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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Norfolk birding (13 Viewers)

Is the elephant in the room the previous sentence in the same paragraph that states they have a pair of breeding "Northern Goshawks" in the gardens too? Is that likely?
I have been there a few times in the past and the word 'gardens' really undersells the place. It's a very extensive piece of land. Under the 'links' section of the website there are three videos (the first one is broken) which give a good idea of what the gardens are like. Other people will know better than me whether the outer reaches is the sort of habitat which could support a family of Goshawks.

Ron
 
Dunlin at Gramborough Hill on 9th October 2011.

See more pictures on my blog - plus Woodchat Shrike pics and video.

Penny:girl:

P.S. Not going to East Ruston Gardens - too far and saving energy for the forthcoming easterly winds!
 

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I know you lot count it as Norfolk (wrongly:))..but just to let you know I flushed out no less than 35 Song Thrushes from a very small stretch of Hopton disused railtrack this evening along with a few Redwing so a few things may well appear over the next couple of days. Also had 32 Crossbills north over here earlier in day(seen from Corton continued north over Hopton) in grps of 25, 6 and 1, it seems a great year for Crossbill passage.

That stretch of Hopton railtrack, just inland from the former MoD complex is a very good indicator site. Often there are no birds along it...but if theres been an arrival there are ALWAYS birds along it (even when relatively few birds are elsewhere). Often there are Redstarts in September feeding along the leaside edge (no conditions this year:() and when Thrushes are around it always produces, they seem to love the place. I see Ring Ouzel annually there. I always find it strange that when I walk along the seaward side there appears to be nothing but as I walk back along the inland side (leaside) birds are everywhere, as today.
 
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Titchwell October 12th

Today’s highlights

Yellow-browed warbler – 1 on Meadow Trail until 14:15 at least, calling but elusive
Hen harrier – male hunting over saltmarsh
Jack snipe – 1 from Fen Hide + 1 flushed from reedbed
Lapland bunting – 2 east over fresh marsh
Short-eared owl – 1 high over reserve @ 11:00
Spoonbill – 2 west
Teal – 680 on fresh marsh
Chiffchaff – 1 ‘eastern –type’ on Meadow Trail

Paul
 
Was the acceptance a mistake, or was the record accepted and yet the submitter has since withdrawn the submission for reasons that I personally do not know, does anyone else?

Hi David

Re. the nightingale, I did believe it was Thrush, but equally I fully respect the opinions of other birders as voiced on this forum. Because some birders were sure it was a Common, plainly the record could not be deemed 100% acceptable, so I simply asked BB for it to be withdrawn. Unfortunately I omitted to mention it to the editors of the Norfolk Bird Report; my sincere apologies to them.

cheers
Richard
 
Was the acceptance a mistake, or was the record accepted and yet the submitter has since withdrawn the submission for reasons that I personally do not know, does anyone else?

Hi David

Re. the nightingale, I did believe it was Thrush, but equally I fully respect the opinions of other birders as voiced on this forum. Because some birders were sure it was a Common, plainly the record could not be deemed 100% acceptable, so I simply asked BB for it to be withdrawn. Unfortunately I omitted to mention it to the editors of the Norfolk Bird Report; my sincere apologies to them.

cheers
Richard

Thank you, very much, Richard for such a concise reply.
 
Titchwell October 13th

Today’s highlights

An amazing day...

Short-eared owl – 50 (FIFTY) in/off the sea with 46 between 13:30 – 16:30. County record?
Yellow browed warbler – 1+ on Meadow Trail
Great grey shrike – 1 briefly on saltmarsh @ 11:05
Great white egret – 1 over main path but no further details
Common crane – 1 on saltmarsh
Jack snipe – 1 on saltmarsh pool behind Island Hide
Purple sandpiper – 1 on beach
Hen harrier – ringtail in/off sea, male hunting over saltmarsh
Spotted redshank – 9 on saltmarsh

Can't wait for tomorrow just need to think of an excuse to be out of the office!

Paul
 
Well I chose a good day to do some uni work and not go to Titchwell. . .

good numbers of redwings this side of Norwich, 30 in garden.

no short eared owls...
 
Great Day Paul!
Obviously we at Strumpshaw did not manage quite such a good tally but while working in the reedbed we managed;
1 Short Eared Owl, flying up the River Yare
1 Great Grey Shrike
lots of common migrants- Brambling, redwing, fieldfare and many mipits.
Also seen Hen Harrier and Jack Snipe.

Looking forward to tomorrow on the coast!
 
Flamm-tastic

Today’s highlights

An amazing day...

Short-eared owl – 50 (FIFTY) in/off the sea with 46 between 13:30 – 16:30. County record?.......

The most exciting B :)afternoon's birding :t:I have had in a very long time!!

Included groups of 6 and 5 SEOs in the scope at the same time.

Towards dusk there were lots of passerines in-off including two that ditched and one fieldfare devoured by a GBBG.

