never mind I'm sure there will be others. Didn't have a lot of time to search as I would normaly, plus I was keen to get to Cley for the Phalarope, and do some sea watching in what was perfect conditions. It appears that the Buff may have gone, but may well have another poke about tomorrow.
Happy birding
Alan

Felt really rough this morning and could not get up early - got down to CleySpy for 11.30am and my scope has had to go to scope hospital and they VERY, VERY kindly loaned me a scope until mine is sorted!

Arrived Cley Coastguards 12.45pm - Stunning day
Red Throated Diver, lots of gannets, teal, 10 brent geese, 12 shelduck. Much quieter seawatching compared to yesterday. Someone had a Sabines a bit earlier. We waited for some Cranes that were apparently seen going west from Cromer, but although there were several sets of eyes to the skies, we didn't see them pass.

Got to Well's Woods for 3pm.
My friend Pete and I dipped on the Little Bunting and Yellow Browed Warbler, BUT Pete found a juv. Redstart near the path west of the boating lake and on the opposite side I found a nice Pied Flycatcher flitting about, we also found a Brambling, 8 Redwings flew over, a Treecreeper, LOTS of goldcrests, big party of long tailed tits with 2 chiffchaffs joining them - we scanned the tit flocks very carefully for anything else! Back in the carpark several swallows and sandmartins skimmed through, several pied wagtails flitting about in the carpark.

Arrived Walsey Hills 6pm - raining now, but walked round and even though we didn't see anything, we spotted several things that appeared and then disappeared just as quick in the blackness - you can just tell tomorrow will be good North East Wind and its raining now, its looking good to say the least!!!

Blakeney Point tomorrow afternoon will be on the agenda I think after daybreak start at my end of the coast.

Good Night and Good Birding tomorrow everyone.

Best Wishes Penny:girl: