• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Norfolk birding (38 Viewers)

firstreesjohn said:
No, it’s not a misspelled article about the founder of Motown, but a brief account of this afternoon along the front at Warham Greens and Stiffkey.

I have never seen so many berries as are in the vicinity of the Whirligig. Others commented, too. Elders, brambles, hips and haws in their millions- yes ! I was there, vainly seeking a reported Barred Warbler; instead, I flushed a Baz walker.

Earlier, around 1400 hours, I had gone down the westernmost track and saw ten buzzard-types above the pines at East Hills. Some were even further off: attempting, it seems, to beat into the strongish, easterly wind and might have had a longer profile. My 8x bins were not powerful enough for all this.

However, by the time I’d trudged back up the track, driven the car down and put up the ‘scope, I could only see seven- all Buzzards. They soon moved off in a westerly or south-westerly direction.

There must be some migration tomorrow. (Please.)
Click to expand...

2816 Honey Buzzards through Falstabo today. Second highest daily total since the seventies
 
firstreesjohn said:
No, it’s not a misspelled article about the founder of Motown, but a brief account of this afternoon along the front at Warham Greens and Stiffkey.

I have never seen so many berries as are in the vicinity of the Whirligig. Others commented, too. Elders, brambles, hips and haws in their millions- yes ! I was there, vainly seeking a reported Barred Warbler; instead, I flushed a Baz walker.

Earlier, around 1400 hours, I had gone down the westernmost track and saw ten buzzard-types above the pines at East Hills. Some were even further off: attempting, it seems, to beat into the strongish, easterly wind and might have had a longer profile. My 8x bins were not powerful enough for all this.

However, by the time I’d trudged back up the track, driven the car down and put up the ‘scope, I could only see seven- all Buzzards. They soon moved off in a westerly or south-westerly direction.

There must be some migration tomorrow. (Please.)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately John, Me and my girlfriend are down that way tomorrow for a week and we are the most unluckiest birders ever. So you might as well have a rest for a week and not bother going out as I think all birds have sensed we are coming so are refusing to leave the continent! :)
 
Have a positive attitude !

Pete & Partner:

You can influence your own luck. Why do you think the same people find raries, year after year ?

Visualise a species, think warmly about it- and have a great week.

There’s enough negativity in County and on this thread, as it is.
 
Wholeheartedly agree with the firstreesjohn's positive mental attitude message. That said, since I returned to Norfolk 2 years ago (after living in Shanghai then Abu Dhabi, where finding your own rarities is like taking candy from a baby and PMAs become second nature to even the most pessimistic of birders), I think my BirdTrack stats tell their own story:

Thetford Nunnery Lakes: visits = 452(+), best finds = Crane, Smew, Ring Ouzel and, er, White Wagtail?!

East Hills and Scolt Head Island combined: visits = 7, best finds = Greenish Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, Jack Snipe, Black Redstart, Black Tern, Ring Ouzel, Lapland Bunting (plus a 5-mile-inland spring Wryneck on the way home from a Scolt trip).

So its not just about having a PMA ;)
 
Last edited:
Blimey John, visualisation? have you gone all like, well like me? The beauty and problem with visualisation is that the outcome of the visualisation will always have an ironic twist, it will always be a surprise and paradoxically not be what you intended it to be. It couldn't happen any other way because if what we visualised manifested in the exact way that we intended we would surely quickly (and I my opinion correctly) come to the conclusion that reality is the product of our imaginations and presumably the fabric of the universe would then evaporate or something like that.

Therefore if for instance you want to find for instance a Red-rumped Swallow for goodness sake look in the LEAST obvious place i.e avoid headlands during mass passages of Swallows, much better inland stretches of water ;) or quiet stretches of coastline with light offshore breezes, either that or up chimneys or down the back of the sofa oh yeah and don't expect to find a Rumper either, maybe just something really common.

But visualisation? - by all means - more/less megas will be found.

firstreesjohn said:
Pete & Partner:

You can influence your own luck. Why do you think the same people find raries, year after year ?

Visualise a species, think warmly about it- and have a great week.

There’s enough negativity in County and on this thread, as it is.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Titchwell September 2nd

Today’s highlights

Curlew sandpiper – 10 on fresh marsh
Little stint – 2 on fresh marsh
Spoonbill – 2 on fresh marsh

Paul
 
Not quite like you, Josh: I don’t have footwear with numbered toes, I’m not fit and I’m twice your age. Neither do I agree about going to the least likely site to find something good. I don’t hold with that monkeys typing Shakespeare hypothesis.

