Norfolk birding (5 Viewers)

I was thinking of the '95 harrier- and now feel the same age myself, after all this kerfuffle.

Thank you 'Gomphus'.

My 2nd BLUETAIL in county in 3 days could so nearly have expanded into a
3rd. But the Weybourne bird had, apparently, gone into the 'dark forest'.

Nevertheless, the Burnham Doons Pallas's was a big compensation.

I can now 'rest' at the white-board face for the next three days, while sibes pour west over the school, having just crossed the North Sea.

Holme harrier

firstreesjohn said:

I was thinking of the '95 harrier- and now feel the same age myself, after all this kerfuffle.

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I remember the 1995 bird well. A small harrier suggesting Montagu's. The bird turned in front of the small crowd and showed a prominent collar.

The 1995 Norfolk Bird Report p649 describes the record. Deemed a monty's but pallid not eliminated.

Possible pallid in 1995 in my view. The same for the 2010 Holme harrier?

Do not know.

Burnham Overy dunes

What a cracking day ! One of the highlights was getting literally inches from this goldcrest in the sueda. I took this picture with my mobile phone without using the zoom. I could have plucked the bird out of the bush. It was totally unconcerned by my presence, merrily picking insects off the bush. Oh and there was a bluetail and pallas's warbler about !

Steve I am not realy interested in county records or national " firsts " for me watching the birds is far more important than any list. Let Penny claim her "first ".I have a number of slides of various ususual races of warblers caught on the North Norfolk coast including all three races of willow warbler caught on the same day as the flycatcher . Looking back at my records I see I was was a year out on the capture date. It was 17th of september 1995 at North Point Wells and I was in company of Rob Robinson ( now of BTO ) and Lisa Rolf.

If anyone wants to see the slides they are welcome to call around to see them though give me warning to hunt them out as I have thousands of slide of birds we caught in those days.
I am not sure if its of any real interest to anyone other than the people present , but below is a section taken from my diary of the time .

North Point Wells
The 18th and 19th of September produced one of the largest falls of migrant chats and warblers ever seen on the North Norfolk coast. There follows an extract from an article I wrote for the Norfolk Ringers paper . On Sunday 17th I visited the North Point meadows for a reconnaissance for the tomorrow. A lot of goldfinches were feeding on dead thistle heads and there were two redstarts in the thorns. I met with a small group of birders who had seen a nightingale species in a bramble thicket . they were unable to decide wether it was a common or thrush nightingale.

I arrived well before first light on the Monday morning and all the nets were up before any bird movements were noted. Lisa Rolf and Rob Robinson joined me for the day. The weather was bright and sunny with 1\4 cloud and there was a stiff east wind blowing however the nets were quite sheltered being sited in low ditches fringed with hawthorns. The first net round produced just 7 birds including a swallow , a couple of willow warblers and a redstart. The following net rounds did produce a few more birds including another redstart and a garden warbler. By 11.00 I said to Rob "I recon that we will end up with 30 birds for the day with luck" , how wrong I was. By 12.00 we had our 30 birds and I originally intended to pack up about now however I suggested to the others it might be an idea to hang on until tea time as the day had a feel about it something just might happen. The next net round was more interesting , dozens of red admiral butterflies appeared feeding on over ripe blackberries. A number of winchats were seen , but unfortunately all in sites too exposed to set up a net in the increasing wind and wheatear's appeared in the ploughed field across the dyke. Song thrushes burst out of the bushes as we reached the nets and we caught 7 with very dark speckled bellies and weights in the 53-64 grm range suggesting migrants. We got a couple more redstarts and syliva warblers A yellow browed warbler flipped over the sea wall along with a small party of willow warblers. By 16.00 we had sixty birds including 9 redstarts ,15 willow warblers a pied flycatcher and 5 garden warblers. By this time we had taken down all but the most sheltered nets as the wind was steadily rising. By now we were seriously thinking of packing up and as we set off to check the nets we were not prepared for the sight before us on what was intended to be the final net round. The whole site was alive with birds , redstarts , pied flycatchers , garden warblers and willow warblers in such numbers we had never dreamed of . As fast as we were taking birds out of the nets more were going in . The wind was causing a problems with small birds bouncing out and only about 1 in 10 birds were sticking. We managed to pack up the nets well before dark though we deamed that by the time we would have ringed and released all the birds dusk would have fallen so most of the final catch were taken home processed and kept over night in bags to be released at Wells the following dawn. All the birds flew well upon being released having suffered no harm for a night in captivity. Indeed it may have been beneficial as shortly after dark it started to rain and the wind became even stronger. Such conditions were too much for some birds and a few dead willow warblers( unringed ) were found the next morning.
The day had provided us with some incredible sights of marsh harriers hunting tired migrants , whinchats looking down on us while we were ringing , a barred warbler sitting on the guy rope of a mist net red tailed chats darting from bush to bush and pehaps most incredibly hundreds and hundreds of willow warblers in almost every bush. They were even sitting on the coast road as we drove home.
When we finished ringing the birds in my living room Monday evening a finally tally was taken of the days catch. Exactly 150 birds of 17 species. One of the willow warblers had been ringed in Spain though as yet I have not heard any details. 4 of the willow warblers were of the race acredula . three showing signs of both acredula and trochilus and one magic huge willow warbler with a supercillim that met at the back of the head later Identified by Chris Mead from photos and our biometrics at the race yakutensis . Two spotted flycatchers were ringed , one a standard Uk bird , the other with dove grey back , clean white chin and wide silver edged tertials and greater coverts. We took a number of slides of this bird and again Chris came to our rescue and comfirmed it was of the race neumanni. There were also several very interesting garden warblers showng very pronounced grey neck markings ( I have slides of these ).


