Norfolk birding (13 Viewers)

2 Golden Orioles were reported to me as showing well this morning. Hobby and Garganey has been sen there this week also.

Connor

Connor Rand said:

2 Golden Orioles were reported to me as showing well this morning. Hobby and Garganey has been sen there this week also.

Connor

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Thanks Connor hope to have a good day will be leaving home about 4am so I should have a long day to see plenty, I will report sightings tomorrow evening.

Barry.

I had 27 hobbies in the air together on Tuesday, but a long way from the Lakenheath reception. They were all over the furthest western reedbed, viewed best from the floodbank. This long walk takes you past all the plantations with the orioles. Take a look at the board in reception for all the birds there - a very good line-up.

You should also stop at Weeting Heath to the Stone Curlews and Woodlarks, only 3 miles from Lakenheath.

Check previous threads on Lynford, although any Hawfinches will be much harder to spot now with leaves on the trees.

All the best,
Graham

Today Holme & the Bee-eater

Phew what a great day!!!

Didn't get out til 10am, but didn't get home till 8.30PM, due to minor detour for the Bee-eater on the way home.

Big hirundine passage today, we did 3 10 minute counts at 1PM, 2Pm & 3PM, birds were on the move from 10am thru till around 4PM, it virtally stopped after 4.30PM. We multiplied out our counts using conservative estimates the totals were as follows:-

Swallow 3000 west for PM count only,
House Martin 300 west for Pm count only
Sand Martin c30 west for PM only.

Also at Holme, 15 Yellow wags over all west until 17.42 when a flock of 40 grounded briefly on the main marsh befoer moving west.
2 Tree Pipit, 1 grounded showing well, 2 Whimbrel, 6 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat (Connor it was female - seen at 17.40 Gore Pt), 2 Turtle Dove, 3 Cuckoo (seen all together), 2 Garganey, & 1 superb pale phase Arctic Skua over the dunes.

Finished the day with grippin views & pics of the Bee-eater - apologies to those of you who arrived after 7.10PM.


Best pics of the Bee-eater on my website at http://norfolkbirding.com/latestpics_3.html

Enjoy!!!!!! I did,

Ta Chris

Norfolkbirder said:

Phew what a great day!!!

Finished the day with grippin views & pics of the Bee-eater - apologies to those of you who arrived after 7.10PM.


Best pics of the Bee-eater on my website at http://norfolkbirding.com/latestpics_3.html

Enjoy!!!!!! I did,

Ta Chris

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Oh my goodness Chris, what a fabulous photo, CANNOT BELIEVE I missed it by 10 minutes, my most massive dip ever, am livid!!!!! Cannot believe you have photographed it as well, you jammy so and so, although thats not quite what I said on the phone to you! (sorry about that!). But well done with fantastic shot!!!!!!

See you about tomorrow, will be having a very full day's birding tomorrow - I will be travelling in the dark on Sunday!!!!!!

Best Wishes Penny

Boozers!

Im the licensee of the Red Lion in Stiffkey and The Golden Fleece in Wells so Cheers!! So any birders must fill me in their day on entry!

Although I will say that most of the coastal pubs are great and accommodate twitchers well. The best way to get around though is on the coasthopper bus which runs from cromer to hunstanton and you can jump on and off all day every day to some fantastic north norfolk birding spots

Reports from the pager up until 09:35...

BLACK KITE Between Aylmerton and Gresham @08:25

RED-RUMPED SWALLOW West Runton over clifftop car park 09:12

ALPINE SWIFT Cromer lighthouse still 09:25


Best see if I can get out for a while...

James

13th - Unlucky !?

What a day - Alpine swift over Cromer, Stunning Purple Heron at Kelling (watched before it flew off S) and Osprey over Salthouse. Could have done with the Bee-eater staying longer and the RR Swallow (missed it by about 20mins), but at this time of year its hard to keep up with all the good birds around!
Hope to catch up with the Bonaparte's at some point too!
Still plenty of hiroundines today.
Sacha

Up at 4 am down to lynford.
All the usual tits and finches, Spot flt catch (2),Garden warb,Mistle thrush (3),Nut hatch, Green and great spot woddy, Long tailed tits(5) Marsh tit(2),No sign of Cross bills or Haw finch.
The down to Lakenheath fen. All normal tits and finches, 3 Golden orioles,Hobby,Lots of Swifts,Swallows, Sand martins,Garganey,6 Great crested grebe,2 cuckoo, Reed warbler,Sedge warb, reed bunt,Common tern.
Called into weeting heath(pouring with rain by now)Stone curlew (good view of nesting bird from left hand hide) wood lark on fields opp visitor centre.

good day for me don't get out enough. Look like I should have stayed in my own patch.

