Norfolk birding (106 Viewers)

[Stratton Birder]

Whooper Swans nesting at Welney

Heard very recently that a pair of Whooper Swans had nested successfully at Welney WWT and that they were currently raising one young. Can anyone give me an update on this info please? Did it get a mention on the pager? Thought that an event like this, that is probably rarer than Siberian Rubythroat might have been worth a mention!

 

[Stratton Birder]

Maybe this is not a good comparison because as far as I know, Siberian Rubythroat has yet to recorded in Norfolk, unless this autumn.......

 

[Steve Lister]

Heard very recently that a pair of Whooper Swans had nested successfully at Welney WWT and that they were currently raising one young. Can anyone give me an update on this info please? Did it get a mention on the pager? Thought that an event like this, that is probably rarer than Siberian Rubythroat might have been worth a mention!

Are they 100% healthy birds or incapicated ones that could not clear off to Iceland or wherever?

Steve

 

[David Norgate]

Are they 100% healthy birds or incapicated ones that could not clear off to Iceland or wherever?

Steve

Not sure if you have to be a subscriber, but RBA published this on 28th July:
http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/RealData/Whooper_Swans_breed_in_southern_England.asp

Basically, one was injured and the other stayed (as they bond for life) and they bred!

 

[firstreesjohn]

warren wood at Cromer ?

Zoom to the highest on Streetmap and look to the east of the town, but west of the Lighthouse: you'll see Warren Woods.

As for Sibethroat (something akin to which poor Penny is currently stricken with), I believe I was told that one was seen at East Hills in ????, but not submitted, for whatever reason.

 

[black kite 1964]

Zoom to the highest on Streetmap and look to the east of the town, but west of the Lighthouse: you'll see Warren Woods.

As for Sibethroat (something akin to which poor Penny is currently stricken with), I believe I was told that one was seen at East Hills in ????, but not submitted, for whatever reason.

The sibethroat would not of been submitted as it would have been a load of bollocks!!

 

[Tideliner]

Zander I long ago learnt not to take everything you read about bird ecology as gospel. In different situations and over different time periods birds of the same species can have very different habbitats. I have no reason to doubt the Dutch data on RNPs , but it does not mean it is correct here , though it may well be. To give an example i took a couple of Spanish birders wader watching on the Wash on a warm July evening. As we got back to the car one of them asked if we were likely to see any nightjars warming themselves on the road ( a common habbit i am told in Spain ). To which I said no , because we were miles away from any nightjar habbitat and i have never seen them sitting on the road in England......... You guessed it.........with in a 100 yards of driving off there was a nightjar sitting in the middle of the road. The only one I have seen doing this in this country.

I know of a site where honey buzzards will display very low ( less than 10 m high ) over open fields , something I have never seen my local honey buzzards do.

Birds of the same species may do different things in different places.

 

[ZanderII]

Zander I long ago learnt not to take everything you read about bird ecology as gospel. In different situations and over different time periods birds of the same species can have very different habbitats. I have no reason to doubt the Dutch data on RNPs , but it does not mean it is correct here , though it may well be. To give an example i took a couple of Spanish birders wader watching on the Wash on a warm July evening. As we got back to the car one of them asked if we were likely to see any nightjars warming themselves on the road ( a common habbit i am told in Spain ). To which I said no , because we were miles away from any nightjar habbitat and i have never seen them sitting on the road in England......... You guessed it.........with in a 100 yards of driving off there was a nightjar sitting in the middle of the road. The only one I have seen doing this in this country.

I know of a site where honey buzzards will display very low ( less than 10 m high ) over open fields , something I have never seen my local honey buzzards do.

Birds of the same species may do different things in different places.

Hi Tiderliner

Nice examples, but they aren't really fundamental differences in ecology like dispersal.... and one is observer behaviour (potentially). Your HB observation sounds pretty crazy, has that been documented anywhere? Is that wing-clapping at 'hedge height'?

cheers

Z

 

[stuart white]

The sibethroat would not of been submitted as it would have been a load of bollocks!!

That's very matter of fact Mark ?
Does anyone need spectacled warbler for norfolk ?

 

[black kite 1964]

Have you found one today stuart? As for the sibethroat once had a coversation with a birder who claimed to have found one in Norfolk. The story I recall was a bird on view for a second and his mate did not see it who was on site at the same time. Unless you know different.

 

[Phil Andrews]

That's very matter of fact Mark ?
Does anyone need spectacled warbler for norfolk ?

