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

Norfolk birding (20 Viewers)

Connor seen one in devon so not really bothered. Presume you did not seal it either!! Or did u get the nod and go and see it via a little boat trip??Hope the exam results were ok. Good luck at uni. Regards.
 
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David Norgate said:
Not sure if you have to be a subscriber, but RBA published this on 28th July:
http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/RealData/Whooper_Swans_breed_in_southern_England.asp

Basically, one was injured and the other stayed (as they bond for life) and they bred!
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Thanks very much for the link. It doesn't matter whether one, or both birds are injured or not. They are still wild birds and not some escaped invader.
Its a shame that they were forced to remain here for the summer - probably because of injuries caused by man - but I find their capacity to raise a family hundreds of miles from where they should be against all the odds rather remarkable.
 
Titchwell August 26th

Today’s highlights

Curlew sandpiper – 10 on fresh marsh
Little stint – 5 on fresh marsh
Wood sandpiper – 1 on fresh marsh
Green sandpiper – 3 on fresh marsh
Common sandpiper – 5 on fresh marsh
Spoonbill – 2 on fresh marsh
Dunlin - 300 on fresh marsh

Paul
 
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Frootshoot said:
bins, scopes, pagers, barbours, wellies, beards...
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I'm afraid to say I own everything on that list, James- some in multiples (not the beard, though!).

The Greenish Warbler above Cromer finally gave itself up, after a very frustrating wait. It seemed to have a more prominent and whitish wing-bar on the right side; the left side looked quite faint.

In addition to calling very loudly on one occasion (but more softly most of the time), it sang faintly, but fetchingly, with a lilt. (Shades of Kenneth Williams, there.)

As for the Bonelli's sp, I saw a tail of what might have been the bird and heard several calls similar to Western. This one was definitely NOT playing ball.
 
firstreesjohn said:
As for the Bonelli's sp, I saw a tail of what might have been the bird and heard several calls similar to Western. This one was definitely NOT playing ball.
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Just in case it does play ball tomorrow morning has it been seen in the wood just south-west of Overstrand at grid ref 23,40?
Any info on where to park or is it obvious once you get there?

Could be more to be found on the coast tomorrow looking at the overnight weather, I'll be bush whacking between Winterton and Waxham, got to get my find of the year sooner or later....Autumn's here
 
I have sacrificed going out tonight, to be as well as I can be for 'hot birding' tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing some good birds at the weekend!;) Have a fab weekend everyone:t:
 
ben_lewis said:
Just in case it does play ball tomorrow morning has it been seen in the wood just south-west of Overstrand at grid ref 23,40?
Any info on where to park or is it obvious once you get there?

Could be more to be found on the coast tomorrow looking at the overnight weather, I'll be bush whacking between Winterton and Waxham, got to get my find of the year sooner or later....Autumn's here
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No, its warren woods in cromer. grid ref TG228418. Between the east side of town and the lighthouse. Take overstrand road out of cromer then left on to the warren, park around the T junction, turn left at the T and walk towards the cliffs. Probably best to stand at the lookout in the north east corner of the wood accessed from the coastal cliff path.

The greenish was losely associating with the tit flock but was also seen several times in the large holm oak to the west of the look out, singing on and off.

The Bonelli's came in off the sea, was seen for a couple of minutes around midday from the cliff path on the edge of the wood, then again briefly from the lookout around 2pm. Its hard work but well worth it !!
 
dbradnum said:
As another birder from London with reasonable experience of parakeets (they appear to be expanding slowly into NE London), I disagree - it's really not that simple.

How would you eliminate Alexandrine Parakeet on a brief flyover view, however familiar with RNP you may be? And yes, I have seen the odd one in London - various escaped parrots and parakeets have been noted associating with roosting flocks. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were a few breeding pairs in the southeast either.

In Norfolk, where (I think I'm right in saying) there is no known breeding population of RNP, the likelihood of single escaped birds is relatively high compared to wanderers from feral populations further south, and therefore getting the precise ID correct is important for the record.
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How about different flight call? The pink wing bar? The intolerance of temperatures below 5 degrees c? Or possibly the fact that P. krameri has a total UK population of 30,000 plus and the Alexandrine parakeet has a single breeding colony in the UK with very low numbers?
 
stuart white said:
No, its warren woods in cromer. grid ref TG228418. Between the east side of town and the lighthouse. Take overstrand road out of cromer then left on to the warren, park around the T junction, turn left at the T and walk towards the cliffs. Probably best to stand at the lookout in the north east corner of the wood accessed from the coastal cliff path.