The slides of the flycatchers and willow and garden warblers were widely circulated at the time at the Dereham ringers meeting and members of the Sherringham ringers group.

Red Flanked Bluetail

Stiffkey/Warham Greens and Weybourne!

News of Pallas's Warbler came through on the RBA website, so I diverted to Burnham Overy Dunes 'parking spot' which was completely full, so I decided to carry on and find my own Pallas's Warbler at Stiffkey!!!

Parked up at Stiffkey Campsite Carpark and walked west.

I spent ages around and in the 'Pit' but sadly:-C found nothing apart from alot of redwings. The best birding here was when I walked up the furthest, western track where tons and tons of redwings, blackbirds and song thrushes scattered in all directions, the whole length of the track! I was looking into the sun, so couldn't really see anything very well, but decided to look properly when I walked back down again. When I got to the concrete pad I walked off right along a field edge to a small copse thinking I might find something good in there, but nothing apart from 2 pheasants! Walked back and sat on edge of field eating a late lunch at 2.30pm. Gary (don't know his second name) and Ashley (from Oriole Birding) turned up and beat me going back down the track - I caught up with them and they had 2 Redstarts (I didn't see any). News then came up of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Burnham Overy Dunes!!!!!!! If only I had twitched the Pallas's earlier.... I would have already been there now for the RFB!

Walked back to car which took forever, didn't see anything particular on the way back. Bumped into a man who had seen a yellow browed warbler near the whirlygig and also had watched earlier, loads of redstarts flicking back and forth from the hedge along the track which reads 'PRIVATE'. Back at the car I chatted with birders going out to look for the Olive backed Pipit - one man said he had searched for 4 hours for it this morning with no luck. Was about to drive to Burnham Overy Dunes when I got a HOT phone call to tell me that a RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL had been caught at Weybourne and would be released at 4.05pm - looked at my watch it was 3.40pm! I was assured that I would make it in time! Well you can imagine the journey, a bus in front, drivers doing 35mph in a 60mph, a pick up truck with trailer pulled out from a side road in front of me and drove like a snail, talk about FRUSTRATING! Anyway I can't quite believe I made it BUT I did!!!!! Pulled into the carpark area to a crowd of birders, slung the car to the side and jumped out with camera - I really had made it with seconds to spare! Sadly though I wasn't standing in the best spot for photos and light was the wrong side by hey ho! AWESOME!!! Also met two lady birders 'Pauline' and 'Betty' who I had a nice chat with - they seemed to know me already, think they read my blog! Thank you sooo much to my 'hot' caller - had they not called me, I would not have seen the RFB, as I do not have a pager anymore and the RBA website, via my iphone is approx 7 minutes behind...... and 7 minutes makes all the difference in that situation!