Barry

Sounds like a good day.

I'm looking foreward stopping by the Lakenheath reserve in a month or so, on my way back home, for the Golden Orioles (and hopefully the Garganey)

Hopefully the weather will be better by then

Jason

lomond said:

Up at 4 am down to lynford.
All the usual tits and finches, Spot flt catch (2),Garden warb,Mistle thrush (3),Nut hatch, Green and great spot woddy, Long tailed tits(5) Marsh tit(2),No sign of Cross bills or Haw finch.
The down to Lakenheath fen. All normal tits and finches, 3 Golden orioles,Hobby,Lots of Swifts,Swallows, Sand martins,Garganey,6 Great crested grebe,2 cuckoo, Reed warbler,Sedge warb, reed bunt,Common tern.
Called into weeting heath(pouring with rain by now)Stone curlew (good view of nesting bird from left hand hide) wood lark on fields opp visitor centre.

good day for me don't get out enough. Look like I should have stayed in my own patch.

Barry

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sacha said:

What a day - Alpine swift over Cromer, Stunning Purple Heron at Kelling (watched before it flew off S) and Osprey over Salthouse. Could have done with the Bee-eater staying longer and the RR Swallow (missed it by about 20mins), but at this time of year its hard to keep up with all the good birds around!
Hope to catch up with the Bonaparte's at some point too!
Still plenty of hiroundines today.
Sacha

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Wow sounds like you had a great day- alas I couldnt get out today! What time did the Purple Heron fly south, just out of curiosity?

Connor

A very long, but productive day

I was so disappointed to have missed the Bee eater last night, so instead of going to Lakenheath to see orioles at first light I decided to go to Morston instead!!! Last night, several people thought it may roost overnight in the tree it was last seen in, or roundabouts.

I wanted to see that bee eater sooooooo much, that I left my house at 3.45am, arriving at Morston at 4.30am!!!!!!!! - on route saw a barn owl sitting on a post at 4am. On arrival at Morston church, I was first there! (silly me) The sunrise was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, stunning red skies. What a fantastic morning, it all looked exciting and promising. Brilliant spot for birds here, have never stood here before, church yard behind, village pond to right, loads of trees and bushes in front, lots of wires criss crossing for colourful little birds that enjoy a bee or two for breaky to perch on!!! Bees buzzing about!, horse paddocks on other side of A149 leading up to sea wall area/Half Way House, Blakeney Point. Black cap and white throat singing in bushes, greenfinches, goldfinches, pied wags bouncing on telegraph wires, chiff chaff seen and heard, mistle thrush near pond, pair of grey partridge in field. Another birder turned up just after 5am, can't remember his name but we saw one turtle dove purring on the wire (5.20am) and then another 2, 2 marsh harriers came right over us, lots of activity all round, looked like it was going to be a good day. Brian Bland, Jamie Macallum, Richard Millington and a few others turned up later, but no sign. This is the earliest I have ever gone out for a bird!! I stood there until 8.15am, but very sadly, no bee eater. Unbeknown to me a non birder (so I heard) saw it on wires at 6.30am by A149 opposite Red Lion Pub!!!!!!! and had they (not their fault at all, just saying if they had ) reported it straight away I could have just nipped the 1/4 of a mile up the road and seen it in brilliant sunshine!!!!! (found this out later, mid afternoon on pager!) I am gutted to say the least. Then possibly the same bird was seen south east of Fakenham!! Anyway enough about the bee eater!!!!!

Went to Walsey Hills next arriving 8.30am. Cettis singing in reeds by Snipe's marsh. Willow warbler singing on telegraph wire at top of hill, and a wonderful big fat female adder basking on the bank in the wonderful sunshine! Walked round reserve, chiff chaff singing, robin, usual tits on feeders, chaffinches, common whitethroat x2, sedge and reed singing, water rail calling on Snipe's Marsh, 4 long tailed tits and another 2 cetti's on top of the heath. My borrowed pager was going off continuously every minute or too which was extremely exciting, but at the same time irritating. Part of me will find it extremely difficult to give it back this week, and part of me will be glad to get rid of it, because if I kept it I would turn very quickly, into a serious, demented, fruit cake twitcher!!!

