Suffolk Birding (1 Viewer)

[Jonny Rankin]

Bumper weekend!

Strong easterly produced one of my best ever seawatches, viewed from the car at the Ness Point coastguards 7.45- midday. Counts: Cory`s Shearwater north, Juv Sabines Gull north, 3 Leach`s Petrel north, 9 Sooty Shearwater north, 6 Manx Shearwater north (including 2 unbelievably close), 2 Puffin north, Razorbill north, 5 Little Gull north, 9 Arctic Skua, 47 Fulmar north, 50+ unnamed tubenose north on horizon, 50+ large Auk sp north (mainly Guillemot), 40+ Red-throated Diver, 5 Sandwich Tern, 6 "commic" Tern, 7 Brent Geese, 20+ Kittiwake, 100+ Gannet, 21 Common Scoter. I braved the heavy rain in the late afternoon to see if any migrants had dropped in but checks of leaside indicator sites such as Hopton railtrack drew a blank. However I expect there to be passerines tommorow looking at the conditions.

Wow! What a superb mornings work :t:

Just jealously read your post & the weekends reports on the BINS site:

http://suffolkbirding.m.webs.com/si...p://www.freewebs.com/suffolkbirding/index.htm

I really wish I'd been in the County & birding! Look forward to getting out in the field tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jonny

 

[Jonny Rankin]

Beached Minke...

Morning all,

There is a Minke beached at Shingle Street, see:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/whale_washed_up_on_suffolk_coast_1_1538215

A bit morbid - but it could well attract Skuas etc to the corpse? I didn't see it - but I think the Ivory Gull a few years back was frequenting a seal corpse further up the coast?

May be worth checking out if in the area.

Cheers,

Jonny

 

[lostinjapan]

Think it was re-identified as a Fin Whale.

 

[Cortonbirds]

Got off work at 3pm to be on the patch at 4pm in the light of a report of a large arrival in thick fog and north east wind. Only had time to check a very small area but I witnessed some of the action. At Corton Church area 250 plus Redwing were present, many settled fieeding out in the field along with smaller numbers of Blackbird, Song Thrush and Fieldfare. Parking at the MoD entrance i walked the entrance track all the way to the coast and flushed very many Redwing out of virtually every tree! A conservative total of 500 plus including huge flocks sweeping out from cover and ditching into the compound. Many were feeding on the edge of the stubble. The numbers progressively got larger as I reached the sea end, presumably birds ditching into the first cover on arrival from the sea in the dense fog. Also here were a wonderfully confiding flock of 6 Brambling, probably exhausted. As expected the indicator site of Hopton railtrack also indicated this was a very large arrival indeed with 200 plus Redwing, 2 Brambling, 5 Fieldfare and a single flock of 50 plus Chaffinch. From here i walked back out to the sea along the Potters hedge and noted 250+ Redwing, again getting more numerous towards the coast including a flock of around 120 in the very first largish tree from the sea. So around 1000 Redwing seen in a very small area of coast, a truly wonderful spectacle, the likes of which I have rarely seen before. A similar arrival occurred late last autumn but this was even more impressive.

 

[lostinjapan]

In the Bawdsey area this morning there were plenty of birds to be found in the murk.

I saw several hundred Redwing, with tens of
of Blackbird & Song Thrush.

There were also tens of Robins calling from every bush with 5 Black Redstart, 1 Redstart, 7 Chiffchaff, 25+ Goldcrest, 2+ Firecrest, 6+ Brambling & 4 Swallow.

I'm sure the easterly winds will continue to bring in more birds & hopefully I might get lucky & find a Ring Ouzel or two.

Good luck all

Sean

 

[Cortonbirds]

Again raced home from Norwich in promising conditions, still with fog and a north east wind. Parked at Corton Church just after 4pm and walked out to the sallows. Passing the gate and walking left through the weeds many Robins flushed out then a Pipit flew out calling speez and sat up in the tree in full view only a few metres away. It was an obvious, well marked Olive-backed Pipit and I enjoyed great views for the next 5 mins as it just sat there eying me up! I tweeted it straight out as I was watching it. It began tail pumping vigourously then moved back into the hedge. I decided to leave it in there and move back to the car park so it would have a chance to get back into the weeds. Waiting at the car park the first locals soon arrived including Ricky, Paul and Jane. We walked back to the spot and sure enough it soon flew back out of the weeds into a tree, showing for a while then dropping back into the long grass. More and more observers arrived including most of the locals and the bird showed in a similar fashion for the rest of the evening. Light too poor for photography but all the salient features were noted, such as darkish olive plain back, very strong supercilium rusty buff in front of eye, heavy breast streaking with a buff wash and a prominent light and dark patch at the rear of the ear coverts. At dusk the bird appeared to move back deeper into the hedge, called once and appeared to go to roost. This is the 2nd OBP i have found at Corton, this bird being located in the exact same spot to within metres that I have also found Great Snipe and Red-flanked Bluetail, now to be called the magic patch!

A flock of 40 plus Fieldfare flew over and there were still numerous Song Thrush and Redwings around, but in nowhere near the numbers of the avalanche of yesterday. More Robins though with many at the Pipit site. 4 Brambling were noted. Once again i wish i had been birding the whole day.....working in Norwich and birding Lowestoft is tough....but dedication on an easterly prevails...

