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

Norfolk birding (6 Viewers)

A Little Auk was reported from Holme today, and four (I think) yesterday.... seems extraordinarily early, anyone know more? QUOTE]

The earliest record in The Birds of Norfolk was of one in August back in the 70`s, photographed at Bramerton on the River Yare ! So its not impossible. At the risk of putting 2 & 2 together & coming up with 5, we have had a few Puffins at Sheringham the last couple of days.
 
Seawatching improved today, off sheringham we had 4 puffins all going east, Cory's shearwater heading slowly west for 10 mins around 9.30am (seen by 15-20 people) I tried to get it on RBA quicker but couldn't get through. Also one closish Sooty Shearwater and one distant one. Big numbers of Gannets on the move with 700+ east by 11am. Also a Peregrine catching a migrant passerine over the beach, then a herring gull doing the same thing. Probably a lancie and a yellow breasted bunting !!

Anyone know anything about the Icternine that just came on the pager ?
 
Holme is a great place for seawatching- its got a dimensional loop hole in which Great and Cory's Shearwaters and Little Auks all get push passed Holme but no where else. Seriously- Holme is the new Sherringham. Get ya bad asses down there!
 
My bad ass likes the close proximity of the toilets at Sheringham thanks & before anyone thinks otherwise, no i aint coming out of the closet here !
p.s. 1165 Gannets "clicked" east between 6:30-11:30. Now its coming into peak season it would be great if we could get some organised counts going from the shelter, i know there is a fair turnover of visitors at various times during the day & it would be nice if we could corollate their observations. Any suggestions ? Something like the notebook that used to be at Stubb Mill maybe ?
 
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Not a good time at the moment - SO when I just turned on my 'mac' and logged on to birdforum and read some of this evening's Norfolk posts I was laughing my head off - just want to say thank you all for the amusing banter on here this evening from 'bad asse' Holme to 'clicky things'!!!!:-O:-O:-O


Will - will you be getting 'ya bad asse self' to Holme this weekend then!!!!!?????;);)

I think for a change I might just do that myself:t:

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

P.S. Just in case anyone is disputing the Great Shearwater at Holme - it was seen by 2 100% reliable top birders.
 
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My bad ass likes the close proximity of the toilets at Sheringham thanks & before anyone thinks otherwise, no i aint coming out of the closet here !
p.s. 1165 Gannets "clicked" east between 6:30-11:30. Now its coming into peak season it would be great if we could get some organised counts going from the shelter, i know there is a fair turnover of visitors at various times during the day & it would be nice if we could corollate their observations. Any suggestions ? Something like the notebook that used to be at Stubb Mill maybe ?

Hi Rob

I actually agree - I don't suppose I am really supposed to say this BUT I prefer seawatching at Sheringham for lots of reasons. Ditto with toilets. Much better to be seated and dry than being buffeted on a dune! Higher up for viewing sea. Generally better passage/selection of birds. Several VERY experienced seawatchers to help us not so good folk with IDing dots on horizon with not so good scopes! Only disadvantages at Sheringham - you have to get up in the middle of the night to get a seat! AND when something good comes along, no one wants to leave the shelter to put it on the pager (rubbish signal in the shelters for most mobiles) for fear of missing something else! (good signal when you stand by the toilets!) This reminds me of a time when I was seawatching with Pete S. and others at Coastguards/Cley when the cafe/loos were still there - a time that will stay in my memory for a long time - it got to the stage where I just could not hold on any longer and simply HAD to go the loo - came back to what I thought was a wind-up from Pete, but no I HAD JUST MISSED A LEACH'S - I was mortified to say the least!

Looking forward to some Sheringham sea-watches in my forthcoming holiday.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:
 
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P.S. Just in case anyone is disputing the Great Shearwater at Holme - it was seen by 2 100% reliable top birders.

What makes an observer 100% reliable.....? I love it when people try to defend such records. For example no one is 100% reliable and mistakes do happen and if the same two people saw the Little Auks or any other scarce sea birds all the time then I would be willing to question exactly how reliable they are!!!! Unless of course they really do have a dimensional canon net and are dragging them in from the atlantic or something. Your average joe goes to Holme and would see very little yet some consistently bring in the goods even in semi conditions when even Sherringham isn't delivering, and considering Holme is living in the shaddow of Scolt Head that is remarkable. Many a time I have been at Titchwell and something good has been reported off Holme and seawatchers have gone "Huh?".

