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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Norfolk birding (26 Viewers)

Penny Clarke said:
I notice today on my RBA pager today that someone had a barred warbler yesterday 'in bramble bush at end of East Bank late evening but no sign this morning'. So my 'large grey warbler' close by also late evening WAS a barred warbler!!!!!! Am I allowed to count it do you think?????!!!!!!!
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I notice that RBA do look through various sites and take news from them, nothing wrong with that, but i think in this case it would be unlikely as you sound like you werent sure and the barred came on as definite not probable or possible (correct be if i'm wrong (again) William;). Maybe someone read this thread and equated walsey hills with east end of east bank went looking for it and drew a blank. Or maybe they did see a barred warber late evening but it does seem that 'late evening' bit sounds like your sighting and someone has nicked it off you!

I'd say if your 100% sure you saw a Barred tick it, but personally if i wasn't 100% and a barred was seen the same or next day i still wouldn't tick it.

Hopefully you'll get a nice showy Barred bowling around on top of a bramble bush later on in the season Penny:t:
 
Humm! A little more on this 'barred' warbler saga. after finding the Pied Fly at Walsey I met a young lad who said he had just seen a Barred c150 yards east of the end of East Bank. I went down there (originally to the wrong place - I have a habit of doing that!) I was there til after 6.30 pm and saw nothing, including antone else down there when I was leaving - so if it was seen then it must have been very late evening! Maybe the report referred to the initial afternoon report, or maybe someone is just much luckier than me! I also briefly saw a 'large' grey warber at Walsey Hills on Sat, but then it came out into the open and was a Blackcap!

Take care all!
 
pomskua said:
I notice that RBA do look through various sites and take news from them, nothing wrong with that, but i think in this case it would be unlikely as you sound like you werent sure and the barred came on as definite not probable or possible (correct be if i'm wrong (again) William;). Maybe someone read this thread and equated walsey hills with east end of east bank went looking for it and drew a blank. Or maybe they did see a barred warber late evening but it does seem that 'late evening' bit sounds like your sighting and someone has nicked it off you!

I'd say if your 100% sure you saw a Barred tick it, but personally if i wasn't 100% and a barred was seen the same or next day i still wouldn't tick it.

Hopefully you'll get a nice showy Barred bowling around on top of a bramble bush later on in the season Penny:t:
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Hi Pomskua

Sorry, I mean't to add some smiley faces;);) to my post on whether I should count the barred warbler or not!!!!!!! You are right, I definately won't be counting it, I do wish it had sat and looked at me a bit longer though. BUT I do know one thing for sure it wasn't a blackcap!!! Oh well, never mind.

Gloomy dark skies here at the moment.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:
 
After a bit of a break from UK birding, I've finally been out and about in Norfolk this weekend co-finding a Balearic Shearwater, and finding 2 Black Terns, Temminck's & Little Stints, 6 Pied Flys, c. 10 Wood Sands, c. 20 Green Sands etc.

Details on my website (which will now be updated fairly regularly)

Hope you've all had an enjoyable summer and manage to see a few decent birds this Autumn.
 
Frootshoot said:
Nice description of the sea there Pom! It certainly was quite eerie this morning. I saw the 2 Balearics yesterday as they flew past Happisburgh at 07:45 and they were flying in a similar manner to the one you've described; very close to the water, short glides in between much flapping but there wasn't really much wind evident. They weren't as dark as the bird you describe and were close enough to pick out some smudging around the axillaries on one of them (even through 10x Zeiss). They also gave the impression of having a broader 'hand' compared to Manx and Sooty, a feature I've noticed with the species before, and were both typically heavy looking in the belly/vent area. Regarding my previous posting about the number of Balearics around, and to clear any confusion, I was suggesting that maybe there was one individual coming back to the Eccles/Sea Palling area to roost rather than one accounting for all the Norfolk records...