Red Rumped Swallow came up on the pager at West Runton, so I looked at map, thought about the fact that I only slept for about an hour and thought what the hell, so off I went to join a mass of people parked on the road to the clifftop. Never been up here, looks a good spot. It took me ages, as it did alot of people to see this bird, but did eventually (10.25am), was very high in the sky though. Had better views when I held one once at Holme (when trainee ringer, years ago)!!! Anyway that was good, new year tick! Was going to go on to Cromer to see Alpine Swift, but changed my mind, you have to draw the line somewhere, if I had carried on, I could have ended up in Great Yarmouth!

I stopped to park for Kelling Quags but changed my mind because I felt so tired - wish I had now, as someone, I discovered later had seen a purple heron there!!!!! Never mind! Drove back along coast road, stopped at Morston again just to peep over the wall, just in case bee eater had risen very late! No sign, just a couple of red legged partridge in horse paddocks, carried on (very, very tired now) all the way to RSPB Titchwell arriving 12pm and sat and ate my lunch in carpark - pager came up with Male and Female Dotterel at field near Choosely Drying Barns! Starting to lightly rain now. I was so shattered I could not muster up the energy to walk down the main path, so just popped into centre, to see what had been seen - 2 spotted flycatchers in carpark at 7.30am!!!! Well I just had to go round the Fen Path, just in case! Saw lovely bullfinch, just above my head!, blackcap, chiffchaff, male marsh harrier sitting on post distantly from Fen Hide, male reed bunting and back along the path just before the seat on the left side of path a Spotted flycatcher appeared (12.40pm), fantastic, have not seen one for ages, plus another year tick!

Arrived Choosely 1.15pm and a very nice man let me look through his scope before I set mine up - Male and female Dotterel, lovely, but not brilliantly close. In fact after that, nobody could pick them up again! They were in a dip in the field, think they were hiding in that! And the rain was now getting heavy. Drove back along to the barns and saw my first Corn Bunting this year, feeding along with yellow hammers and a Turtle Dove on the wire!

Went to Holme next and had a turtle dove in the village and arrived Redwell Marsh at Holme 2.30pm. Saw Male Gargeney distantly, pied wagtails, shoveler, swallows, sandmartins and housemartins. Popped into a friends for coffee and then there was a lovely short! sunny break in the pouring rain, so went to Holme Marsh (4pm) for a short while. The path round to the hides was like a river! Saw pochard from first hide, willow warbler singing, cuckoo singing. Last hide, 3 cuckoos in sucession flew from behind hide and out across the marsh towards dunes!, blackcap singing and a cormorant fishing in pool! Lots of hirindines whizzing about in the rain filled skies, after flies. I now felt cold and exhausted, left here, quick chat with parents and then home.

Hope everyone else had a good day.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Hi Penny.
I like reading your reports thanks to you I am now doing more birding but never seem to see as much as every body else, Or maybe I see the birds but dont realise it.

Barry.

lomond said:

Hi Penny.
I like reading your reports thanks to you I am now doing more birding but never seem to see as much as every body else, Or maybe I see the birds but dont realise it.

Barry.

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Hi Barry,

Thats a lovely thing to say, I am touched that my ramblings have encouraged you to do more birding. It doesn't matter how many you see (and plus doing what I did today was absolutely nuts after an hour's sleep and ages you 10 years!) its quite simply just enjoying being out there.

Good birding.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Boner was back at Hickling Swim Coots this afto. A few Whimbrel locally and plenty of swifts and hirundines brought down by the rain

good chance of a roving Purple Heron, Alpine Swift or Bee-eater zooming around the coast... keep em peeled.

Penny, I'm sure Chris will tell you all about the Bee-eater at the curry. It'll be just like being there yourself. Almost. 8-P

Tim B

Tim Allwood said:

Boner was back at Hickling Swim Coots this afto. A few Whimbrel locally and plenty of swifts and hirundines brought down by the rain

good chance of a roving Purple Heron, Alpine Swift or Bee-eater zooming around the coast... keep em peeled.

Penny, I'm sure Chris will tell you all about the Bee-eater at the curry. It'll be just like being there yourself. Almost. 8-P

Tim B

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Hi Tim, I have already seen and spoken to Chris about THE BEE EATER AND HEARD ALL ABOUT IT AND SEEN THE FAB PICTURES ON HIS WEBSITE!!!!!! :-C

See you both FridayB

I can't compete with the exotica reported on here but on Saturday we went for a walk at the NWT Centre at Ranworth. Along the boardwalk we spotted a couple of Tree Creepers, one or two Willow or Marsh Tits (I can't tell the difference yet), numerous warblers in the trees by the reeds including several Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and we heard a couple of Cetti's but couldn't see them.