That would be very welcome for the Bank Holiday!

 

[Tractorboy69]

Antbody know where warren wood at Cromer is. Is it near the Warren at Overstrand?

Adding to Johns reply above, Warren Woods is best accessed by taking the Overstrand Road out of Cromer (left by the traffic lights) and then taking the third road on your left (opposite Cromer Pharmacy) which is The Warren. Park at the top and the wood is beyond the houses. (For anyone who saw it the wood borders the clifftop where the Little Swift was).

The Greenish was extremely elusive in the canopy and myself and 3 others only saw it once more after I initially found it, although I did hear it calling again at c6.15, but there was no further sight or sound of it up til 7pm when I left.

It favoured the NE corner and is probably best looked for from the top of the hill in that corner of the wood as you are at tree top level there, and maybe just coincidental, but both times it was seen it was in holm oaks rather than the sycamores.

Simon

 

[sacha]

That's the mean natal dispersal, so as Joan points out they may still make some exploratory movements. BUT, they are still largely central place foragers - returning to the same communal roost sites. Maybe Mark Grantham or someone could provide some ringing data (Mark, you reading this) that would discredit my speculation. However, I see no reason to beleive why UK birds would behave any different to birds in the Low Countries. Its still a sedentary tropical parakeet... Do you Tideliner?

With the huge increase in population competition for breeding sites would surely mean dispersal and the spread of RN Parakeets north through the country.. I can see no reason why the number of records in Norfolk (of 'wild' birds) would not be increasing.

 

[dbradnum]

Agree totally. Despite being a Norfolk resident, I also work in London and have lived / worked in West London (where the majority are based) for the past decade. Although I am not as experienced as others in Norfolk with certain species, they are just so common in West London that I could confidently a vagrant bird in Norfolk on flyover basis. I don't care if anyone wants to start a flame war, 'observer familiar with species' should count for something, and a lot of Norfolk birders will be comfortable with a fly over ID based on London RNP observation experience.

As another birder from London with reasonable experience of parakeets (they appear to be expanding slowly into NE London), I disagree - it's really not that simple.

How would you eliminate Alexandrine Parakeet on a brief flyover view, however familiar with RNP you may be? And yes, I have seen the odd one in London - various escaped parrots and parakeets have been noted associating with roosting flocks. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were a few breeding pairs in the southeast either.

In Norfolk, where (I think I'm right in saying) there is no known breeding population of RNP, the likelihood of single escaped birds is relatively high compared to wanderers from feral populations further south, and therefore getting the precise ID correct is important for the record.

 

[Mark Grantham]

Maybe Mark Grantham or someone could provide some ringing data (Mark, you reading this) that would discredit my speculation.

Sadly can't add much to the debate, other than that there aren't many RNPs ringed anyway and the recoveries they generate are few and far between - unlike the ringing and finding locations though, which aren't far between! Most movements seem pretty local and all have been in the London/Surrey area:
http://blx1.bto.org/ring/countyrec/resultsall/rec7120all.htm

 

[The_Partridge]

Does anyone need spectacled warbler for norfolk ?

SUPPRESSION !!!

I can spot it a mile off

may you burn in hell for it

or if not hell itself then at least North Walsham

 

[firstreesjohn]

If you were to lift your PC monitor and shake it about, with the logo below displayed, would that be a 'Specsavers Wobbler' ?

You should do this in private, otherwise you might make a spectacle of yourself.

On another matter, if this and more rain doesn't persist, the Drinking Pool in Wells Woods will have to be renamed the 'Slightly Moist Patch'.

 

[black kite 1964]

Would have thought the centre of yarmouth or kings Lynn would be a more appropriate punishment! As for the rare Sylvia probably a load of rubbish. Could however be from the area of Norfolk where no news is released or a reserve where the warden like visitors to sit with their children on the beach between the times of 10am and 5 pm. Could also be a whitethroat!

 

[john miller]

That's very matter of fact Mark ?
Does anyone need spectacled warbler for norfolk ?

Bit late now, it was on Scolt Head in spring from what I heard.

John

 

[Happisbirder]

That's very matter of fact Mark ?
Does anyone need spectacled warbler for norfolk ?

Bit late now, it was on Scolt Head in spring from what I heard.

John

Now that would've been sure to have generated a helluva lot of interest, I'm not sure the island would've coped! It may well have sunk under the weight of all those bins, scopes, pagers, barbours, wellies, beards...

James