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Norfolk birding (12 Viewers)

The one that got away!!

Unfortunatly the sandhill crane was seen in Norfolk!

A couple have been into the Snettisham office with a photo of a bird they couldn't ID but did know it was kind of crane. The bird was on the mud off the Coastal Park at ca 13:00. There were quite a few people who had arrived late for the high-tide spectacular but no-one knew what the bird was. I don't know how long the bird was present or which direction it flew off in.

Hopefully it will do the same as the WTE and head back north soon
 

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Paul Eele said:
Unfortunatly the sandhill crane was seen in Norfolk!

A couple have been into the Snettisham office with a photo of a bird they couldn't ID but did know it was kind of crane. The bird was on the mud off the Coastal Park at ca 13:00. There were quite a few people who had arrived late for the high-tide spectacular but no-one knew what the bird was. I don't know how long the bird was present or which direction it flew off in.

Hopefully it will do the same as the WTE and head back north soon
Click to expand...

Ho humm! The benefits (and pain) of the photographic revolution! Shame these people who photograph birds don't know what they are looking at;) (Yes, I know the arguements...why should they:smoke: etc, etc ... we don't have a given right... etc, etc ... but, boy, it would have been nice to se in Norfolk!!)
 
David Norgate said:
Ho humm! The benefits (and pain) of the photographic revolution! Shame these people who photograph birds don't know what they are looking at;) (Yes, I know the arguements...why should they:smoke: etc, etc ... we don't have a given right... etc, etc ... but, boy, it would have been nice to se in Norfolk!!)
Click to expand...

It certainly would have been, but thankfully it is now on the Norfolk list and adds to our rich history of rare birds. I was surpised that no-one had seemingly picked it up; indeed, someone did! I wonder if the bird continued round the coast (but surely seawatchers would have spotted it?) or perhaps it flew inland (more coverage here though).
Still, one for the record books. And what a bird! certainly commands that wow factor. On arrival in Boyton yesterday, folk sprinting up the lane, fist pumping, a well organised car-park and views of the bird down to less than 100m.
Cheers,
Jim.
 
Paul Eele said:
Hopefully it will do the same as the WTE and head back north soon
Click to expand...

I fully echo your sentiment Paul but I fear that, being October not April, this is most unlikely to happen. I am more than happy to be proven wrong though!

As for it's route from Snettisham...? I personally don't believe it coasted - I'm sure someone would've picked it up - but is more likely to have travelled 'cross country' and perhaps latched onto the course of the Waveney. It may well have stopped off again somewhere in the Waveney valley, roosted and then continued the same course on Sunday morning before turning south in the Lowestoft area. Pure conjecture of course...

I know it's a big bird but Norfolk is an awfully big county.

James
 
Swift by name, swift by nature...

I saw 2 Swifts over Happisburgh just before noon today but they didn't, unfortunately, hang around for me to 'check'em out' so to speak. In my brief view they looked very dark, very sharp winged and they shipped off very fast westwards along the cliff. Just to clarify the RBA message they were 'definite Swift sp., probably Common' rather than 'probable Swifts'. Not quite sure how I worded my message to them but I hate leaving answer-phone messages anyway! |:S|

James
 
David Norgate said:
Ho humm! The benefits (and pain) of the photographic revolution! Shame these people who photograph birds don't know what they are looking at;) (Yes, I know the arguements...why should they:smoke: etc, etc ... we don't have a given right... etc, etc ... but, boy, it would have been nice to se in Norfolk!!)
Click to expand...

Gripped off by dudes with a camera. Not as bad as being Gripped off by those who Keep secrets!!
 
Well and truly gripped... Packed up ringing in the Coastal Park early Saturday Morning, due to the hot weather and lack of activity, and retreated to Ingoldisthorpe for a data entry practice on IPMR. Any normal day, and we would have still been on site at the time! As patch ticks come they dont get much bigger than that...
 
Titchwell October 3rd

Today’s highlights

Balearic shearwater – 1 lingering offshore this afternoon showing to 150m
Little stint – 1 on fresh marsh
Ruff – 59 on fresh marsh
Arctic skua – 4 offshore
Red necked grebe – 1 offshore
Little gull – 1 offshore
Redwing – 1 around visitor centre

Paul
 
Using basic geographical knowledge I would imagine the Crane could have headed along the coast until it hit the point then headed inland up the Glaven? then to the Wensum or Bure and finally to the Yare or other south Norfolk/North Suffolk river to the coast?
Or is that Human thinking being put into a bird? Just seems a possibility.
 
