Norfolk birding (2 Viewers)

[James Emerson]

A Serin reported singing in Earlham Cemetery on 23/02/12 according to BirdGuides late last night. It doesn't say which half.

My garden adjoins the eastern part of the cemtery. For what its worth there has been a marked increase in birdsong in the past week or so here, but I definitely haven't heard a Serin-like song along this edge (Just saw a Muntjac wander past though!)

 

[Lightthiscandle]

How about these?

This flock of dark birds flew east high over Little Plumstead on Feb 24th....

 

[Lightthiscandle]

The swans in your two photographs (although somewhat distant and thus difficult to check or have turned away from the camera) seem to be Bewick's rather than Whoopers -H

Fair comment, but I assure you there were both species of wild swan in the flock: Martin Reed and I looked at them through his scope....
I should have said '...a flock of 50+ wild swans'

 

[Shaky09]

While working in drayton today I counted 21 noisey magpies in the same tree, a lot of bickering was going on but they seem to tolerate each other being there-
were there for around 20 minutes . Is this unusual as I have seen this amount before at roost but at 11 am ?
Shaky

 

[QuentinDupriez]

Hi all,

Does anyone know more about the American Wigeon reported today on birdguides (but apparently seen yesterday) ? An idea about the place to look for ?

Thanks,
Quentin

 

[James Emerson]

Hi all,

Does anyone know more about the American Wigeon reported today on birdguides (but apparently seen yesterday) ? An idea about the place to look for ?

Thanks,
Quentin

From Bawburgh (west of Norwich) you can follow the course of the River Yare westwards towards Marlingford. At some points you can look down from the road across the floodplain and see the river winding through the fields, which often contain Wigeon in winter. Further along the road you reach Marlingford, take a left turn (I think there is a pub on the left corner from memory) and continue past the village hall. The road takes a sharp bend to the left at the mill, where you can scan the river again. Not all of the river is visible from roads or public rights of way, so it probably won't be visible all of the time.

 

[dendroica]

James has it spot on. This afternoon it was in the field just east of the Mill (at the sharp left hand bend) with c.25 Wigeon. It was grazing at the river edge with the flock periodically vanishing down the bank.

Also the GWE is about still - saw it in flight along the bit of the river you can't really get to (behind the village hall), viewed from the road east of Marlingford.

 

[QuentinDupriez]

Thanks to you both, I'm just back from spotted it, at the exact place you described.

Quentin

 

[sacha]

This flock of dark birds flew east high over Little Plumstead on Feb 24th....

Cormorants?

 

[Mark Batten]

Hi Connor / all

I guess it is a little longer than 3 years since the question of the origin / timing of Red Kites in E Anglia has been a topic of conversation but well done for raising it here.

I saw an untagged Red Kite (dare I say KT?!) over the Scrape at Minsmere whilst volunteering there on 23/03/1996. At that time, the feeling was that any untagged birds were probably immigrants, particularly in places so far from any of the release sites back then. A few more individuals (and a Black Kite) were reported up the coast at Benacre at the same time, so the consensus was that these birds were part of an early-spring influx from the Continent.

I didn't see any kites in Norfolk/Suffolk whilst living at Stowmarket 2000-2002 but since returning to live in Breckland in 2009, my BirdTrack account reveals records on these dates:

Thetford 04/03/2009 (which I jammed during the outdoor part of my interview at BTO that day, sparking a mini-twitch from the office!)
Thetford 24/05/2010
Thetford 25/05/2010
Thetford 11/03/2011
Thetford 25/04/2011
Stiffkey Fen 19/08/2011
Titchwell Marsh 19/08/2011 (presumably same bird drifting along the coast)

There have already been at least 4 records in Breckland in 2012, and a few more from adjacent areas of west Suffolk. I'm sure the vast majority of the reintroduced birds are untagged these days (including those breeding in/near East Anglia), and probably have been for several years, so I would think most, if not all, recent Breckland records relate to birds from the reintroduced population 'on the wander' in spring.

It may be that birds are more sedentary during incubation / provisioning, and perhaps over the mid-winter period too, though obviously it would need a lot more than a few people's records to test this hypothesis...

Cheers
Nick

Nick. I suspect you a right on this one. Red Kites have had a tendency to cluster in the reintroduction areas. Although birds wander a bit a certain times of the year it does appear that breeding away from reintroduction areas has been slower than anticipated.

That said, the German Kites that bred in Suffolk does not rule out continental birds making it to Norfolk. I would however most of the Red Kites in the county originate from wandering birds from Cambs, Lincs or the home counties.

 

[Johny121]

American wigeon still at Marlingford 2.25 pm along with 2 flyover and 1 distant red kite.

 

[Nick Moran]

Nick. I suspect you a right on this one. Red Kites have had a tendency to cluster in the reintroduction areas. Although birds wander a bit a certain times of the year it does appear that breeding away from reintroduction areas has been slower than anticipated.

