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Saturday in East Anglia (part one) (1 Viewer)

Jasonbirder

Jason-occasional-twitcher
Saturday 3rd May

The prospect of a spring day out in East Anglia is always exciting, with most of the Summer visitors back and busy singing and breeding, waders passing through heading North and the chance of something rarer too on offer, it makes for something interesting to see wherever you turn! With that in mind I decided a trip round the coast of Suffolk and Norfolk would be an excellent way to spend a day out in the field, starting off at Sizewell in the hope of connecting with the Alpine Swift which had been roosting there each night for the last week.

I was aiming to get to Sizewell for about 6:00am in the hope of being able to see the Alpine Swift leave its roost just after dawn; this entailed leaving home at the ungodly hour of 3:15am! After the long drive East I arrived in the car park at Sizewell shortly before 6:00am. The skyline was dominated by the huge buildings and dome of the Sizewell nuclear power station, already the car park was busy with birders coming and going, talking to a few people walking back up to their cars it turned out the Alpine Swift had left its roost very early (about 5:45am) and then very quickly departed north in the direction of Minsmere RSPB, drat! We decided to walk over to the beach to check the sea around the power station outfalls. Just offshore are a couple of oilrig like structures where warm water from the power station cooling systems is released into the sea, the warm water attracts shoals of small fish and fry which in turn provides a ready meal for any local seabirds. Sure enough the water around the rig was a melee of Terns and Gulls hanging in the wind, circling round and diving into the water, occasionally surfacing with a tiny silver fish in their bills. The Gulls were mainly Black-headed Gulls with a couple of Kittewakes and the Terns were all Common Terns of which there must have been 20+, I carefully checked through the Terns in case anything more unusual was accompanying them but they all appeared to be Common Terns which although extremely similar to Arctic’s, especially in spring, have a slightly less “delicate” look about them, caused by the shorter less pointed wings and shorter tail, when seen in the scope their bills had a brighter “orangey-red” colour about them too.

On to the Minsmere area, which was going to prove problematic, as for some reason the reserve doesn’t open until 9:00am! I have no idea why this is, as it is my firm opinion that the early morning is by far the best time of day to be out. Seriously how many self-respecting birders start their day at 9:00am? By then it will have been light for 3 ½ hours and the dawn chorus will have long died down! My intention was to park near the reserve entrance and then walk across to the beach to scan the reserve from the Public Viewing Platform and coastal footpath. I hadn’t counted on the local jobsworth though! As soon as we had pulled up and walked towards the Reserve approach road out he came, and stood in front of us with his arms crossed, “you can’t go down there” he bellowed, I tried to explain we wanted to walk across to the public footpath on the beach but he wasn`t having any of it! He was also desperately unhappy with our car despite it being tucked up on the verge and well out of everyone’s way and proceeded to threaten us with “heavy equipment” which would come along and damage our car! Quite what damage he thought we’d do walking across the path to the beach I can`t imagine, but in the end it turned out he’d actually done us a favour as I realised it was possible to scan from the road across Island Mere close to where we’d parked the car and this would give us an excellent chance of seeing the Alpine Swift which frequently fed in the sky above Island Mere.

Under the tree’s looking across the large reedbed of Island Mere we were swiftly joined by other birders who’d had the same idea, it was all quite social, everyone happily chatting, sharing their plans for the day and searching the skies while we waited for the “star arrival”. It was a beautiful morning; with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky and a cacophony of birdsong all round us in the trees and reeds. Looking out across the reedbed the first bird that caught my attention was a male Marsh Harrier quartering low across the reeds, its broad wings held in a raised “V”, it flew back and forth slowly above the reeds before dropping down out of sight, no doubt onto its breakfast! A distinctive sound echoing across the reedbed was the “booming” call of the male Bittern, to my mind it sounds exactly like the noise made by blowing across the top of a beer bottle! Sheer magic and a sound I have only very rarely heard. A Chiff-Chaff, which had been singing intently in the roadside trees, perched in the open and afforded us excellent views at very close range. A few early rising Swifts could be seen circling above the reedbed and of course each one was carefully scrutinised, soon enough someone shouted out “what this?” and we all looked up, one of the Swifts flying above the reeds looked bulkier and more deliberate in its flight than the others and, after the tricky job of locating it in my scope (they don`t half move fast and there are no “landmarks” in the sky) I was able to get a good view and confirm my suspicions, it was the Alpine Swift. Keeping it in my scope I was shouting out directions unhelpfully; “its flying left”; “its dropping lower” none of which were much use without any markers to relate to! Whilst it had the classic “sickle” shaped wings of a Swift, it was obviously bigger than the Common Swifts accompanying it and to my mind the wings had a slightly more rounded tipped appearance, its wingbeats and flight action was more deliberate and relaxed than a Common Swift, lacking the characteristic “shivering” of the wings they show in flight. The pure white belly was surprisingly difficult to make out, only being obvious when the bird banked and revealed its underparts, one other feature that was surprisingly obvious was the slightly paler brown plumage tone compared to the darker Swifts. After about 5 minutes it drifted out of sight behind the trees, but we were extremely fortunate in that it quickly returned and then stayed in view for about 15 minutes before drifting away towards the centre of the reserve. What a magic moment, and an encounter with a bird that I hadn`t held out much hope of seeing, as most Alpine Swifts seen in this country linger for, at most, a few hours before disappearing because of their highly aerial and mobile lifestyle. They are a rare but annual visitor to Britain from Southern Europe. With well over an hour to go before the reserve opened we decided to wait and see if it re-appeared again and also to keep a close watch on the Swallows and Martins, whose numbers were starting to build as the air warmed up. A Red-rumped Swallow had been seen here on the previous day and was another Southern visitor I’d be extremely eager to see. As it got warmer more and more birds joined the throng over the reedbed, Common Swifts, Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins all circling and chasing. Each was distinctive in its own way; the compact Sand Martins with their white bellies and sharply angled back wings, the straighter-winged House Martins with their distinctive white rump, the Swallows with their flexible tail streamers and more fluid, languid flight and the Swifts usually flying higher, swooping and climbing like jet planes on their stiff, sickle-shaped wings. A Marsh Harrier was seen again searching over the reedbed for prey, but this was a different individual, rather than the brown, grey and black male this was either a younger bird or a female, a much more uniform dark brown with a golden head and leading edge to its wings. Despite our scrutiny there was no sign of the Red-rumped Swallow.