Fortunately, it DIDN'T get away !

I echo the sentiments that we now have The Crane on the Norfolk list. As I said earlier, that we hadn’t got this, either, added to the gross embarrassment of our autumn so far- save for sea-watched birds.

In fact, at Boyton today, I was informed on the fone that a crane sp. had been seen past Cley on Saturday !

I, too, feel that it could hardly have slipped past all those on the north coast this Sunday, whether they were looking out to sea or birding just inland. Could it ?
 
O.Reville1989 said:
Using basic geographical knowledge I would imagine the Crane could have headed along the coast until it hit the point then headed inland up the Glaven? then to the Wensum or Bure and finally to the Yare or other south Norfolk/North Suffolk river to the coast?
Or is that Human thinking being put into a bird? Just seems a possibility.
Click to expand...
Not sure the Sandhill has that much geographical knowledge - it probably just followed the coast (as It had been doing since Scotland). This is conjecture though as everyone missed it!
 
Paul Eele said:
Unfortunatly the sandhill crane was seen in Norfolk!

A couple have been into the Snettisham office with a photo of a bird they couldn't ID but did know it was kind of crane. The bird was on the mud off the Coastal Park at ca 13:00. There were quite a few people who had arrived late for the high-tide spectacular but no-one knew what the bird was. I don't know how long the bird was present or which direction it flew off in.

Hopefully it will do the same as the WTE and head back north soon
Click to expand...
OMG!!!!! Just heard about this when I got home from work tonight! I feel very:-C and ;) all at the same time. Great that its now on the Norfolk list. BUT..... I suppose it was always going to drop into/pass through Norfolk somewhere, but it would have been great to have been found by birders who knew what they were looking at (don't mean this rudely, just stating a fact!). If someone who is not an experienced birder saw a bird they didn't know and as large as that would have looked standing on the mud flats at Snettisham:eek!: you would have thought they would have rung somewhere like Titchwell RSPB to say so at the time!!!! Even people that don't have tel numbers of pagers/hotlines have heard of Titchwell RSPB and most people have a mobile phone with internet on nowadays to find the tel number for Titchwell and considering they were "quite a few people" there.....:eek!: Very sad that no one else got the chance to see this in Norfolk, but hey ho! You never know, it might come back!!!;):t:

Thanks for letting us know Paul.

Penny:girl:
 
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Sandhill crane

If only the rimac report had come out at the time we would have all been sitting at sunny hunny waiting for it to arrive. I left senttisham about 11.30am saturday morning so am quite peeved !! From the photograph it looked to be really close to the shore, aagghh. Also the twitch was just shown on anglia tv, they have raised £500 for the local church so all round a good show for everyone in suffolk, shame we missed out surely the fields around titchwell are much nicer;)
 
I imagine there is a good chance that the finders of the Crane were worried about appearing foolish or being patted on the head and assured that it was just a Common Crane. Quite likely without the photographic evidence to back up their sighting, I would say. No dilemma for me: I don't own and never have owned a mobile phone. I am the one! :smoke:

Ron
 
Sandhill Crane

AARRRGHHH. :eek!:

After a rarity-free couple of days in North Norfolk, I left Titchwell on Saturday afternoon to head south and went straight past, yes, Snettisham :C

This information should surely have been suppressed ;)
 
Vespa said:
AARRRGHHH. :eek!:
Click to expand...

My feelings exactly; but we can both scream until we're blue in the emoticon and it'll do us NO GOOD. I suppose it could release some tension in my damaged back.

If it coasted, it was yet another mega to have gone past my window in the last few weeks.

When I first moved in, I was glued to it and its view over the North Sea; now, I'm more sparing- obviously getting the timings completely wrong !
 
I have deleted the latest playground nonsense, for the last time keep the tiresome squabbles off the forum.

No more Mr nice guy its just the ejector button next.
 
@firstreesjohn...

I'm not expecting any names here John but do you have any more info relating to the Crane sp. sighting from Cley plz? Distance, direction, time? Observer reliability? |^|

James
 
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