On a serious note can anyone remember anything like this SEO movement before or give a theory as to what caused this movement??

Get out there tomorrow if you can....it feels birdy!!

Dave
 
SEO's & East Hills

I've heard it was a very good vole year in scandanavia, so I assume the SEO breeding season was very good, they have been coming in in small numbers for several weeks, I guess the cloud/rain and wind direction helped a mass arrival, amazing how they were so concentrated in NW norfolk though.

Tramped out to East Hills today, had 5 Laps over the marsh on the way out, reaching the pines I flushed a Short-eared from the seaward side of the dunes, he nearly took my head off and called very aggressively! ABout 2 minutes later I flushed a Long-eared from the dunes, great to see the two so close together for comparison. Another SEO flushed further on and the woods had lots of thrushes but only 2 Chiffchaffs and a Redstart.
 
Its as if a bottleneck had developed, whereby Short-eared Owls were all set for the continent, but due to the westerlies were not so keen to travel....until today. Quite incredible counts from Titchwell, never heard of the like in my time birding.
Managed to get to Surlingham Church Marsh for the last hour of light, and whilst there seems to have been a small influx of Robins and Thrushes, I did not add an Owl to my patch list. Oddly, 60 Gadwall were a record count for me, a bit early for such a build up I thought. Barn Owl hunting and Little Owl on the way home were nice though!
Must be a RF Bluetail hiding somwhere, although Passerines seemed a little harder to come by today for those that were out and about.
Cheers,
Jim.
 
Short-eared owl influx

A great afternoon Dave H and thanks for keeping count of the short-eared owl influx. I could not keep up with the numbers until I left at 330. I must have seen thirty short-eared owls!

Stuart, your comment about the weather was spot on. A shower passed off Scolt and many owls clearly flew around it and straight to Titchwell.


Arriving at Titchwell I was informed the great grey shrike had gone and that the yellow-browed warbler had not been seen and a jack snipe had disappeared too.

I decided to go to the beach arriving around 1pm. Purple sandpiper reported. Have never seen purple sandpiper at Titchwell: dipped again.


My day was transformed by the shout of a short-eared owl.
To see so many was inbelievable in such a poor Autumn in Norfolk.
 
Today’s highlights

An amazing day...

Short-eared owl – 50 (FIFTY) in/off the sea with 46 between 13:30 – 16:30. County record?
Yellow browed warbler – 1+ on Meadow Trail
Great grey shrike – 1 briefly on saltmarsh @ 11:05
Great white egret – 1 over main path but no further details
Common crane – 1 on saltmarsh
Jack snipe – 1 on saltmarsh pool behind Island Hide
Purple sandpiper – 1 on beach
Hen harrier – ringtail in/off sea, male hunting over saltmarsh
Spotted redshank – 9 on saltmarsh

Can't wait for tomorrow just need to think of an excuse to be out of the office!

Paul

Birds of Norfolk
large winter roosts of short-eared owls in the past
I quote "usually one or two are recorded on a single day at any one site but six arrived in off the sea at Sheringham on both 28th October 1974 and 4th October 1992."


Saw the ring-tailed hen harrier
Also a peregrine over the end of the boardwalk
No one I met had seen the crane
Given a good description of the reported great white egret (not seen by me or most people present)
Jammed the elusive yellow-browed warbler as the tit flock moved to the bushes where the meadow trail met the main path toward island hide.
 
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Great white egret – 1 over main path but no further details

Found by Joseph Nichols, and confirmed by myself, at long range towards Thornham/Holme, although distance is deceptive so
Appeared to be on marsh just East of Holme at 2:04pm before disappearing out of view at 2:11pm.
Was then re-found flying towards Titchwell at 3:00pm, before flying in-land in the direction of Choseley.
Picture attached.
Also fantastic views of a Merlin chasing a Fieldfare over the sea, while being chased by Gull sp. The Fieldfare eventually hitting the water and being gulped down by a Greater Black Backed Gull!
 

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East Hills

With Eddie Myers. First bird found was a Yellow browed warbler at 11am in the hedge next to the concrete pad (west track) Warham. Eddie had watched a Grey Grey Shrike fly in off the sea at Coastguards Cley this morning and land on the beach!!! (I wasn't there!)

The walk out to East Hills was exciting and we hoped to find a mega, but that was not to be! BUT a good selection of birds including a Woodcock, flushed at the west end, 3 Lapland Buntings, 2 Bramblings, a ring tail Hen Harrier, a Merlin, 2 Chiffchaffs, loads of goldcrests and tons of thrushes including song thrushes, blackbirds, redwings and fieldfares. Stuart gripped us off with the owls and redstart - he was approx 45 minutes after us - should have gone out later!

Full write up on blog.


Heard there were 19 SEO's whilst on the hills, but just couldn't believe it as the messages kept coming, totalling 50 Short eared Owls in off the sea - my goodness, no words to describe this - Wow!!!:t::t::t:

Penny:girl:
 
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