 

[lostinjapan]

Again raced home from Norwich in promising conditions, still with fog and a north east wind. Parked at Corton Church just after 4pm and walked out to the sallows. Passing the gate and walking left through the weeds many Robins flushed out then a Pipit flew out calling speez and sat up in the tree in full view only a few metres away. It was an obvious, well marked Olive-backed Pipit and I enjoyed great views for the next 5 mins as it just sat there eying me up! I tweeted it straight out as I was watching it. It began tail pumping vigourously then moved back into the hedge. I decided to leave it in there and move back to the car park so it would have a chance to get back into the weeds. Waiting at the car park the first locals soon arrived including Ricky, Paul and Jane. We walked back to the spot and sure enough it soon flew back out of the weeds into a tree, showing for a while then dropping back into the long grass. More and more observers arrived including most of the locals and the bird showed in a similar fashion for the rest of the evening. Light too poor for photography but all the salient features were noted, such as darkish olive plain back, very strong supercilium rusty buff in front of eye, heavy breast streaking with a buff wash and a prominent light and dark patch at the rear of the ear coverts. At dusk the bird appeared to move back deeper into the hedge, called once and appeared to go to roost. This is the 2nd OBP i have found at Corton, this bird being located in the exact same spot to within metres that I have also found Great Snipe and Red-flanked Bluetail, now to be called the magic patch!

A flock of 40 plus Fieldfare flew over and there were still numerous Song Thrush and Redwings around, but in nowhere near the numbers of the avalanche of yesterday. More Robins though with many at the Pipit site. 4 Brambling were noted. Once again i wish i had been birding the whole day.....working in Norwich and birding Lowestoft is tough....but dedication on an easterly prevails...

That is a brilliant find. Congrats.

Wish I had more time this week to go out and look for rares. Will try and squeeze in a cupla hours here and there, coz you never know .

Sean

 

[jimbob]

I saw the news break on RBA and thought, I wonder if that chap from Birdforum found it......congratulations sir, a great find!
Cheers,
Jim.

 

[firstreesjohn]

Why do sallows have so many twigs ?

now to be called the magic patch!

Yesterday, I’d reached the other side of Great Yarmouth, when the pager announced your bird. The traffic was pretty bad and I was jaded, now in the third week of my cold. So, I was glad when it stayed and I was able to see it today, after a 10-minute drive from school.

Several birders had seen it just before and were able to give me good directions. However, we didn’t relocate it until we’d been right around the ‘magic patch’. It did a lot of unobtrusive walking, much perching (with energetic tail-pumping, as if engaged in an avian version of circuit-training), though I didn’t hear it call once- despite flying up to a branch several times. (The bird, not me!)

I was pleased to be able to help two visitors with this, a lifer for them, and wish Christine (from Sussex) good luck with Norfolk’s bluebird at Stiffkey and even better luck for the weekend.

Why is it that so many birds have to perch in trees with twigs. It’s just not playing the game and makes photographing them a task for a more skilled contortionist than me.

Thank you, Cortonbirds, for this and your Bluetail 2 years ago. You are lucky to have such a great local patch to cover. May you have many, many more magic finds in the future.

 

[Cortonbirds]

Thanks, it truly is a wonderful site in the autumn. Nearby today i saw the Red-breasted Flycatcher at Hopton, a real purple patch for my parish recently.

 

[The sniper]

Hi,coming up to Suffolk tomorrow with a small group,going to be anywhere around the coast,bradwell/minsmere/warren etc.
Notic no updates on her for a couple of days,is there anything about at the moment?
Are there large numbers of thrushes,crests,finches etc like on the Norfolk coast,any information will be greatly appreciated


May thanks
Rob

 

[GYBirder23]

try north lowestoft a great place for autumn rarities and migrants

 

[NoSpringChicken]

The Lounge Lizard's site here is good for letting you know what is about in the Lowestoft area. It also has a useful Site Guides section to tell you where the best places are.

Ron

 

[The sniper]

Thanks peeps,may well hit the Lowestoft area

 

[Cortonbirds]

There were masses of Thrushes etc like in Norfolk on Monday eg the 1000 Redwing I had at Corton. There were still many around the next few days but not so many today. From the forecast I think the sea is well worth watching tommorow. If it rains best spot is from the car at Lowestoft coastguards/Ness Point or the shelter at Southwold. Some choice passerine migrants may also be lingering in sheltered spots. Unlike some areas of the country Lowestoft news is broadcast instantly so check the phone for local sightings tommorow, particularly follow the twitter feed from your phone on the above website.

 

[GYBirder23]

The group who watch Lowestoft are amazing how they find so much baffles me I wish I knew their secret when I visit the town I find nothing

 

[Cortonbirds]

Knowing where and when to look I guess. However the sightings on that website come from around 40+ observers mailing in their records...quite a scene to be honest. In addition the hardcore group of around 10 are very dedicated.

 

[GYBirder23]

Well I think you do a grand job, makes me wonder what i'm missing here in GY, any tips on how to search areas please? mr Corton

 

[Cortonbirds]

Just check the weather then pick the most likely spots. Eg in strong northerly as tommorow go seawatching from North beach or Gorlestone cliff car park or check sheltered leasides of the Yarmouth cemetaries etc (the never watched Caister cemetary has potential..i used to work there and always saw birds in there). Calm and westerly walk Breydon south wall there will be nothing else anywhere.... Fine light south west do some viz mig on the denes early doors. Theres always something to do with our wonderful hobby.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

I hope the Ness Point/North Denes/Sparrows Nest area of Lowestoft continues to turn up good birds as there are rather a lot of changes going on there at the moment.

The new static caravan development appears to be encroaching on the area adjacent to the drying net posts at an alarming rate. The houses at the south end of Flycatcher Alley are being renovated, so I hope that will not cause too much disturbance. Arnolds Walk is being eaten away by development work and the walk itself is a real tip at the moment. On the other hand the compound beneath the wind turbine has been tidied up and most of the stacked up planks have been removed. I assume there are fewer nooks and crannies for the Black Redstarts to explore.

It is still an excellent and very handy place to visit, though, and I am looking forward to those superb, close views of the Purple Sandpipers when they return.

Ron