This hobby attracts all walks of life and I'm afraid to say pathological liars are among them; I'm not saying that pathological liars are at work at Holme or owt but just that just because you know someone doesn't make them reliable. They may be perfectly nice people but just think back, what evidence have you actually got to back up "100% reliable"???

Will
 
100% reliable ?! No matter how honest one is with their own sightings, as Will says we all make mistakes. Now before this thread descends into a slanging match or similar i would just like to say that Amazon sell the "clicky things" for just under £3. Is that right that you can get them in Poundland ?
 
I'll check out Poundland, thanks for the info. Will, you're right about nobody being 100% reliable, but earning that kind of rep usually comes from being able to admit if you had the slightest doubt about the ID of a bird, so with something as rare as a Norfolk Great Shearwater which requires you to think carefully about what you've just seen I think Penny's use of the phrase might possibly be justified.

It is true that Holme gets birds that other places don't. It's actually not too badly shadowed by Scolt Head - the coastline edges out to the north at Holme (almost half a mile further than Titchwell) so it should be in a nice position to get most of the birds going past, whilst Titchwell ought not to and yet does have does produce some great seawatching. I remember a big seawatch off Titchwell last year at the same time Connor and others were seawatching off Holme. We both got a few of the same birds, such as a group of Sab's (and a Cory's if I remember rightly) but there was also a fair bit on both sides that was missed by the other team. And both the Holme and Titchwell watchers were going "Huh?" at what was being seen at Sheringham and nowhere else ;) !
 
Ian was saying he bought a clicker in pound land but apparently it was advertised for counting girls at the local night club ?!

While looking for a great grey shrike at Cley a couple of years ago, one of the top birders mis-identified a magpie as the bird ! That was in good light conditions on the land. Sea watching can be a minefield, wind speed, direction, distance, light etc. all make the same species look very different under different conditions. There are some more experienced than others obviously and if they claimed a fea's petrel off norfolk you would be more likely to believe them. But nobody is infallible

Holme versus Sheringham, I think you are often going to get different birds on the same day. Obviously they are 30 miles apart and it depends where the birds hit the coast, quite often stuff comes down the North sea and goes into the wash, round and back north. Hence would not be seen from sheringham. Other times they might hit blakeney point and carry on east, hence no chance at Holme and every chance at cley & sheringham. What is interesting is the difference between cley and sheringham on the same day. Maybe they should build a sea watching hide on stilts in the beach car park?
 
The Little Auks (in the plural) do seem quite exceptional and certainly at this time of year young Auks and Puffins can be a confusion species, I remember last year a 'Little Auk' being reported at Cley in close company of a Razorbill. Also Great Shear is an extremely rarity off Norfolk and i would think a comprehensive description will need to be submitted to get it accepted - black cap, oil stain, flight action, rump pattern etc.

However at the end of the day what does it matter if reports of seabirds come through on the pager that people don't believe even if they are only a few miles along the coast. When birding i'm firmly of the belief that 'the birds i see are the birds i see' and everything else should be irrelevant. If there is a rare seabird being reported along the coast flying towards me, but which I don't see myself, i can think one of a number of things, the bird was misIDed, the bird was strung, the bird flew out to sea so i wouldn't have seen it flying past or i missed it flying past. Ive contended with all these views at one time or another but finally got into a headspace where i'm quite happy with what i see and don't really care whats going on around me - 'ok i missed a Cory's past Sheringham - (good vantage point, multiple observers) but I saw a few Sooties and a Pom instead'. Being cynical/critical/objective whatever you want to call it and dwelling on birds that others are claiming is simply going to get you down in the dumps.


So what does it matter if a few dodgy seabirds are reported and even slip into the bird report, with seabirds once they are gone you're never going to know if they were genuine or not even if you interrogate the person who saw them. Surely the main concern is being thorough and honest with yourself and making sure you don't fall into the same trap. Its easy to disbelieve reports from other the people but if you claim something good you can quickly be put in the same position.
 