Anyway I looked at my watch and thought would I possibly be able to see two in one day - how cool that would be!!!! Raced over to Burnham Overy and got a space on the roadside and walked/ran to the end of the board walk. Pallas's not showing when I flew past, so carried on - everyone I passed said 'the bluetail is still showing' - would I be lucky? Carried on, getting out of breath, heart beating furiously, feet aching etc, passed Carl Chapman who said 'its still there' - when I passed Carl I was only 50 yards away from where people were watching. As I joined them (approx 5.15pm), they were trying to relocate the bird:eek!: we searched and searched to find nothing but dozens of robins and redwings - how sad, it would have been awesome to see two on the same day! Horrible Dip:-C Walked back in semi-darkness but towards the end, the torch had to come out for the second time this week!!!

Along with my two Common Cranes going over my house this morning (see previous post today) it was another excellent day!!!

Drove to my parents and showed them this week's photos. Got home 10pm!


Best Wishes Penny:girl:

See more pictures on blog.

Penny Clarke said:

Stiffkey/Warham Greens and Weybourne!

News of Pallas's Warbler came through on the RBA website, so I diverted to Burnham Overy Dunes 'parking spot' which was completely full, so I decided to carry on and find my own Pallas's Warbler at Stiffkey!!!

Parked up at Stiffkey Campsite Carpark and walked west.

I spent ages around and in the 'Pit' but sadly:-C found nothing apart from alot of redwings. The best birding here was when I walked up the furthest, western track where tons and tons of redwings, blackbirds and song thrushes scattered in all directions, the whole length of the track! I was looking into the sun, so couldn't really see anything very well, but decided to look properly when I walked back down again. When I got to the concrete pad I walked off right along a field edge to a small copse thinking I might find something good in there, but nothing apart from 2 pheasants! Walked back and sat on edge of field eating a late lunch at 2.30pm. Gary (don't know his second name) and Ashley (from Oriole Birding) turned up and beat me going back down the track - I caught up with them and they had 2 Redstarts (I didn't see any). News then came up of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Burnham Overy Dunes!!!!!!! If only I had twitched the Pallas's earlier.... I would have already been there now for the RFB!

Walked back to car which took forever, didn't see anything particular on the way back. Bumped into a man who had seen a yellow browed warbler near the whirlygig and also had watched earlier, loads of redstarts flicking back and forth from the hedge along the track which reads 'PRIVATE'. Back at the car I chatted with birders going out to look for the Olive backed Pipit - one man said he had searched for 4 hours for it this morning with no luck. Was about to drive to Burnham Overy Dunes when I got a HOT phone call to tell me that a RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL had been caught at Weybourne and would be released at 4.05pm - looked at my watch it was 3.40pm! I was assured that I would make it in time! Well you can imagine the journey, a bus in front, drivers doing 35mph in a 60mph, a pick up truck with trailer pulled out from a side road in front of me and drove like a snail, talk about FRUSTRATING! Anyway I can't quite believe I made it BUT I did!!!!! Pulled into the carpark area to a crowd of birders, slung the car to the side and jumped out with camera - I really had made it with seconds to spare! Sadly though I wasn't standing in the best spot for photos and light was the wrong side by hey ho! AWESOME!!! Also met two lady birders 'Pauline' and 'Betty' who I had a nice chat with - they seemed to know me already, think they read my blog! Thank you sooo much to my 'hot' caller - had they not called me, I would not have seen the RFB, as I do not have a pager anymore and the RBA website, via my iphone is approx 7 minutes behind...... and 7 minutes makes all the difference in that situation!

Anyway I looked at my watch and thought would I possibly be able to see two in one day - how cool that would be!!!! Raced over to Burnham Overy and got a space on the roadside and walked/ran to the end of the board walk. Pallas's not showing when I flew past, so carried on - everyone I passed said 'the bluetail is still showing' - would I be lucky? Carried on, getting out of breath, heart beating furiously, feet aching etc, passed Carl Chapman who said 'its still there' - when I passed Carl I was only 50 yards away from where people were watching. As I joined them (approx 5.15pm), they were trying to relocate the bird:eek!: we searched and searched to find nothing but dozens of robins and redwings - how sad, it would have been awesome to see two on the same day! Horrible Dip:-C Walked back in semi-darkness but towards the end, the torch had to come out for the second time this week!!!

