Norfolk birding (15 Viewers)

The Collared Fly was a great bird and a good finish to a few days birding that included Spoonbills, Tem Stint, Med Gull, Hobby, Turtle Dove, Wood Warbler.

My search of Blakeney Point yesterday only resulted in a few Warblers including Grasshopper Warbler... But I had a feeling something good would be found in Norfolk today!

Well done to finder of the Collared and to MG for the Citrine which I managed to dip this morning.

Locostella said:

hey guys,

I noticed a Greylag on the north scrape at Cley yesterday, it had a green neck tag -from what I could read it said Y 64?- I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on this?

Also for tails of hitch hiking and not many birds click below.

http://apprenticebirdersdiary.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/6972097-cley-and-walsey-hills-07-05-11

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Hi

I've just realised that we met on Saturday. I'm the guy who you spoke to near the Cley Shorelarks (and again later that afternoon). Good to meet you.

Wish I'd gone to the coast today with Citrine Wag and Collared Fly up for grabs. Went to Paxton Pits instead.

The finder was David Roche and he was rightly chuffed, connor was not quite so chuffed as he'd left him 5 mintues beforehand.

stuart white said:

The finder was David Roche and he was rightly chuffed, connor was not quite so chuffed as he'd left him 5 mintues beforehand.

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I wonder if those who saw Pied fly in the same spot earlier now have Collared Fly on there list!! I am sure they went back - just to be sure!!! Hope it is still there in the morning? Cracking bird!!

Carlos Davies said:

Hi

I've just realised that we met on Saturday. I'm the guy who you spoke to near the Cley Shorelarks (and again later that afternoon). Good to meet you.

Wish I'd gone to the coast today with Citrine Wag and Collared Fly up for grabs. Went to Paxton Pits instead.

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hey Buddy,

Yea great to meet you too. Yea looks like we both picked the wrong day. Well done on kicking them Shore Larks up, I thought they had well gone.

[Quote:
Originally Posted by Jhanlon
What are peoples' thoughts on the origin of the Aldeby white stork? I notice it's been around a couple of days now and I'm wondering if it's worth a punt. [/Quote]

[Quote:
Originally posted by StuartReeves
I saw it today, and waited in vain for it to cross into Suffolk. It is unringed and full-winged so in my view its as good as they get. [/Quote]

[Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Woolnough
Birders present consider the bird to be a good candidate for a wild individual. It was suggested that the Thrigby birds do not venture to this area.........

I checked the RBA website for stork sightings this month. There is a strong case to suggest a bird seen at various places in Suffolk and beyond, during the week, which has settled at Aldeby, is a vagrant. [/Quote]

Dave Appleton said:

Birders not present consider the bird to be a good candidate for an escaped indivdiual. It has been suggested that the Thrigby birds do indeed venture all over the place including locations much further away than this - as do various other escaped or free-flying White Storks.......

I didn't check any website for stork sightings this month but I think there is only a strong case to suggest a bird has been seen at several places in Suffolk and beyond, not that it is a vagrant......

All that said, I actually think it might be wild. It's a good time of year for vagrants to turn up and the conditions are suitable. If you're going to tick any White Stork that doesn't have some real proof of wild origin like an appropriately-traced ring (as I have) then you might as well tick this one. But don't be surprised if it flies north for a few miles and then drops down in the Thrigby area.

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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were 6 White Storks in captivity at Thrigby Wildlife Gardens 10 years ago when I started checking the collection to monitor the storks. One of them was a free flying individual that often wandered off in the spring and summer.

That bird died or disappeared about 7 years ago but was replaced by another free flying individual. I believe the keepers there always allow one of the storks to be free flying every year but wing clip the remaing birds so that there is always a free flying bird about the collection. Previous individuals often sat on the artificial stork nest on the roof of the main building.

In recent years when there have been sightings of White Stork in areas away from Thrigby I have tried to check the collection. When checked, I have inevitably found one stork to be missing from Thrigby at the same time.

Gradually the number of birds has declined (whether they have wandered off or died is not known) and this winter there were only 3 remaining storks - one of which was free flying. I last checked in March this year and all three birds were still present.

I checked today and only two clipped birds are present at Thrigby - the free flying bird has gone missing.

These are the facts so you can make your own assumptions and judgement on whether the bird moving up and down in East Norfolk and Suffolk at present is likely to be a wild bird or not.

One additional comment - none of the birds are ringed and the free flying bird is usually full-winged.

H

Collared Flycatcher

4th for Norfolk. My father had the first for Holme in May 1969.

AWESOME BIRD!!!!! Really I should go down as co-finder I had just been standing trying to get better views of the Wood Warbler..... David Roche and I were standing on our own by the gate. 'There's the Pied Fly Penny' he said and his head was a only a few inches from mine as he leaned to point where it was..... 'no its not - its a bl**dy Collared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' I was shaking as I tried to photograph it at 3.48pm!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS DAVID!!!!!!!

Evening ended with watching an EAGLE OWL of unknown origin in Clarence Road, Hunstanton!!!!!!!

I Still can't believe this afternoon. That Collared Flycatcher was absolutely Mega Awesome!!!

Only just got home at 10.30pm. Left photographing the owl when it was almost dark, flew back to my parents at Holme to show them all my pictures.

Full write up and first pictures now on my blog.

A VERY happy Penny

Penny Clarke said:

4th for Norfolk. My father had the first for Holme in May 1969.

AWESOME BIRD!!!!! Really I should go down as co-finder I had just been standing trying to get better views of the Wood Warbler..... David Roche and I were standing on our own by the gate. 'There's the Pied Fly Penny' he said and his head was a only a few inches from mine as he leaned to point where it was..... 'no its not - its a bl**dy Collared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' I was shaking as I tried to photograph it at 3.48pm!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS DAVID!!!!!!!

Evening ended with watching an EAGLE OWL of unknown origin in Clarence Road, Hunstanton!!!!!!!

I Still can't believe this afternoon. That Collared Flycatcher was absolutely Mega Awesome!!!

Full write up and first pictures and more on my blog this evening. Only just got home at 10.30pm. Left photographing the owl when it was almost dark, flew back to my parents at Holme to show them all my pictures.


A VERY happy Penny

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You are the co finder!!!! I would however ask David if he is happy for you to submit a description and some photos!!

black kite 1964 said:

You are the co finder!!!!

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I hadn't actually thought about it, until a high ranking Norfolk birder pointed that out to me! My pictures would certainly ID it along with David if it had flown off without anyone else seeing it!

Penny:t:

County lifers collared flycatcher Norfolk and white stork Suffolk same weekend

I do more birding in Suffolk than north west Norfolk and started keeping a Suffolk list from 2010 onwards.

Frootshoot said:

Apparently a White Stork was seen over Hickling NWT late morning today, presumably the same one which flew north from Aldeby at 10am...

James

EDIT - the Aldeby Stork still present at 3pm (per RBA)

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Checked RBA website for stork records before reading your posting.
Never mind the stork I life-ticked collared flycatcher! I understand you saw the 1985 bird, James.

The Birds of Norfolk says the first county record was from May 1969 and trapped by Peter Clarke I found this out when on site, see the "Penny Post" above. I checked what the book said when I got home.

davethebird said:

I was working in the garden when Alison came out to tell me that the mega alert had just gone off. A quick check of the message and we grabbed our stuff and set off for Holme and the Collared Flycatcher.

We had a brief side view of the bird on its 'usual' perch before it decided to desert this. The next view was from almost vertically below it. Still, it was great to get another lifer. :t:

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Stuart White told me to go around the back of the caravan. Cannot thank you enough, Stuart. The views I had were the same as those on Davethebird's photographs. That was my first view of the bird and it seemed to last for a long time.

Hudwit said:

These are the facts so you can make your own assumptions and judgement on whether the bird moving up and down in East Norfolk and Suffolk at present is likely to be a wild bird or not.

One additional comment - none of the birds are ringed and the free flying bird is usually full-winged.

H

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Thanks for a most informative posting.

Cannot be 100% sure the stork I saw is wild. Dave Appleton fully responded to my Saturday 7 May posting. The white stork is on my Suffolk list based on the Aldeby Noroflk birds' occasionally flights over the river.

P.S one reason for keeping a Suffolk list is that there are good birds still to be ticked.
Norfolk ticks a rare and special treat!

Penny Clarke said:

I hadn't actually thought about it, until a high ranking Norfolk birder pointed that out to me! My pictures would certainly ID it along with David if it had flown off without anyone else seeing it!

Penny:t:

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That means that two of the four Norfolk records are P Clarke et al!

At last, a good bird is collared !

After another frustrating (yester)day- apart from a couple of Whinchats (the Gramboro’ male being particularly striking)- not seeing Citrine Wagtail twice, then going out to a secret location off the north coast and finding very little, on the long, slog back Ashley spottereled a couple of Dotterel on the sandflats, east of Lodge Marsh.

As I scanned past the female to locate them the first time, the female's orange brought to mind (very briefly) 'sand plover'. I believe they were the same as at West Runton- and Sheringham, the day before, apparently.

Mrs Dott was not as confiding as her companion- whose shot, by the way, is not cropped, just sharpened, etc, he was that close.

A slightly too close approach had them fly a short distance, emitting their thin, trilly call (impossible to reproduce phonetically), which I had not previously heard.

Having almost made it to the furthest point of this site, the pager announced ***THE FLYCATCHER***. Well done, David. (Did people really misID this as a Pied all day, until you almost had your coronary ?) Penny: you are a co-finder. Connor: commiserations. Driving through Brancaster, it then told me the thing had vanished. That would really have made my weekend the most disastrous ever. Fortunately, I had good views of this lovely bird before, with any luck, seeing more of its cousins in Poland, in a few weeks.

As to the pied fly, there is a chance there was one in there too ? We saw a spotted fly in the the same tree around 11am and never saw it again, there were birds moving through ? In an hour between 10.30-11.30 we definitely didn't see any black and white flycatchers.

I submit !

I fear you’ve opened a can of worms, here, Stu. (Re your 're-arranged' last post. Bugles sounding.)

Perhaps, they’ll entice another mega into county.

I don’t think BBRC procedures are meant to be interpreted so rigorously: to the micro-second. Why shouldn’t Penny be co-submitter ?

The next time you’re sitting next to me at the S’ham shelter and I spot an albatross go past, shall I be rigidly parsimonious and not include you on the raries form (?!).

I’m off out birding, having had medical consultation on means to expunge the gunge.

firstreesjohn said:

I fear you’ve opened a can of worms, here, Stu. (Re your 're-arranged' last post. Bugles sounding.)

Perhaps, they’ll entice another mega into county.

I don’t think BBRC procedures are meant to be interpreted so rigorously: to the micro-second. Why shouldn’t Penny be co-submitter ?

The next time you’re sitting next to me at the S’ham shelter and I spot an albatross go past, shall I be rigidly parsimonious and not include you on the raries form (?!).

I’m off out birding, having had medical consultation on means to expunge the gunge.

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No idea what you're talking about ? I wasn't there when the bird was found. I was only guessing about the reported pied fly

Penny Clarke said:

I hadn't actually thought about it, until a high ranking Norfolk birder pointed that out to me! Penny:t:

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'High-ranking' LOL!

black kite 1964 said:

I wonder if those who saw Pied fly in the same spot earlier now have Collared Fly on there list!! I am sure they went back - just to be sure!!! Hope it is still there in the morning? Cracking bird!!

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I arrived at Holme at mid-day to see the elusive Wood Warbler, having stayed an hour or more with no luck Bumped into David Roche he mentioned Turtle Doves so went off looking for them around the toilet block. About twenty minutes later the pager announced that the WW was back, I returned in time to miss it.

A few people (not locals), were looking at a flycatcher in a Sycamore and was calling it a Pied. It was difficult to pick up on but a head on profile i distinctly saw a large white blob on it's forehead and white around the neck and queried the i.d. Could that be a Collared?

I was rebuked that they had seen plenty in Hungary and this was not one!
The bird disappeared and then I had to move my car to the c/p by request as I had parked it in the lane.

When i got back I was informed that the WW had shown really well briefly but had vanished again.

I admit i was in a bit of a mood and all thoughts of that flycatcher had washed from my mind, I wanted that WW.

Dave Holman arrived at this point and asked the latest I told him about the elusive WW and a Pied Fly but not that I had doubts on i.d. I should have stayed searched for the bird but in poor judgement I left the site.

I do not think there ever was a Pied Fly in there but the Collared all the time. Oh what a shame

Simon

I was at Welney yesterday, as well as the lovely Bluethroat performing superbly just to the left of Buxton Hide, I found a Chiloe Wigeon, full-winged and unringed. Warden said it was an American Wigeon but I was not so sure (yes I know appalling that I didnt know th edifference!)

I guess the occurance of wild Chiloe Wigeon's is unprecedented on these shores? :smoke:

Y64

Locostella said:

hey guys,

I noticed a Greylag on the north scrape at Cley yesterday, it had a green neck tag -from what I could read it said Y 64?- I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on this?

Also for tails of hitch hiking and not many birds click below.

http://apprenticebirdersdiary.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/6972097-cley-and-walsey-hills-07-05-11

Click to expand...

Hi
Maybe this question has got lost in the flycatcher excitement. What I understand about Y64 is that was marked in the Netherlands as an adult male on 22/6/0, carries a metal ring NLA 8051479 and is from a feral population. It was seen regulalry in the Netherlands until 16/2 10 when it crossed the North Sea and has been seen in the Cley/Stiffkey area on and off since.
Cheers

wolfbirder said:

I was at Welney yesterday, as well as the lovely Bluethroat performing superbly just to the left of Buxton Hide, I found a Chiloe Wigeon, full-winged and unringed. Warden said it was an American Wigeon but I was not so sure (yes I know appalling that I didnt know th edifference!)

I guess the occurance of wild Chiloe Wigeon's is unprecedented on these shores? :smoke:

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So is the Bluethroat showing in the daytimes now as well then?