9:00am approached so we returned to the car and drove onto the reserve, parking up near to the visitors centre. Walking down we decided to head for the North Hide and look at Minsmere`s famous Scrape. We crossed the pool at the foot of the artificial Sand Martin colony and headed off down the path. Passing a stand of Bramble and Hawthorns, our attention was immediately caught by the instantly distinctive song of a Nightingale, its loud, melodic, repeated whistles and rattles emanating from the deep recesses of the foliage. We stopped and peered into the bushes as it continued to repeat its clear ringing song from just yards in front of us. Despite our best efforts all we could mange in ten minutes of watching was a brief flight view as it dashed low, from one bush to another! They can be extremely elusive birds! Somehow it must have moved unseen from the area we were scanning, to an area of scrubby trees and gorse back towards the visitor centre as it started singing once again. I followed it of course and was surprised when another birder pointed to it, singing openly from a branch on the outside of the tree! Brilliant, it dropped out of sight briefly before coming back into view on the same perch as I frantically set up my scope. I can honestly say these were the best views I`d ever had of Nightingale as it perched openly. In appearance it was a long tailed plump looking bird, a chocolaty brown colour above, creamy grey underneath, its black eye, set in a featureless face gave it a “beady-eyed” expression, it had a bright chestnut-rufous tail with the colour extending up onto its rump. It disappeared into the centre of the bush and started singing again, but scanning into the tree revealed its position once more and I quickly had the scope on it again, magic! A few passing birders stopped to look and I quickly urged everyone to have a look through my scope before it disappeared. After the Nightingale disappeared I walked down to North Hide to view the Scrape, as any visitors to Minsmere will know the hides here are luxurious constructions and this one was a double-decker building, the top floor allowing a view down onto the birds and across the water. The large scrape in front of us was alive with birds, mainly Black-headed Gulls which nest on the sandy islands. Plenty of Avocets were busy too, feeding, resting on the Islands or flying up to chase off any approaching intruders. They are such an elegant, distinctive bird; dazzling black and white in plumage with a fine upturned bill. Towards the back of the scrape 4 Sandwich Terns were perched on one of the islands, pale grey and white, stocky with a black bill and a short “scruffy” black crest. Swarms of Sand Martins dashed too and fro over the water and surrounding reeds, it was almost too much to take in! Setting up the scope to search properly through the birds a small pot-bellied wader caught my attention on one of the closer sandy Islands, for a moment I thought Stint, before it passed close to a Ringed Plover and its similar size showed it to be Sanderling moulting from its pale winter plumage into its brighter summer finery. Other waders included many Redshank and a few Dunlin, themselves just starting to acquire the black belly they sport in summer. Looking out over the reeds I caught sight of Bittern flying towards us, buff brown and black, it looked like a huge owl in flight, on its slowly flapping, arched wings and with its feet trailing out behind it. We watched it as it slowly flew towards us, before dropping down out of sight somewhere into the reedbed. The Alpine Swift kept being seen from different places around the reserve, so we weren’t too surprised when we spotted it in the skies to the west of us, once more we were graced with its powerful aerial flight and distinctive white-bellied plumage. There was so much activity here, but if we were to get up to Norfolk and meet up with some friends it was time to go.