That said, the German Kites that bred in Suffolk does not rule out continental birds making it to Norfolk. I would however most of the Red Kites in the county originate from wandering birds from Cambs, Lincs or the home counties.

3 Red Kites together over Swaffham Forest yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, per a local birder.

Interesting aside on the wider reintroduced kite topic here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-17231855

Cheers
Nick

 

[ben_lewis]

This flock of dark birds flew east high over Little Plumstead on Feb 24th....

Unless its a trick of the light/camera they appear to have the white vents of Cormorants?

 

[Nick Moran]

Hi all,

Does anyone know more about the American Wigeon reported today on birdguides (but apparently seen yesterday) ? An idea about the place to look for ?

Thanks,
Quentin

Folk might be interested in this Twitter conversation David Lindo & I had last week:

urbanbirder: My neighbour, who isn't a birder, just ran up to me to say that she twitched Gt Egret, American Wigeon & Snow Bunting in Norfolk on the w/e!
8:49am, Feb 23 from Twitter for iPhone

BirdTrack: @urbanbirder Great stuff - a potential convert! Where was the American Wigeon in Norfolk?
9:48am, Feb 23 from HootSuite

urbanbirder: @BirdTrack who knows!
9:52am, Feb 23 from Twitter for iPhone

BirdTrack: @urbanbirder Maybe the hybrid American x Eurasian Wigeon at Minsmere http://t.co/1cPBv6Bm - none anywhere else in E Anglia per @BirdGuides
10:06am, Feb 23 from Web


If one & the same, that would put it as present from w/e of 18-19 Feb at least...

 

[firstreesjohn]

Anyone for tennis ?

I'm intrigued by the tennis ball floating in the water behind it! |=)|

I think it was a load of b . . . .

A lovely day- out of the chill wind. Salthouse Beach car park witnessed some more astounding fieldcraft by intrepid Buntingazzi, that left me smirking. One crept out from behind poor Dave N’s car, pushing the photographic object over the brow, below his frustrated viewfinder and then away in flight.

BudWatch at Gramboro’ saw . . . the first pollen !

Wells Woods was quite painful, as I attempted views, then shots, of a Crossbill, whilst shuffling backwards along a moss-covered, horizontal tree trunk and into wild rose briars. The result was hardly worth the blood and effort, especially given its complete deficiency in the white wing-bar department.

A massive emergence of 3 Gorse Shieldbugs had occurred- in the Gorse.

On the way home, a Chiffchaff was elusive, high in the trees along the River Stiffkey, south of the coast road.

And, while I wouldn’t normally advertise the sites where these display, I have no hesitation in passing on strong recommendations of this highly viewable and recent Goshawk activity at Sculthorpe Moor HaOT- which, of course, is wardened. There’s plenty of room for visitors at this lovely reserve.

 

[Dave Appleton]

While working in drayton today I counted 21 noisey magpies in the same tree, a lot of bickering was going on but they seem to tolerate each other being there-
were there for around 20 minutes . Is this unusual as I have seen this amount before at roost but at 11 am ?
Shaky

Magpies can congregate during the day for feeding - according to a paper published in British Birds in 1989 feeding groups of 20-30 are not unusual and the largest groups the author saw were about 50 strong. But a more interesting flocking behaviour for Magpies is a ceremonial gathering which can apparently occur any time but especially between January and March (Darwin apparently described these as "great Magpie marriage" ceremonies). These occur where there is intense competition for territories and a non-breeding bird invades the territory of another pair. If this pair's territory is badly defended, usually at the junction of 2-3 territories, then the invader establishes their own territory. During this process apparently it's common for other Magpies from the vicinity to spectate - the author of the BB paper speculates that this is because it's in their interest to know what's going on! In their study these events involved up to 24 birds.

Personally I've rarely seen more than 20 or so together except at roost - the exceptions being 56 at Ringstead in January 2006 and, from memory as it escaped my notebook, 64 in Kent back in the 80s.

 

[BirdBeard]

for the last couple of years me and a couple of friends have fairly regularly seen a red kite in the easton/marlingford area, and also a fly-by once in my mum's back garden in hethersett. it seems marlingford is the new rarity hotspot. excuse 1 handed, poorly punctuated typing - have poorly baby in other arm. may take him for his 1st american wigeon today! seawatching n fish n chips postponed due to illness. oh, and i haven't heard a serin in earlham crem either, but long tailed tits gathering nesting material in my garden. happy spotting,
birdbeard

 

[CANARY NICK]

Red Kite

Had a Red Kite and 5 Buzzards in the Easton area last week

 

[BirdBeard]

Had a Red Kite and 5 Buzzards in the Easton area last week

Tidy. That's a very good Buzzard count. 3 points today, with any luck :t:

 

[john miller]

Had a Red Kite and 5 Buzzards in the Easton area last week

Buzzards must be moving through at the moment. Three bird over Kelling yesterday were seen off by the local pair.

John