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Norfolk birding (35 Viewers)

Lion's Mouth car park at Felbrigg

If you Google map 'Lion's Mouth', you will see it runs north-south from the
A148 to the west of the Hall.

The car park is just inside and south off the road which runs south-east to the Hall from here. MoPs are unable to drive to the main car park from this entry point.

The Firecrests are around the area where the cars are parked, usually in one of the conifers. Pishing often helps.
 
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The newly-discovered step(pe)s of North Norfolk

As I parked at Friary Hills, I was assailed by the sight of a year tick- one of the residents of Blakeney. He was seemingly in the last stages of some ghastly, terminal illness and smelled strongly of what I presumed was medicinal alcohol- administered, no doubt, in the hope of averting the afore-mentioned and imminent catastrophe. Disconnected words of a language related to English issued from his mouth from time to time.

A jaunt around t’Hills produced the first ladybird of the year for me and a patch tick for him- a pair of Bullfinches. Stopping proved somewhat unwise, as unsteadiness ensued; so we progressed, scoring heavily with nowt else.

As I drove back towards Walsey Hills, I noticed a new feature on the hillside and hastened to investigate (2nd photo from L). The almost-completed steps up the Hill are much more user-friendly than the last ones. They also go down the Hill (RH photo) !

An immense amount of work has been done here in the last few days (3rd photo from L), creating even more sightlines and ensuring that the NOA arc of visibility has been vastly increased.
 

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firstreesjohn said:
If you Google map 'Lion's Mouth', you will see it runs north-south from the
A148 to the west of the Hall.

The car park is just inside and south off the road which runs south-east to the Hall from here. MoPs are unable to drive to the main car park from this entry point.

The Firecrests are around the area where the cars are parked, usually in one of the conifers. Pishing often helps.
Click to expand...

Great ..thanks for the info
 
Would you be talking about Josh? I wonder if the hangover has kicked in yet

The brecks was positively rocking today, even a female LSW put on a show with a willow tit in the same tree !!

unfortunately no kissing hawfinches today but we did see one away from Lynford which was a suprise
 
I went to Strumpshaw today and took a walk to Buckenham Marshes, where I was very surprised to discover a brand new hide nearing completion at the bottom of the track by the river. It will be some welcome shelter in this exposed spot but it is very remote and vulnerable. I hope they are going to keep it locked at night or it won't look so pretty for long.

There was a Bittern walking about in the clearings in the reeds opposite the Fen hide at Strumpshaw this afternoon and later, as it was starting to get dark, I was watching the many Marsh Harriers coming in to roost when two of them landed in the one of the clearings, right next to a Chinese Water Deer. I was treated to superb views through my scope of one of the Harriers and the Deer having a stand off. The Harrier was bounding forwards to scare it away. It didn't work though.

Ron
 
Hooray! Whilst carrying out my 119th(!) WeBS count at Whitlingham this morning, I was counting Coots as one does, when a Bittern flew through the scope view. It was flying along the north shore, west of the bay/island area, and landed in the reeds/carr area between the lake and north-shore path, out of sight unfortunately. Must be a good chance it's the same bird that was reported earlier in the winter. A long-overdue Whitlingham tick for me, my 145th species here. Still no House Sparrow! I note that the other three Whitlingham life-lists on BUBO Listing (www.bubo.org) all have House Sparrow - any hot tips on stake-outs?!

Cheers

Andy

P.S. Edit - after looking at Birdguides this evening, seems like I managed to overlook a Mandarin at Whitlingham?! I'll get my coat...
 
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Sadly not a lot of birding this weekend. However, a family cycle ride up the Marriott's Way this afternoon produced c40 Redwing in the fields immediately NW of Thorpe Marriott, a handful of Siskin, and a single Little Egret on floods midway between Attlebridge and Lenwade. Also great views of 2 Muntjac...
 
I'd much rather have seen the Bittern! I spent an hour until dusk in case it roosted opposite the car park, which was what it did on the two times it was reported in January, but no luck. I also did almost a whole lap before seeing the Mandarin at the west end.