Along with my two Common Cranes going over my house this morning (see previous post today) it was another excellent day!!!

Drove to my parents and showed them this week's photos. Got home 10pm!


Best Wishes Penny:girl:

See more pictures on blog.

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Great read Penny (and your Olive Backed pipit photos aren't bad either!)

Puts things in perspective just how difficult it really is to connect with these rares. There were loads around on the weekend but i connected with none.

Such is the joy and frustration of birding that induces us all to do it all over again next time!

Titchwell October 12th

Today's highlights

Black redstart - 1 still near beach boardwalk
Bittern - 1 several times in flight over reedbed

Paul

I got to the Pallas' first thing this morning & had to wait for others to arrive so I could get some accurate gen on the bluetail. No-one seemed to know exactly.
So after searching for two hours alone I gave up & came back.

As I walked back there were dozens of birders heading out: met Penny, who I recognised.

Had excellent views of a male Bearded tit on the wooden fence! Goldcrests everywhere - and plenty of common migrants about.

Needless to say news came out that the Bluetail was later re-found!

Did Brancaster marshes this pm. No Shorelarks - but a fly-over Lapland bunting amongst other goodies.

wolfbirder said:

Great read Penny (and your Olive Backed pipit photos aren't bad either!)

Puts things in perspective just how difficult it really is to connect with these rares. There were loads around on the weekend but i connected with none.

Such is the joy and frustration of birding that induces us all to do it all over again next time!

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Thank you!:t:

halftwo said:

......Needless to say news came out that the Bluetail was later re-found! .......

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Was it!!!!????:eek!::eek!::eek!: OR do you mean the one that turned up at Waxham (not necessarily the same bird).
Nice to meet you today:t:

Burnham Overy Dunes

Arrived at Burnham Overy Staithe and got the last parking spot opposite the track to Gun Hill around 9am.

Freezing cold, NE and overcast all day.

Met a BF member 'Halftwo' on route along the track. Bearded Tits calling near the sluice. Loads of hedge sparrows and robins about. When I arrived at the bushes at the end of the board walk, I choose not to join the crowd on the bank and walked down the lower path to join one other birder/artist with sketch book. This definately paid off as I had stunning views of the Pallas's Warbler at 9.40am and half decent pictures within the first 5 minutes!!!

Left the crowds and spent the entire morning around Gun Hill area - tons of goldcrests in every bush, chiffchaffs, meadow pipits, redwings, song thrushes, reed buntings, linnets and two Lesser Whitethroats. Also several wheatears and also noted throughout the day several massive flocks of Starlings all going west. Searched very hard for the RFB! Walked back to the bushes to photograph the Pallas's Warbler again and now there were two!!! More photos. Anyway after a long time enjoying watching these beautiful Pallas's Warblers along with a chiffchaff, male Blackcap, a siskin and numerous goldcrests I headed off towards Holkham pines.

Holkham Pines

Complete waste of time really, a boring walk with only a Treecreeper, long tailed tits, goldcrests, jay and a surprise of a pair of bullfinches just before Joe Jordan's hide. Sat/collapsed in Washington hide to eat my last sandwich - I sooooo wished I had bought my flask with me, as it was freezing and my bottle of water was not appealing! No sign of the Pallas's Warbler that somebody had seen from here this morning. A marsh harrier and a barn owl flew past along with a skein of pinkfeet and more starling flocks. Made it to the bus stop at the end of Lady's Anne's Drive with 5 minutes to spare and caught the 6.43pm bus back to my car at Burnham Overy and got home just after 7.30pm after flying into the garage to buy more food supplies for tomorrow's birding! Arriving home at 7.30pm is quite early for me!

Too exhausted to sort through Pallas's pictures right now, so will add to this post tomorrow.

Having an early night - all this hardcore birding is tougher than going to work!

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Norfolk records shattered...

So...having browsed "The Birds of Norfolk" several Norfolk record counts have just been shattered...if the following account of the day on the NOA Holme website is accurate..