James
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Happisburgh yesterday,sunday.
4 Whinchat in and around the paddocks by the cliffs were a good start, Sand Martins and Swallows appeared ready to leave. 4+ Wheaters in evidence.
Watched the sea for a couple of hours. 3 Guillemot on the sea, and a large mixed flock of Sandwich and Common Terns offshore was promising and I wasnt disappointed. Singles of Arctic and Pomarine Skuas came through and harrassed the flock, and a possible Bonxie at a distance.
A Brown Shearwater came through at 3pm, its flight much as you described above James. A Balearic? Maybe, didnt get enough on it to be sure. A Curlew finished off a great afternoon.
I have been in Norfolk for a year now, and Happisburgh is up there with my favourite places to bird. Heres hoping for a local rarity this autumn!
Cheers,
Jim.
 
Glossy Ibis just came up on Birdguides as being present at Salthouse yesterday evening. Anyone got any further information?
 
Presume its the bird that has been in Yorks recently...Hope it gets relocated.
Also , i see the Black Stork is heading our way too....just flew south into Lincs.
I am off to Wells/Holkham this afternoon... will keep a look out for the Ibis
 
RBA are reporting 'No Access' at Cantley BF between 7am and 5pm during September and October. Public footpaths appear to access the area from Cantley and Limpenhoe. Any further info from Cantley regulars?

James
 
pomskua said:
Quit school!!! :king:

5 Manx presumably now juvs and 6 Arctic past this evening
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Hey Pom,

I wish it were that simple ;) keep up the good watching at Sheringham, it's all right for some ;) :-C perhaps we well have some northerlies at a weekend this year in September <he says, expactantly, for at least the 3rd year running>

Have a good autumn everyone.
 
Visited the sluice today, and was disappointed to find that the wader pool has dried up just in time for autumn! Plus there was a bull sitting in the middle of it and I didn't really fancy asking him to make room for the solitary sand. Bird life was pretty average, with a nice kingfisher and a noisy family of reed warblers providing the highlights, but migration was in evidence with a reasonable hirundine passage (seemed to come in waves which was interesting) and a bush full of common warblers busily feeding up.
 
Frootshoot said:
RBA are reporting 'No Access' at Cantley BF between 7am and 5pm during September and October. Public footpaths appear to access the area from Cantley and Limpenhoe. Any further info from Cantley regulars?

James
Click to expand...

If you stick strictly to public footpaths, then you don't get very far at this site - see http://www.multimap.com/s/QV8w6fTL in conjunction with the equivalent OS map. Basically, there's usually a right of way along the riverbank (but that's closed at present due to engineering works towards Reedham) and another running SW-NE along Marsh Road from Limpenhoe to the river.

However, by far the best pits for waders are the big ones SE of the latter footpath (due east of where my link shows 'Yare' on the map). Unless you have a permit, then I guess you could be kicked out for viewing this area during daylight hours this autumn. Glad I got one shortly after the 3 Marsh Sands all those years ago...
 
Connor Rand said:
perhaps we well have some northerlies at a weekend this year in September
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Looks like you might get reasonable northerlies on Saturday, though not as strong as was previously forecast. Doesn't look anything spectacular, though - just a straightforward blow down the North Sea, rather than bringing Sibes in from further east.
 
dbradnum said:
Looks like you might get reasonable northerlies on Saturday, though not as strong as was previously forecast. Doesn't look anything spectacular, though - just a straightforward blow down the North Sea, rather than bringing Sibes in from further east.
Click to expand...

Where did you get your info from? The weather forecasts I've looked at suggest strong northerlies further north, but with the low being centred roughly over the UK, we'll get southerlies here.

From what I can decipher, conditions aren't really looking that great over the next week or so in Norfolk (although excellent in SW Ireland). The most interesting thing is the strong SW winds and heavy rain sweeping-up from Biscay, which may funnel a few seabirds through the channel. My guess is it could be quite good for Balearic Shearwaters on the east coast, with the possibility of a Cory's (a lot of stuff doesn't like passing through the Channel though, with Sab Gull pretty rare at Portland for example). There could be S-SE winds on Friday on Saturday, with high pressure over the southern + south-eastern continent meaning clear weather. Might be the odd Rose-coloured Starling or something.