On the broad by the Visitors' Centre there were a couple of Marsh Harriers in the distance, about half a dozen Great Crested Grebes and quite a few Common Terns flying about. We noticed one sitting on a post a few metres away and I cursed the fact that that never happens when I have my digiscoping gear with me, especially as it was still there twenty minutes later. All was explained when another Tern swooped down and fed it with a fish, so I presume it was a young bird. Would it have been born this year as it looked quite mature (beginner's question)?

We walked back along the boardwalk and carried on to the church for coffee and apple pie at the tea room (highly recommended.) On the walk back to the car we saw two Kingfishers flying over the dykes in the beautiful gardens near the pub.

A lovely afternoon and the best weather of the weekend.

Ron

Terns & tits!

Hi Ron,

Your tits would almost certainly have been Marsh, as Willow have become a relative rare breeder in Norfolk. Marsh - short neat bib, white cheeks, and neat glossy short cap, with pale area in the folded wings, also loud "pitchoo" call.
Willow tit has a less neat and longer bib, with longer sooty cap, pale area normally to the folded wing and calls " chikka, chay, chay, chay".

The Common Tern you saw was very probably a male offering a female "a gift" this is a usual part of there pair bonding. It is a bit too early for youngsters yet, and also you would have noticed a big difference in the juvs browner plumage.

Nice to see someone enjoying regular birding, we all get too hung up on rares!! Hope the above helps.

Ta Chris

NoSpringChicken said:

I can't compete with the exotica reported on here but on Saturday we went for a walk at the NWT Centre at Ranworth. Along the boardwalk we spotted a couple of Tree Creepers, one or two Willow or Marsh Tits (I can't tell the difference yet), numerous warblers in the trees by the reeds including several Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and we heard a couple of Cetti's but couldn't see them.

On the broad by the Visitors' Centre there were a couple of Marsh Harriers in the distance, about half a dozen Great Crested Grebes and quite a few Common Terns flying about. We noticed one sitting on a post a few metres away and I cursed the fact that that never happens when I have my digiscoping gear with me, especially as it was still there twenty minutes later. All was explained when another Tern swooped down and fed it with a fish, so I presume it was a young bird. Would it have been born this year as it looked quite mature (beginner's question)?

We walked back along the boardwalk and carried on to the church for coffee and apple pie at the tea room (highly recommended.) On the walk back to the car we saw two Kingfishers flying over the dykes in the beautiful gardens near the pub.

A lovely afternoon and the best weather of the weekend.

Ron

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Norfolkbirder said:

Hi Ron,

Your tits would almost certainly have been Marsh, as Willow have become a relative rare breeder in Norfolk. Marsh - short neat bib, white cheeks, and neat glossy short cap, with pale area in the folded wings, also loud "pitchoo" call.
Willow tit has a less neat and longer bib, with longer sooty cap, pale area normally to the folded wing and calls " chikka, chay, chay, chay".

The Common Tern you saw was very probably a male offering a female "a gift" this is a usual part of there pair bonding. It is a bit too early for youngsters yet, and also you would have noticed a big difference in the juvs browner plumage.

Nice to see someone enjoying regular birding, we all get too hung up on rares!! Hope the above helps.

Ta Chris

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Thanks for the information, Chris. That's really helpful.

It's difficult not to get obsessed with this birding lark! I had no intention of getting a scope but now own one (albeit a cheapie) and that means carrying a tripod as well. Then came the camera to fit on the end – and the adapter and then the rucksack to keep everything in ...

It was nice to leave all that at home on Saturday and just go out with a pair of binoculars each and take in the sights and sounds and simply enjoy being in such a fantastic setting. We really are very lucky in this part of the country.

Ron

Two Little Egrets were a nice sight at Buckenham RSPB this afternoon, as was the Hobby vs Kestrel performance faught out along the gravel track!!

13 Avocets by the fishermans carpark with 3 Redshank and 4 Oystercatcher
with approx the same again by the old mill - no Godwits or Dunlin were seen
unfortunately, however the now widened drainage ditch along the river provided a fantastic spot of Hirundine and swift watching! - due to the wind coming in heavy from a north/westerly direction the mixed group of Swifts,
House Martins, Sand Martins and swallows made a rather laboured progress over the water towards my vantage spot so providing me with good long close views of all.

Back at strumpshaw it was business as usuall with two pairs of Marsh Harrier
seen from the fen hide. Cettis and Bearded Tits were heard but not seen, nice views of a Kingfisher resting on the dead logs were enjoyed by fellow
hide users. Unsurprisingly not a great day for Butterflies or Dragonflies etc!!

Matt