Re. House Sparrows, I haven't seen one this year, but I do count the whole of Whitlingham Lane on my BUBO list (noted in the comments) so I hope to get one at Trowse end. The only place at the CP I have seen them in the past is in the hedge that separates the big house on Whitlingham Lane from the Little Broad. Congratulations on reaching 145, now for 150!

Regards,
James


Andy Musgrove said:
Hooray! Whilst carrying out my 119th(!) WeBS count at Whitlingham this morning, I was counting Coots as one does, when a Bittern flew through the scope view. It was flying along the north shore, west of the bay/island area, and landed in the reeds/carr area between the lake and north-shore path, out of sight unfortunately. Must be a good chance it's the same bird that was reported earlier in the winter. A long-overdue Whitlingham tick for me, my 145th species here. Still no House Sparrow! I note that the other three Whitlingham life-lists on BUBO Listing (www.bubo.org) all have House Sparrow - any hot tips on stake-outs?!

Cheers

Andy

P.S. Edit - after looking at Birdguides this evening, seems like I managed to overlook a Mandarin at Whitlingham?! I'll get my coat...
Click to expand...
 

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NoSpringChicken said:
I went to Strumpshaw today and took a walk to Buckenham Marshes, where I was very surprised to discover a brand new hide nearing completion at the bottom of the track by the river. It will be some welcome shelter in this exposed spot but it is very remote and vulnerable. I hope they are going to keep it locked at night or it won't look so pretty for long.
Click to expand...

I just hope they (the RSPB) are going to camouflage it a bit. You can see it from miles away, particularly the plastic roof which catches the sunshine - kind of spoils the remote feel of this place a bit.

In three visits to Buckenham over the weekend, little of note, except the 4 Birsay Greylags, 18 Curlew (west), 2 Peregrines, Little Egret, 14 White-fronts.

Hickling WeBS (Sunday) revealed 5 Ruff, 500+ Teal, 100 Gadwall, 14 Goldeneye etc, but no sign of last week's Garganey on either scrape.

Ormesby Little Broad yesterday had 2 Slavs left of the screen and 1 right of the screen with 24 Goldeneye. A fourth was reported later, plus a 2cy Scaup.

Strumpshaw was fairly quiet on Saturday late morning with a couple of Marsh Tits around the feeders being confidently strung into Willow by a number of birders despite regularly calling...

Cheers
Jono
 
From Spain to Norfolk...

Robin, Rob... superb, many thanks. Hopefully my excitement isn't disappointed by a lack of willing babysitter for a whole day! May have to take the monkey with me...

If I make it, as usual, I'll post the highlights

All the best
 
James Emerson said:
Re. House Sparrows, I haven't seen one this year, but I do count the whole of Whitlingham Lane on my BUBO list (noted in the comments) so I hope to get one at Trowse end. The only place at the CP I have seen them in the past is in the hedge that separates the big house on Whitlingham Lane from the Little Broad. Congratulations on reaching 145, now for 150!
Click to expand...

Cheers James. Yes, I've got to the stage of winding down the car window when I drive past these houses in the hope of hearing a sparrow's chirrup, but to no avail yet. Will have to do some more serious work on them!

I think Whitlingham lists certainly do need to include the whole of Whitlingham Lane. The idea of keeping a Whitlingham list without being able to justify the inclusion of Black-and-white Warbler is unthinkable!

Andy
 
Does anyone keep a norwich list ?
I added Crossbill to my garden & norwich list on sunday, flew over old catton calling
I assume we've had an influx or they are moving around a lot at the moment
 
Probably the only advantage of not being able to drive is that I end up walking down the lane and starting at the Little Broad, so I get to listen in to that bit.

The Black-and-white Warbler was before my time, but I'd definitely want to count the next one! ;)


Andy Musgrove said:
Cheers James. Yes, I've got to the stage of winding down the car window when I drive past these houses in the hope of hearing a sparrow's chirrup, but to no avail yet. Will have to do some more serious work on them!

I think Whitlingham lists certainly do need to include the whole of Whitlingham Lane. The idea of keeping a Whitlingham list without being able to justify the inclusion of Black-and-white Warbler is unthinkable!

Andy
Click to expand...
 