Our next destination was the huge system of dunes at Winterton, just north of Great Yarmouth. We parked in the beach carpark and headed north into the Dunes. On the way we passed a birder returning to his car who kindly told us he’d been watching the Tawny Pipit and gave us directions to the area he had last seen it, so off we headed in that direction. Tawny Pipit is a rare migrant from Southern Europe and another bird I had never seen before, if my luck held I would see 2 new birds today! We walked through the sandy dunes, passed a local landmark known as the “totem pole” (looks like the bottom ¼ of a telegraph pole to me) and reached a flat sandy area, bounded on 4 sides by raised dunes covered in Marram Grass and low vegetation. This was the area the Tawny Pipit had last been seen and a couple of other birders were stood there searching already. Scanning across the ground and round the cover I was able to see a couple of Skylarks; chunky, scaly looking birds with short crests, a group of Linnets; their twittering flight calls drawing my attention as they dropped in to feed on the ground and a few Wheatear; both the bold slate grey, black and cream males and the browner females, most obvious when they took flight revealing their bold white rump, then becoming suddenly inconspicuous as they landed, running along the ground, then pausing and stretching upright to look round before moving again. Before long a slim, elongated bird revealed itself, coming out of cover and walking onto one of the well trampled tracks. Instantly all eyes and scopes were on it, this was the Tawny Pipit. Many Pipits can be very hard to identify but this bird was instantly recognisable, even to me who had never seen one before, a large pipit, with a long wagtail-like tail, longish legs and quite upright posture gave it a distinctive “jizz”, and the plumage was diagnostic, being an unstreaked sandy-brown above and a warm apricot-cream below, while the wings and tail were a little darker its overall pale but warm colour and plain unstreaked appearance were very distinctive. It fed unconcerned, all the time moving from left to right, mostly in the open but sometimes disappearing behind tufts of heather or marram, it would occasionally make a short low flight before landing and continuing its search for food. I really enjoyed the views it gave and made the most of it before it took flight and disappeared further away to our right. Walking down the track to locate it again I spied 2 friends who were scooping something intently before them, they’d relocated the pipit and were watching it on a flat area of sand and gravel. We joined them quickly and once more got good views of the Tawny Pipit. Lee and Mick were having none of it when I told them we’d been watching it earlier “you`ve just been looking at a Skylark all that time” they joked! All of a sudden Lee shouts up to tell us "Montagu`s Harrier heading this way" he`d received a pager report of a Montagu`s harrier heading south along the coast towards us, it had been seen a few minutes before passing Waxham (just North of us) and heading south round the coast. We all climbed to the top of one of the dunes and trained our bins and scopes eagerly to the north and out to sea. Sure enough before long a raptor comes distantly into view tracking towards us, following the line of the beach. As it gets closer we are all able to savour excellent views of a female Montagu`s Harrier as it passes directly in front of us and then circles higher up before heading back inland. It was a pleasure to see such a rare and beautiful raptor and we were able to make note of its slimmer wings showing 3 obvious primaries, more falcon like flight and "jizz" and its plumage which is so similar to other female Harriers (except Marsh Harrier of course). It was a fantastic moment and an excellent piece of good fortune to be in the right place at the right time. We discussed the merits of the site for migration and when a pager report came through of 3 Common Cranes to the South of us we strained our eyes in that direction too! Unbelievably I managed to catch sight of 3 tiny distant specks high in the sky to the south, training my scope on them revealed the distinctive flight silhouette of 3 Common Cranes with their elongated necks and broad slab-like wings. They were making slow progress against a strong headwind, but steadily approaching us, we continued to track them as they got nearer and as they passed close by were able to get good views of them. With their broad plank-shaped wings and obvious primary fingers, elongated neck stretched out straight ahead and long trailing legs their shape alone is distinctive but we could also make out their grey body and coverts, black flight feathers and pied, striped necks. They were gradually heading out to sea but after a while, they started to lose height and circle down before heading back inland, just to our North, perhaps they didn`t relish the thought of a long sea crossing! With all the excitement in the skies above us, we had lost track of the Tawny Pipit and Lee and Mick were off to obtain longer views, we bid them goodbye agreeing to meet up with them later at Cley on the North Norfolk coast. We headed off back to the car the “yaffling” call of a Green Woodpecker unseen amidst the dunes, in our ears as we walked back to the car park.
 
Jason

I must admit that I have read, and enjoyed, many of your reports. They are so very descriptive. I have visited the sites you have mentioned but you seem to have the knack of bringing them alive.

You seem to have had an extremley busy, and fruitful day, judging by the birds you saw. As one final point. I have to agree with your sentiments on the 9am start at Minsmere. I find that frustrating as well.

Thanks for a most interesting report and like Andrew, I look forward to the next instalment.
 
there is a public footpath that runs through Minsmere, It is only the carpark shop and certain hides that are shut, not the whole reserve. Also it used to be from dusk till dawn, when I vol'd there, I had to lock up.
 
Absolutely superb report Jason! You deserved the success you had for yet again getting up at the crack of dawn and making the most of things. Lovely descriptions, too. Thanks for that. An excellent report.
 
Hi Jason,

Great daily birding report from East Anglia over the week-end
Like the others I look forward to further trip reports from you inthe future.

John "Wildgoose" Marshall
 
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