Sunday 10th October 2010

A major fall today included 4,500 Robins, 2,500 Song Thrushes, 6,500 Redwings, 7,000+ Goldcrests, 300 Long-tailed Tits, 1500 Chaffinches, 800 Bramblings, 600 Greenfinches, 450 Goldfinches, and 1100+ Siskins. Birds of note included a Short-eared Owl, a Black Redstart, a first year Ring Ouzel, 7 Cetti's Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 10 Garden Warblers, 65 Blackcaps, 250 Chiffchaffs, 15 Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher, a Great Grey Shrike on the marsh, 11 Jays east, a Lesser Redpoll, a Crossbill and 7 Lapland Buntings. Seawatching produced 18 Common Scoter, 7 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Red-throated Diver, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 11 Gannets, 1 Arctic Skua, 5 Sandwich Terns and a Common TeRN.

Records are: Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Robin at least along with massive numbers of eg Brambling, Song THrush, Redwing etc.

I didnt visit North Norfolk during this period but I do read there was a lot around (eg Connor and Pennys Blakeney Point day). Were the numbers really this high can anyone else recount their counts please. At Corton on the Norfolk/Suffolk border there were loads of birds around .. but..if I estimated Goldcrest numbers it would have been 150 or so..still very good for us...but did north Norfolk really get 1000s more birds than us..?

Penny - got the RFB gen wrong I guess! (nice to have met you too)

At Holme today: ten Snow buntings, a few Common scoter, amongst other things - then later a ringtail Hen harrier east past Choseley.
Two Corn buntings amongst Yellowhammers and Bramblings near Ringstead. Will post more tonight.

The Waxham RFB was showing beautifully today: down to five or six feet while I was there. Lots of Bramblings and Reed Buntings passing along the dunes, as well as six Cranes and two Buzzards.

Titchwell October 13th

Today's highlights

Grey wagtail - 2 on fresh marsh, a good local bird for us
Little stint - 1 on fresh marsh
Velvet scoter - 3 offshore

Paul

Lightthiscandle said:

The Waxham RFB was showing beautifully today: down to five or six feet while I was there. Lots of Bramblings and Reed Buntings passing along the dunes, as well as six Cranes and two Buzzards.

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Hi! Could you tell me where to go/park etc to see the RFB please?

Best Wishes Penny

Red Flanked Bluetail- Waxham

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours with the bluetail today, first to the spot and had given up so sat on a log in the middle of a copse, 2 mins later the bluetail landed 2 feet away from me and seemed to inspect me, fantastic bird!
Fir Trees John I know you didnt want to be gripped off but couldnt resist posting a few pics, nice to meet you by the way.

Penny- the bird is just North of the pipe dump in a small copse of trees near to the C sign in the field. Park at Shangri La Cottage or the small car park on the bend of the road just south of the cottage and walk South, good luck, its a cracker.

Not a lot else about at the coast considering the weather, I managed 1 Ring Ouzel, 5 Lap bunts a Woodcock and just a few Chiffs and crests.
Good day to take off, great to be out birding in good conditions

Salthouse Warbler

If you walk left after reaching the end of the beach road at Salthouse you will come across a Pill Box on a hill. Just below this there is a thick bramble bush and inside this this afternoon there was a warbler. Facially it looked like a Reed Warbler but it did appear a little paler brown and slightly longer tailed to me!
If anyone is planning a trip to Salthouse tomorrow please take a look and end my doubts! The bird skulks a lot and it takes a while to get a glimpse before it dives deep into cover.
It probably is nothing special but there is a chance so take a look, I hope it is still there!

David

The Bonellis in Wells Wood

Had a cracking week in E Anglia, including being at Sheringham for the mega seawatch, then the Empid the following day - an experience never to be forgotten! I'm posting to find out about the Bonellis; originally put out as a Western, i then heard rumours it was giving a "chip" call. I'd be grateful if someone could fill in the gaps so to speak.
Cheers.

ben_lewis said:

..... the bird is just North of the pipe dump in a small copse of trees near to the C sign in the field. Park at Shangri La Cottage or the small car park on the bend of the road just south of the cottage and walk South......

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Sorry for late response Ben - was in hairdressers this evening when I asked you directions!

Wonderful pictures by the way!:t:

Apologise for being blond here BUT I very rarely go east ! so trying to remember now.... is the cottage the one thats on the left side if you had come from Cromer direction and opposite is dense bushes climbing up, either side of the sandy track to beach/dunes? Then do you walk south of the cottage, sorry!!!!?

Best Wishes Penny:girl: