Norfolk birding (81 Viewers)

[Songkhran]

Final totals for Sheringham today

6.45am - 6.30pm
most stuff going west

Bonxie c140
Arctic Skua c70
Long-tailed Skua 19+, 2 adults
Pom Skua 1 adult
Manx Shearwater 211
Balearic Shearwater 3
Sooty Shearwater 3
Cory's Shearwater 2, 1 jaw-droppingly close
Sabine's Gull 5
Black Tern 4
Arctic Tern 2
Little Gull 4
Kittiwake c30
Marsh Harrier W
Hobby 2 over sea chasing Wheatear
Peregrine W
Red-throated Diver c12
Gannet c600
Fulmar c60
Velvet Scoter 1
Curlew Sandpiper 1

a great crack as much about great company as great birds, :t: but now absolutely nackered and don't want to grip people off too much by going on about it

 

[Connor Rand]

A big sewatch day today. Highlights at Holme (colective list from visitors and regulars):

9 Sabine's Gulls
1 juv Long-tailed Skua
1 juv Black Tern
1 Red-necked Grebe
3 Pomarine Skuas
114 Great Skuas
44 Arctic Skuas
28 Manx Shearwaters
3 Kittiwakes,
3 Arctic Terns

more details plus passerine highlights here

I put in 6 1/4 hours and was rewarded with 5 Sabine's Gull (self-found tick) and the Long-tailed Skua B , but alas no large shearwaters for us... :-C for all my sightings see here

 

[jimbob]

Well done on some fantastic totals lads. In light of the Punks forecast I decided to get as much work done as I could this weekend and head out next. Bit jealous now I gotta say, missed out on a few great birds. Ill be out with a vengeance next week, Happisburgh wont know whats hit it!
Cheers,
Jim

 

[rob lee]

Final totals for Sheringham today


most stuff going west

I think you meant east there Josh

 

[Original PaulE]

I was at cley this morning and it was fantastic stuff with totals similar to those reported by connor i would also like to say thanks to the guys in the shelter who's great ID skill put me and my mate on to two cory's shearwaters and very close sabine gull both lifers for me,
i think the best thing about the morning was how close everything was with some great views of pale phase arctic skuas
cheers

 

[Songkhran]

I think you meant east there Josh

oh yeah all going past the other tower:-O

 

[Andy Musgrove]

Winterton

Hi all

Nothing like the north coast today, but I had the chance to spend a couple of hours at Winterton today, early afternoon. Highlights were one Sooty, one Pom, two Bonxies, c30 Arctic Skua, 2 Little Gull and a Greenshank, with both Pied and Spotted Flycatchers on the slope at the back. Just heard about an Icky there, about 5 hours later. Darn.

Cheers

Andy Mus.

 

[mr.sim]

James and I were out with Dave Hawkins and Paul Eele (thanks for helping us get onto everything guys!) at Titchwell. Annoyingly I didn't get onto the Cory's, but earlier on before it all kicked off I had a large, light brown Shearwater go East (about 8am)!!! Just my luck. Oh well!
The biggest highlight was at least 6 Sabines Gulls. Life tick - very pleased.
Well done to everyone who managed to see some good birds.

Bring on the Easterlies...

 

[Ilya Maclean]

Spent most of the day on Blakeny Point today. Almost missed the action with a latish start, but thanks to a tip-off from Tim Alwood I arrived to the coast in time to bag a superb close-in Cory's on the way-up the point. My 1st for Norfolk and one that's given me the run-around for years. Thanks Tim - defo owe you a few beers for that one!! The rest of the seawatching spectacularly faded to a trickle of Arctic's and Bonxies, completely contrary to my predictions yesterday!

Good haul of passerine migrants too, with stuff arriving throughout the day, despite the sunny weather, possibly some of the stuff that arrived further north moving down. Big movements of Mipits and about 35 Wheatear and a dozen Whinchat, 2 Pied Flies, 3 Redstarts and best of all a Red-backed Shrike on the way back down.

All in all a very good day's birding even if it felt like hard work at times!

 

[mr.sim]

Also 2 red-necked grebe at Titchwell today

 

[Hudwit]

Final totals for Sheringham today

6.45am - 6.30pm
most stuff going west

Bonxie c140
Arctic Skua c70
Long-tailed Skua 19+, 2 adults
Pom Skua 1 adult

The Long-tailed Skua age ratio is very interesting.

So far this autumn there have been very few juvenile Arctic Skua (including the 60 I checked today) and likewise most of the 70 or so Bonxies I looked at today also appeared to be adults (many just starting to moult). I have only seen about 5 Poms so far and they have all been adults as has my only Long-tailed Skua so far. So it is interesting to see that only 2 of 19+ Long-tailed Skua claimed from Sheringham were adults. I wonder why Long-tailed Skua age ratios should be so different? Have all the other species had a poor breeding season or have the juveniles of the other speces not really entered the North Sea as yet? Were the non adult Long-tailed Skuas claimed off Sheringham juveniles or older birds? Of course it is easier to make small juvenile Arctic Skuas into juvenile Long-tailed Skuas at long range - adult and sub-adult Arctic Skuas are more obvious and consequently more difficult to misidentify as Long-tailed Skuas.

It is also interesting to note that there were very few Long-tailed Skuas reported from further north in the North Sea yesterday whereas there were hundreds of Bonxies and Arctic Skua clearly being displaced (or actually moving) south towards Norfolk. (Few Poms were reported moving south yesterday in the North Sea as well and consequently few have been seen off Norfolk today). It is also surprising, with so many people seawatching right round the Norfolk coast, that only Sheringham managed to have so many Long-tailed Skuas, yet everybody else at all the other seawatch sites had large numbers of Bonxies and Arctic Skuas (in similar numbers and proportions) and only the odd Long-tailed Skua. Also there were multiple sightings of Cory's Shearwaters and possible also of Sabine's Gulls today, detected at many sites, yet these others sites were just not good enough to see all those Long-tailed Skuas reported off Sheringham.

Clearly the answer to this anomaly is that the Long-tailed Skuas were too far offshore to be seen everywhere else and just came directly into the coast at Sheringham - close enough for them to be indentified - before directly flying directly out to sea again away from the coast, thus being missed by everyone else. Yes that must be what happened.

H

 

[Ilya Maclean]

The Long-tailed Skua age ratio is very interesting.

So far this autumn there have been very few juvenile Arctic Skua (including the 60 I checked today) and likewise most of the 70 or so Bonxies I looked at today also appeared to be adults (many just starting to moult). I have only seen about 5 Poms so far and they have all been adults as has my only Long-tailed Skua so far. So it is interesting to see that only 2 of 19+ Long-tailed Skua claimed from Sheringham were adults. I wonder why Long-tailed Skua age ratios should be so different? Have all the other species had a poor breeding season or have the juveniles of the other speces not really entered the North Sea as yet? Were the non adult Long-tailed Skuas claimed off Sheringham juveniles or older birds? Of course it is easier to make small juvenile Arctic Skuas into juvenile Long-tailed Skuas at long range - adult and sub-adult Arctic Skuas are more obvious and consequently more difficult to misidentify as Long-tailed Skuas.

It is also interesting to note that there were very few Long-tailed Skuas reported from further north in the North Sea yesterday whereas there were hundreds of Bonxies and Arctic Skua clearly being displaced (or actually moving) south towards Norfolk. (Few Poms were reported moving south yesterday in the North Sea as well and consequently few have been seen off Norfolk today). It is also surprising, with so many people seawatching right round the Norfolk coast, that only Sheringham managed to have so many Long-tailed Skuas, yet everybody else at all the other seawatch sites had large numbers of Bonxies and Arctic Skuas (in similar numbers and proportions) and only the odd Long-tailed Skua. Also there were multiple sightings of Cory's Shearwaters and possible also of Sabine's Gulls today, detected at many sites, yet these others sites were just not good enough to see all those Long-tailed Skuas reported off Sheringham.

Clearly the answer to this anomaly is that the Long-tailed Skuas were too far offshore to be seen everywhere else and just came directly into the coast at Sheringham - close enough for them to be indentified - before directly flying directly out to sea again away from the coast, thus being missed by everyone else. Yes that must be what happened.

H

Mate - I'd be the 1st to admit there's a lot of skua (and other seabird) string that goes on, but I think you picked on the wrong guy. By all accounts I've heard, Josh is sound as a pound when it comes to seabird ID (he spends his life seawatching after all.

Granted, no juv pom records I believe yet, but a few of the Arctic's I've seen have been juvs. All that's a bit irrelevent though as breeding success and timing differs between speces. I think what we can safely say is that there's been a suprising lack of adult lt skuas in early august from traditional locations such as in the Lothians. This would suggest they've had a fairly good breeding season.

 

[matt green]

Mate - I'd be the 1st to admit there's a lot of skua (and other seabird) string that goes on, but I think you picked on the wrong guy. By all accounts I've heard, Josh is sound as a pound when it comes to seabird ID (he spends his life seawatching after all.

Agree with your sentiments here, Ilya

Not sure I like the undertones of the above post regarding the ID abilities of the poster Pomskua, having spent some time in the field with him I can confirm he is a phenomenal sea watcher...and simply doesn't do wishful thinking!!!

Lets all play nicely shall we

Matt

 

[jimmyg]

Anyway, I don't think even I could string 19 Arctic Skuas as Long-tailed!

Also, sorry to post this on the Norfolk thread (especially in the middle of exciting birding time!), but I couldn't find a relevant one and nobody I've asked seems to know the answer:

when you switch an appliance off to save electricity, are you supposed to unplug it as well, or does this not make a difference?

 

[HarassedDad]

Generally it doesn't make a difference. Switching it off breaks the circuit, so no power can flow.

 

[Norfolkbirder]

Long-tailed Skuas

It's certainly not too early for juvenile Long-tailed Skuas, I recall several inland birds in the midlands in mid August, these were showing to just a few feet and were clearly juvs. Interestingly, they must have almost fledged, migrated & ended up on some reservoir or grim pit top, I checked the average laying dates & fledging periods from BWP to work this out!

But getting on to the numbers of Long-taileds, it is difficult to comment on Sheringham yesterday unless you were there. But clearly from past seawatching at Cley & Sheringham there are regularly distant skuas called as Long-taileds, esp juvs. I have often been involved in and listened to hard debate amongst experienced birders on skuas sp. at much closer range and it is therefore clear that the number of Long-taileds are always debateable.

Many birders hate not putting a name to each bird seen & seawatching is probably the worst case scenario for not being 100% sure. Itr would be interesting to know exactly who had all the Long-taileds & if they were 100% confident on every one. I know I find them difficult at range to be 100% sure, but not everyone likes to admit to this!

It is strange that Cley, Blakeney, Salthouse, & the east coast sites did not report hardly any. I suspect the debate will continue.................

Ta C

 

[Andy Musgrove]

Skuas

One thing that is missing from most posts of seawatching totals is how many unidentified skuas were seen. Admittedly, I'm as bad - yesterday's Winterton counts should probably have read more like 2 Bonxie, 1 Pom, 20 Arctic and 10 Skua sp, simply because many birds were at extreme range. Unless we all actually record the birds like this, it is difficult to know whether unidentified distant birds were simply not added to totals, or were assumed to be a given species.

We could go further and split up sightings to something like definites (i.e. particular features seen, such as double underwing crescent on juv Pom), probables (distant but jizz plus observer experience suggests it was) and unidentifieds.

There's no shame in not putting a name to every bird. Personally, I continue to find skuas extremely challenging and do wonder whether I'm overlooking lots of Poms and Long-tails. But I acknowledge that one's ability to identify birds during seawatches depends a great deal on the amount of experience one has. I wish I lived by the seaside!

Cheers

Andy

 

[mr.sim]

I must admit I can't ID every skua I see, especially when they're distant. I don't seawatch very often, so I am getting more experienced all the time...
The only reason I didn't have any skua sp. was because Dave Hawkins and Paul Eele were reeling out the names!!! I did get some good practice though. It was quite a phenominal passage at one time. We had a group of 11 Bonxies high over!
This weekend looks good for passerines if the forecast is right.

 

[Paul Eele]

I
The only reason I didn't have any skua sp. was because Dave Hawkins and Paul Eele were reeling out the names!!! I did get some good practice though.

Dave and I don't know them all. We had a all large all dark skua fly east at about 100yds offshore and couldn't put a name to it - went down as a skua sp and was probably a great!! Unless the are close enough to ID I just put skua sp and hope they chase a tern towards me.

Titchwell highlights today

Spoonbill - 3 on fresh marsh
Curlew sandpiper - 6 juvs on fresh marsh
Whimbrel - 1 on fresh marsh
Med gull - adult on fresh marsh
Pink footed goose - 14 east offshore, 1st flock of winter
Black tern - juv offshore early morning
Buzzard - 1 west over carpark
Hobby - 4 west during day

Paul

 

[rob lee]

As a Sheringham seawatcher of several years standing now i am somewhat aggrieved (to say the least) by Hudwits accusative post. To begin with Josh was`nt the sole identifier of the birds, a certain KBS was one of the key players & anyone who knows him will pay testament to his observational skills.
As Hudwit knows skua id is tricky & there are many variations & few definitive plumage features between the two smaller species & jizz plays an important role in the id process, something that can only be learnt through experience. As to the notion of small juv Arctic Skuas being misidentified, well, they are still Arctic Skuas & as a rule plumper than adult birds, they dont suddenly take on the jizz of LTS, ie having a lighter more bouyant Tern like flight (in yesterdays winds)with slimmer wings & longer rear end. Several of the birds that were picked up at range & tentatively id`d as LTS`s were helpfully seen to stall over the sea & engage in dip feeding on their approach, a very pro id feature. I could add much more to this thread but feel that i dont have to justify mine or anybody elses observations to someone who has been lurking on Birdforum for nearly 2 years & uses his first post to slag off other observers. Perhaps he would care to tell us who he is & come up to Sheringham on the next good seawatch so we could all share in his experience. You know who i am & where i`ll be.
Rob.