Norwich birds

stu_white said:
Does anyone keep a norwich list ?
I added Crossbill to my garden & norwich list on sunday, flew over old catton calling
I assume we've had an influx or they are moving around a lot at the moment
Click to expand...

I have seen over 130 species in Norwich and the surrounding suburbs. Includes black and white warbler, Iberian chiffchaff and alpine swift.

Not crossbill (or mandarin and bittern at Whitlingham yesterday). 2010 is a good year for crossbill - after some lean years.

Had a tawny owl near Hall School Catton Park last month. This a year bird as were all five grebes at Whitlingham.
 
stu_white said:
Does anyone keep a norwich list ?
I added Crossbill to my garden & norwich list on sunday, flew over old catton calling
I assume we've had an influx or they are moving around a lot at the moment
Click to expand...

Perhaps a bit of both Stu. Crossbills traditionally 'irrupt' in late Spring/early Summer but we have been stuck in a NE'ly airstream for weeks and with the freeze earlier in the year, who knows. A few Crossbills were found in Bacton Woods (east of North Walsham) on March 7th; I don't know if they're still there. None were seen in the few days prior to this date when I know a couple of birders were there specifically looking for the species. It seems during last week perhaps 40-50 were present, all tolled. Lots of Siskins there too and both Lesser and Common Redpoll have been seen...

James
 
Just back from a day's birding in Norfolk and what a day it turned out to be. Firstly the 04:00 start! Great drive no problems and the first stop Wolferton triangle, a place that has been often non productive in the past, to be met by 2 magnificent males golden pheasants. Driving down to turn round produced another separate male. Then off to Salthouse for the snow bunts and turnstones, we had the car park to ourselves for an hour and had stunning views of both. Could this carry on? Onwards to Sheringham for the glaucous gull. As we went through the arch our ears were hit by the sound of a machine with great bucket re-arranging the stones, no chance of the bird we thought. Wrong - great views. Next stop West Runton for med gull - dip and was it windy and cold now! Up to Fellbrigg for firecrest and on it (only 1) within minutes, thanks to the fellow birder if he's on the forum. All in all one of the best birding days and a days total of 65. Phil
 
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A walk around Strumpshaw / Buckenham today produced some 'eye-candy' for Martin Read and me: two Willow Tits, 4 Buzzards, several pairs of Chinese Water Deer but, best of all, perhaps, a Stoat, still in partial ermine!
The hide at Buckenham looks a bit duff at the moment: the entrance faces the scrape / wetmarsh. (No doubt the theory is that opening the door won't allow light to flash out of the open shutters, and there will presumably be a screen to hide people entering,)
I can see this becoming a popular spot for 'cottaging', like the 'overpass' hide at Whitlingham Lane used to be!
 
A bike ride past Thursford Wood to Little Snoring this morning turned up no less than three calling nuthatches which was a welcome and great surprise in the warm sunshine. The very large private garden that abuts it also looks ideal for a small pecker but nothing heard or seen. A detour through some damp woodland on the other side produced Marsh tit and Brimstone but nothing else as I'd wished / hoped for. Common Buzzards later on at the Swanton Novers watchpoint but nothing else of note apart from a flock of yellowhammer and a single grey partridge nearby at Fulmodestone.
 
I aint crawling/staggering any further than me patch this year Mr Fuzz! - another good day, weather was fine for raptors in the morning and a constant procession proved good value. First up with a ringtail Hen Harrier, it caught a thermal and went v high, juv, probably a female, was in with a couple of Marsh, one caught up in a bit of half-arsed plunging. Large Sparrowhawk caught the same thermal and a Kestrel zipped in and out, after a time the Hen did that rolled in wings, losing height thing that ive never seen before, then made a nuisance of itself over the freshmarsh getting mobbed by various miffed Lapwings/ Crows before settling for a time on the deck. Not long after a big juv Peregrine hit the next thermal and again provided great views. A pub lunch intervened but the afternoon was good too, along Blakeney Bank a few Pinks in with the Brents and the res Snow Goose, Bittern low over the reeds, Hen was still knocking about, two Eng Partridge, best was a flock of finches - them to be Twite - 18, giving good views on the side of the Glaven and pitching in to drink from a pool on the South side.
 

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