The greenish was losely associating with the tit flock but was also seen several times in the large holm oak to the west of the look out, singing on and off.

The Bonelli's came in off the sea, was seen for a couple of minutes around midday from the cliff path on the edge of the wood, then again briefly from the lookout around 2pm. Its hard work but well worth it !!
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The Greenish showed less than briefly but was still calling well in the same Holm Oak at 6.20pm this evening. Only one other birder there with me when we saw it in the pouring rain.

We stayed until 7.00pm and there was no sign of the Bonelli's although the Greenish called once again at 6.50pm
 
dbradnum said:
How would you eliminate Alexandrine Parakeet on a brief flyover view, however familiar with RNP you may be?
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VillagerFred said:
How about different flight call?
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Fine if you're fully familiar with the range of variation in both species' calls, which I doubt if many of us are, even those of us who have heard a few Ring-necked Parakeets. Also not a lot of good if you don't hear it, such as if you're driving along the A47 when it flies over the car.

VillagerFred said:
The pink wing bar?
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Do you mean the pink on the scapulars? If not then that's a feature I wasn't aware of but I can't see it in photos of Alexandrine; assuming you do mean the scapulars then surely that wouldn't be a whole lot of use on a brief flyover view? Scapulars aren't very easy to see from underneath, in my experience.

VillagerFred said:
The intolerance of temperatures below 5 degrees c?
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With the greatest respect Fred, I don't think that's a particularly useful feature for identifying a lone parakeet in Norfolk in the middle of summer.;)

VillagerFred said:
Or possibly the fact that P. krameri has a total UK population of 30,000 plus and the Alexandrine parakeet has a single breeding colony in the UK with very low numbers?
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But this wasn't in or anywhere near that population. Fact is Ring-necked Parakeets are rare in Norfolk, wherever they come from. Ring-necked Parakeet is a description species here precisely because a high percentage of green parakeets in Norfolk are NOT Ring-necked Parakeets. I haven't checked this but I think there have been some years when there were more records of both Alexandrine and Plum-headed Parakeets than Ring-necked (which isn't even recorded every year).

Personally I think it's perfectly reasonable to think that most Ring-necked Parakeets in Norfolk are escapes - plenty of other Parakeets escape in Norfolk and I believe Ring-necked is at least as common as the others in captivity (I'm not sure of that, admittedly), so I don't think the number of Ring-necked Parakeets recorded in Norfolk is any greater than I'd expect if they were definitely all escapes. I'm quite open to the possibility that some are from a feral population, but I'm not sure that that's beyond reasonable doubt (in which case perhaps it oughtn't even to be on the Norfolk list??)
 
VillagerFred said:
How about different flight call? The pink wing bar? The intolerance of temperatures below 5 degrees c? Or possibly the fact that P. krameri has a total UK population of 30,000 plus and the Alexandrine parakeet has a single breeding colony in the UK with very low numbers?
Click to expand...

I was going to reply to this.... but Dave's summed up my thoughts perfectly. Off to bed now, ready to head up to Norfolk early tomorrow.
 
Hopefully my birding mate Bob will be there to help locate the Bonnellis who was less than helpful today.a bit here a bit there -- put them together....
if the Greenish sings as well as today thats an easy get!

Good luck to all who go!
 
From the NARVOS site: "Bird flew over the A149 at Kings Lynn (5.00pm this afternoon) which has me completely perplexed.

Appeared dark grey/brown in colour, large rotund body, appeared short necked and relatively short but wide winged. Bigger than a pheasant but moderate wing beats (much slower than game bird but not as slow as heron). Appeared to come up off the drain to the east of the road and followed the line of the drain at a height of about 50m........."
 
Penny Clarke said:
From the NARVOS site: "Bird flew over the A149 at Kings Lynn (5.00pm this afternoon) which has me completely perplexed.

Appeared dark grey/brown in colour, large rotund body, appeared short necked and relatively short but wide winged. Bigger than a pheasant but moderate wing beats (much slower than game bird but not as slow as heron). Appeared to come up off the drain to the east of the road and followed the line of the drain at a height of about 50m........."
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Guineafowl?
 
Penny Clarke said:
From the NARVOS site: "Bird flew over the A149 at Kings Lynn (5.00pm this afternoon) which has me completely perplexed.

Appeared dark grey/brown in colour, large rotund body, appeared short necked and relatively short but wide winged. Bigger than a pheasant but moderate wing beats (much slower than game bird but not as slow as heron). Appeared to come up off the drain to the east of the road and followed the line of the drain at a height of about 50m........."
Click to expand...

Sounds like a Bittern to me!
 

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