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Norfolk birding (17 Viewers)

Penny Clarke said:
You were lucky Robert:t: - no little owls or tree sparrows yesterday at Flitcham and I was only watching a Marsh Tit at the Sandringham bird table today!!
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Yes only Marsh Tits at the Sandringham feeder for me too Penny;)

However the Little Owl was at Flitcham way over by the far hedge as you look out of the hide sat on a fence post. Paul and I had our best views ever of a male Hen Harrier hunting the stubble fields on the other side of the road (where we usually look at the geese by the straw bales) It came down the cover crop to within 10 metres of us looking straight at us at head height! Stunning in the bright sunlight.

Beware of a Common Buzzard that has been around the Holme/ Thornham/Docking area all autumn/now winter that has a small amount of white in its tail. It is frequently reported as a Rough-legged!

Sue
 
mr.sim said:
Anyone know anything of the possible Pacific Diver at Titchwell today? On BirdGuides as present at 14:20 is all I know.

EDIT : Most recent report on BirdGuides says possible juvenile on sea until dusk, view from boardwalk.
Click to expand...

I was there around 12.30 and the tide was out - didn't see any Divers. I did meet someone who said they had GN Diver and BT Diver (as well as velvet scoter and long t duck past) there this morning. I can only assume that as the tide came back in, so did the 'possible' Pacific. Will be interesting to see if it turns into one!

Having missed out on Jan 1st due to a major hang-over, I managed to make up for it with 100 sps today. Highlights:

Holkham - Snow Goose, 1 Barnacle, 2 White-fronts and a Peregrine on prey

Holkham Park - Nuthatch, Treecreeper and a Grey Wag near the car park

Titchwell - Water Pipit, 28 Twite flew in and gave good views on freshmarsh, red b merganser, Red Kite soaring over main track at around 11am, Ruff, Avocet and all the common winter waders.

Salthouse - Snow Buntings

Despite seeing most common birds i managed to miss Canada Goose, Sparrowhawk, Grey Heron!, Siskin and Redpoll.

Great day out (despite the news of the Diver):C
 
Decided on an inland twitch today for a change & very nice it was too. Heading towards Norwich i began to question the wisdom of this as the roads did`nt seem to have been gritted & progress was fairly slow, however we got to Whitlingham for about 8 & had the G.N.Diver right in front of us almost immeadiately, could`nt find the B.N.Grebe though but a red-head Smew was fair compensation, it was quite flighty & it was nice to get ones eye in on as a potential flyby at Sheringham, dont remember them appearing so long winged before. Kingfisher & Cetti`s were also nice. On to Cantley for the Geese & on arrival we saw some other birders watching from the upper field that overlooks the marsh so thought we`d join them, views of the geese were brief as 2 other birders (see attached image, note camera) thought it a good idea to wander away from the footpath that crosses the marsh & head straight towards the flock with the expected result. Other wildlife in the area were 4 Water Deer & 3 Hares chasing about in the field, by now it was almost starting to feel warm. From here we headed to Wroxham & had good views of the R.N.Duck before a flotilla of canoes disrupted things & then rounded the morning off with the Ferruginous Duck at Barton, by now the crowds were out & it was time to head home. A lovely morning & good company (you know who you are).
 

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barn owl bonanza

hi all

ventured north of the border today decided to head for holme unfortunately decided to go via thetford have the gritters gone on strike absolute nightmare still made it unscathed and glad we did. parked by the toilets to walk across the golf course sitting on the fence was our first barn owl, walked along the beach had great views of a male long-tailed duck on the sea and a fly through red throated diver, loads of sanderling amongst the huge number of gulls, brents and waders on the surf line
we eventually got onto the reserve and walked along the coastal path giving us views of the reserve and the sea,on the fields another barn owl, a buzzard,marsh harrier and loads of pink feet on the sea a big,100+flock of widgeon and a bit further out an even larger raft of scoter almost seemed if it was a single living creature as the birds flew and settled back on the sea i'm pretty sure there were a couple of velvets in there as well scanning back the way we had come i got onto another long-tailed duck and realised there was a small flock 6males and 1 female we also had 2 red necked grebes on the sea and my mate had a great northern diver though I didn't get on it.
as it was getting on a bit we decided to go to cley and see if we could find the snow bunting on the drive we had no less than 5 separate barn owls we arrived at cley no sign of snow bunting but another 2 barn owls were hunting and another owl we got a quick glimspe of at long range all though i think it was probably a shortie but could'nt be sure.
as we climbed the shingle to get a better view a quick scan of the sea lucked me into 4 eiders 2 male and 2 female flying through but no sign of the owl
as it was getting dark we decided to head off on way home we had a little owl in a bush and a flyover woodcock
fabulous day and i think i will be lucky if i see 9 barn owls flying in bright sunshine in a day again
 