The Little Auks (in the plural) do seem quite exceptional and certainly at this time of year young Auks and Puffins can be a confusion species, I remember last year a 'Little Auk' being reported at Cley in close company of a Razorbill. Also Great Shear is an extremely rarity off Norfolk and i would think a comprehensive description will need to be submitted to get it accepted - black cap, oil stain, flight action, rump pattern etc.

However at the end of the day what does it matter if reports of seabirds come through on the pager that people don't believe even if they are only a few miles along the coast. When birding i'm firmly of the belief that 'the birds i see are the birds i see' and everything else should be irrelevant. If there is a rare seabird being reported along the coast flying towards me, but which I don't see myself, i can think one of a number of things, the bird was misIDed, the bird was strung, the bird flew out to sea so i wouldn't have seen it flying past or i missed it flying past. Ive contended with all these views at one time or another but finally got into a headspace where i'm quite happy with what i see and don't really care whats going on around me - 'ok i missed a Cory's past Sheringham - (good vantage point, multiple observers) but I saw a few Sooties and a Pom instead'. Being cynical/critical/objective whatever you want to call it and dwelling on birds that others are claiming is simply going to get you down in the dumps.


So what does it matter if a few dodgy seabirds are reported and even slip into the bird report, with seabirds once they are gone you're never going to know if they were genuine or not even if you interrogate the person who saw them. Surely the main concern is being thorough and honest with yourself and making sure you don't fall into the same trap. Its easy to disbelieve reports from other the people but if you claim something good you can quickly be put in the same position.

I need a Facebook 'like' button at this point :t:

Maybe I should get a clicky thing before I go back to uni...
 
There does seem to be an increase in rubbishing at the moment ! I suppose pagers have their pros and cons. While on the subject of pagers, at Cley on sunday there were loads of people sea watching in the afternoon, the wind was south west and their wasn't a single bird flying by ?? I think visiting birders looked at their pagers and saw the good passages from thurs to saturday and though there must be loads to see!
 
Cley/Blakeney v Sheringham

Having been a regular seawatcher off Sheringham last year but now having moved to Blakeney its interesting to compare the two sites. Most people would argue that Sheringham is a better site because of the number of good observers and that fact the shelters are quite raised enabling viewers to see further out. Additional more contentious points are that perhaps seabirds, incoming passerines + Owls are able to see the landmarks of Sheringham, building and lights from the town and Beeston Bump from further out. There is also the theory (well my theory!) that some birds such as LTS use certain points of the coast to navigate and that experienced adults remember certain places from previous years.

However i think there are many disadvantages to Sheringham, not wanting to be too crude but the shelters do smell of pee, it can be hard work in the summer with all the bucket and spaders and at times even the local plod start questioning you as to what you are doing. The biggest thing though for me is the 'naturalness' that is missing at Sheringham and present at places further along the coast. The shelters with the solid concrete pillars blocking part of the view give quite an austere feel to the place as well as hampering viewing, I once had a LEO disappear behind a pillar which i then missed as it flew over the shelter. Compare this to Cley and the seawatching hide at Blakeney which always feels more wild, you need to find any protection you can on the wind and rainblown shingle ridge and the fact the viewing is more difficult adds to the excitement and challenge. Although you can see less birds you can certainly get closer views with birds sometimes flying over the beach or even behind you. Also there usually seems to be more on the sea than Sheringham possibly because the sea gets a lot deeper just off shore.

I do miss Sheringham but for atmosphere, challenge you can't beat places where you're more exposed to the elements.
 
When I said interesting differences, I was talking about how sometimes 15 LT skuas are seen from sheringham and only one from Cley !! Those pillars are bl00dy annoying, maybe we could chop them down! Weather looks good for a fall on wednesday, low pressure over northern france and the low countries with rain coming in and the high moving over Scandinavia.

Anyone know where on blakeney point the RB fly is ? Very tricky to catch up with last year, hopefully a few more in the coming days
 
Booted Warbler just been found on Blakeney Point. Apparently at the boat landing area. Also 2 Red-Breasted Flycatchers in the plantation there and an Icterine Warbler at nearby Warham Greens, plus a few Pied Flycatchers dotted around!
Good work!
 
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