It stands to reason (and Stats 101) that, if you repeatedly visit somewhere where avian migration occurs, you will see good birds, when the weather is suitable. Gramboro’ is a case in point: 50 visits= e.g. Mipits and Linnets; 51st= Blyth’s Reed, Great Spotted Cuckoo (I was after a dragonfly, then!), or wotteva.

But I do agree with you about visualization: it’s not like the beaming device in Star Trek and always produces what was not expected.
 
RSPB West Norfolk on Twitter

Afternoon all,

Just to let everyone know I've setup a Twitter page (also a facebook group soon) for the RSPB West Norfolk local group (@rspbwestnorfolk) so if your on Twitter please please follow ;)o:D

All the best,

Robert
 
Josh! said:
Blimey John, visualisation? have you gone all like, well like me? The beauty and problem with visualisation is that the outcome of the visualisation will always have an ironic twist, it will always be a surprise and paradoxically not be what you intended it to be. It couldn't happen any other way because if what we visualised manifested in the exact way that we intended we would surely quickly (and I my opinion correctly) come to the conclusion that reality is the product of our imaginations and presumably the fabric of the universe would then evaporate or something like that.

Therefore if for instance you want to find for instance a Red-rumped Swallow for goodness sake look in the LEAST obvious place i.e avoid headlands during mass passages of Swallows, much better inland stretches of water ;) or quiet stretches of coastline with light offshore breezes, either that or up chimneys or down the back of the sofa oh yeah and don't expect to find a Rumper either, maybe just something really common.

But visualisation? - by all means - more/less megas will be found.
Click to expand...

"There is no place to seek the mind; it is like the footprints of birds in the sky"
 
Oh ! Penny, you’ve spoiled it.

I thought FOOOON’s last post (plaintive bugling) would bring this thread to a Zen-like stasis or even nothingness- there were no additions for over 24 hours.

The quote is from, I believe, Li Po 李白 (701-762 A.D.).

However, I contest his statement and contend that you will see even more bird footprints in the mud at Mai Po 米埔濕地, the famous nature reserve in Hong Kong.

I, too, tramped around Warham Greens again yesterday, with similarly pitiful results.
 
Nick Moran said:
So its not just about having a PMA ;)
Click to expand...

Nick,
Until I read back on the posts, I was quite worried about you having a PMA (Pre-Menstrual A = attitude?) or whatever! However, because I've been out birding with you a few times and have seen you find and identify birds (about 50 to my one), I guess I have to tell everybody that, yes, you are that good!
MJB
 
The complete lack of small birds at Strumpshaw yesterday was more than made up for by spectacular views of a family of three Hobbies feeding. We watched for half-an-hour as they performed their aerial antics - plummeting down in a stoop and pulling out at the last moment to skim across the meadow to catch dragonflies. They would then climb again and call loudly to bring in the juvenile[?] for a food pass. My most thrilling birding experience so far. I am still buzzing!

Ron
 

Attachments

  • Hobby-pass-small.jpg
    Hobby-pass-small.jpg
    204.5 KB · Views: 179
  • Hobby-pass-2-small.jpg
    Hobby-pass-2-small.jpg
    233.8 KB · Views: 145
Ethelred was unready; but there were TWO Egberts

The 2 Large, White, Snake-necked Ones seemed almost to be hopping west, along the saltmarsh at Stiffkey today. It was not too difficult to visualise them (pace Mark), as their necks were twice as long as those of their Little confrères.

At one stage, fanning occurred- quite impressive.

Yesterday, 2 (again) Hobbies hunted over Salthouse and there was a solitary Swift over the erstwhile Coastguards at Cley.

I am afraid I’m not that highly evolved and am constantly seduced by these maras.

Poor photo from some distance, with East Hills as backdrop. What surprised several of us was how few people had bothered to turn out; it's not as though the coast was dripping with migrants.
 

Attachments

  • 035pse.jpg
    035pse.jpg
    144 KB · Views: 253
Last edited:

Similar threads

B
Birding in Portugal, Spain May june 2024
Replies
4
Views
426
brooke65
B
B
May - June birding in Europe. Guides?
Replies
1
Views
282
Fritz73
Fritz73
R
Red grouse near Buxton and anything else . Advise please
Replies
3
Views
296
simmojunior
S
T
30/03, Devon. Another (un)Common Buzzard?
Replies
10
Views
637
The Kerreran
T
SueO
Stories Behind Birds You've Photographed
Replies
18
Views
774
Joe H
Joe H

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 39 (members: 0, guests: 39)
Back
Top