Cantley muppets

I met those two blokes as I was leaving, they asked if they could get closer to the geese by walking out into the meadows. I said "definitely not they are wild geese and very easily disturbed, the footpath is obvious, stay on it." Shame they didn't fall into the frozen ditch.

Where's "tideliner" when we need him. Are people brain dead ? We only have one flock of Taiga bean geese in england.
 
Travelling along the A47 past Wisbech today I noticed huge amounts of thrushes in orchards to the West of the town. The orchards are just inside Norfolk so I thought I'd mention it because there were probably about 10,000 birds there! Mostly Fieldfare from what I could see. Wouldn't be surprised if a Waxwing turns up there...
 
Titchwell January 4th

Today's highlights

Pacific diver - probable still present. The bird was seen in flight at 09:05 flying west offshore and at 12:15 flying over the reserve before dropping into the Thornham Harbour area.
Great Northern diver - 1 offshore
Slavonian grebe - 1 offshore
Long tailed duck - 3 offshore
Avocet - 7 on fresh marsh
Twite - 14 on brackish marsh
Water pipit - 1 on fresh marsh
Snow bunting - 30 on beach
Bittern - 1 in flight over reedbed

Happy New Year to you all and hopefully it will now be quality birds for the rest of the year!
 
More pipit drivel

Unfortunately, we can't have 'Ollit' for Olive-backed (would we want to, anyway?), as it's Yorkshire dialect for Barn Owl.

However, what of the delights of Tawnit, Rickit and Buffit ? The best one might be Pecit !

(Still half asleep, I posted this on the PDiver thread this a.m.)
 
Paul Eele said:
Today's highlights

Pacific diver - probable still present. The bird was seen in flight at 09:05 flying west offshore and at 12:15 flying over the reserve before dropping into the Thornham Harbour area.
Click to expand...

Surely we'll have an ID for this bird now, then?
 
Cantley Beans
Easiest place to see them is from the west side of Cantley village, go down Burnt House Lane and park sensibly by the public footpath. Take the path and view the marshes. However, the birds are usually distant and patience is sometimes needed, beware also present are Pink-footed and White-fronts:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...archp=ids.srf&dn=885&ax=637777&ay=304100&lm=0

If you have more time, it can be vey productive walking down from the fisherman's carpark on Buckenham Marshes (accessed via the level crossing next to Strumpshaw). It is a long walk, but a beautiful area to discover.
 
Big flock of Pinks in the field just next to Reedham Ferry yesterday afternoon. One had a white neck collar. Couldn't stop as I had cars behind. Two Med Gulls out of the 30 or so on Yarmouth seafront had green rings on. I will post any info I find out.
Buckenham very quiet yesterday morning, apart from usual two Peregrines having a go at a Woodpig.
Cheers
 
David Norgate said:
Cantley Beans
Easiest place to see them is from the west side of Cantley village, go down Burnt House Lane and park sensibly by the public footpath. Take the path and view the marshes. However, the birds are usually distant and patience is sometimes needed, beware also present are Pink-footed and White-fronts:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...archp=ids.srf&dn=885&ax=637777&ay=304100&lm=0
Click to expand...

Agree with all that David has said, and would just note that there are two possible footpaths to try. One option is to walk SW over the level crossing along the path onto the marshes; from here the views are perhaps slightly closer, but it's harder to find the birds, since you're at goose-eye level. Alternatively, you can walk NW along a path along the edge of arable fields, on higher ground looking down on the marshes below. The views from here may be more distant, but you've got a better chance of finding the birds.

>This OS map< illustrates both; the red circle is where to park. The geese are generally not too far away from the bird (Avocet?!) representing nature reserve on the map!
 
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