My advice would be to stay in this weekend and go out next week as the lonnger-range forecast is looking pretty Mega. If you do go out this week end, Yank waders probably still the best to look out for - got to be a Short-billed Dowitcher on its way!
 
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Ilya Maclean said:
Where did you get your info from? The weather forecasts I've looked at suggest strong northerlies further north, but with the low being centred roughly over the UK, we'll get southerlies here.

From what I can decipher, conditions aren't really looking that great over the next week or so in Norfolk (although excellent in SW Ireland). The most interesting thing is the strong SW winds and heavy rain sweeping-up from Biscay, which may funnel a few seabirds through the channel. My guess is it could be quite good for Balearic Shearwaters on the east coast, with the possibility of a Cory's (a lot of stuff doesn't like passing through the Channel though, with Sab Gull pretty rare at Portland for example). There could be S-SE winds on Friday on Saturday, with high pressure over the southern + south-eastern continent meaning clear weather. Might be the odd Rose-coloured Starling or something.

My advice would be to stay in this weekend and go out next week as the lonnger-range forecast is looking pretty Mega. If you do go out this week end, Yank waders probably still the best to look out for - got to be a Short-billed Dowitcher on its way!
Click to expand...

Spot on.

POP
 
Ilya, whats the best website/source for longer range forecasts?
Cheers,
Jim.


Ilya Maclean said:
Where did you get your info from? The weather forecasts I've looked at suggest strong northerlies further north, but with the low being centred roughly over the UK, we'll get southerlies here.

From what I can decipher, conditions aren't really looking that great over the next week or so in Norfolk (although excellent in SW Ireland). The most interesting thing is the strong SW winds and heavy rain sweeping-up from Biscay, which may funnel a few seabirds through the channel. My guess is it could be quite good for Balearic Shearwaters on the east coast, with the possibility of a Cory's (a lot of stuff doesn't like passing through the Channel though, with Sab Gull pretty rare at Portland for example). There could be S-SE winds on Friday on Saturday, with high pressure over the southern + south-eastern continent meaning clear weather. Might be the odd Rose-coloured Starling or something.

My advice would be to stay in this weekend and go out next week as the lonnger-range forecast is looking pretty Mega. If you do go out this week end, Yank waders probably still the best to look out for - got to be a Short-billed Dowitcher on its way!
Click to expand...
 
jimbob said:
Ilya, whats the best website/source for longer range forecasts?
Cheers,
Jim.
Click to expand...

I use magicseaweed (the surfing weather site) for 7-day forcasts as it gives a very good visual representation of what's going on:

http://magicseaweed.com/

The Germans, with the characteristics and proficiency we've come to expect from our European counterparts have an excellent and highly-technical 16-day forcast site:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/topkarten/fsavneur.html

It's rather heavy duty and requires a bit more knowledge of weather symbols and systems and may require a bit of German language knowledge or educated guesswork. All together it's an excellent site though, with historic weather maps also stored.
 
Been having a couple of hours walk around Strumpshaw Fen for the last three days, nothing out of the ordinary but nice to see two or three Little Egrets around the reserve with the more regular Grey Heron..Bearded Tits and Water Rail were quite vocal and heard regularly from the fen hide...water levels seem to be pretty low over the whole reserve but this may be due to some work in the reedbeds, there certainly seemed to be a lot of scrub clearance going on the otherside of the river at Surlingham!!

Also saw a couple of Marsh Harrier and two Kingfisher's which were very showy both from the visitor centre and the fen hide. Walking back from the fen hide a common lizard eyeing up a common darter gave good close views and even allowed a photo!!

Matt
 

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