Norfolk birding (6 Viewers)

[kittykat23uk]

Hi everyone,

took my Mum off to do some briding yesterday and the day before. Firstly, local patch walk up to Gunton Lane recreation ground produced many different warblers, including blackcap, chiffchaff and willow warbler singing. Best views were of a whitethorat however, skulking in the bushes. Other than the usual fare (including three mistle thrushes) Mum spotted a kingfisher actually along the river in Gunton Lane Recreation park, just where the picnic site is. Very fleeting views though. Green woodpecker calling but not much else of note.

Yesterday was more productive, as we started off at Cley, did the three hides, nothing spectacularly rare, but nice to see the avocets, black tailed godwiits, marshies, plenty of shelduck, a few gadwall, reed bunting and sedge warblers. Went along to Bishops hide where a lapwing was showing well, close to the hide. Then we drove up to cley beach and walked Blakeney spit. Nothing exceptional but we saw a fair few waders, some lovely ringed plovers, a turnstone with a few dunlin, mippits.. Nothing really rare though. Then once we got back to the car park we decided to walk to the north hide at Cley, where we saw a lot more birds, including a nice group of sandwich terns. Spring must be in the air because there were several courting couples (of sandwich terns that is)! On the way back to the car we also had a lovely wheatear.

ETA: Would love to know your tips on where to see or how to find a garden warbler as the only ones I seem to find are blackcaps!

 

[HarassedDad]

KittyKat: Gunton Lane's a very nice spot. The pond's are good for Azure damselfly later in the season, while the river has good numbers of banded demoiselle. I seem to remember seeing a grey wag there a couple of years ago as well.

matt: yes that's an immature Large Red female.

Barry: Buxton is a brilliant spot for Nightjars, with woodcock and wood larks about as well. It's also home to the largest Norfolk colony of Silver-spotted Blue butterfly. That's all for later, but at the moment keep your eyes open for Emperor Moth - the males fly in daylight and there's good numbers out at the moment there.

 

[kittykat23uk]

Harassed Dad, yes Gunton Lane is also good for treecreepers and I did have a couple of turtle doves on one of the adjoining fields last year. Unfortunately in the summer it also gets quite busy and rather midge-infested! Also had a barn owl a few weeks ago where the private no entry sign is on the gate looking down to the river off Mariotts way to the west of Gunton Lane.

In contrast, the woods off Larkman lane are great for nuthatches.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

Very mundane observations from me, I'm afraid but I have noted masses of Greenfinches at home in Hopton recently, with them hopping all over my grass and 'wheezing' from the surrounding trees.

I also spotted this Sparrowhawk on my neighbour's roof the other evening. It's only the second one I've seen at my house in twenty-five years.

Ron

 

[kittykat23uk]

Nice shot Ron! Here are a few pics from yesterday too. Also can someone confirm these are dunlin? I was not sure thinking they might be Sanderling but I think they are dunlin actually:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2461404050/sizes/o/in/set-72157604859049347/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2461393040_5255769cb1_b.jpg

 

[rob stoff]

they are Sanderling

Rob

 

[Richard Abr]

Nice shot Ron! Here are a few pics from yesterday too. Also can someone confirm these are dunlin? I was not sure thinking they might be Sanderling but I think they are dunlin actually:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2461404050/sizes/o/in/set-72157604859049347/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2461393040_5255769cb1_b.jpg

Half right.
Left hand bird - Turnstone
Right hand bird - Dunlin

Cheers
Richard

 

[rob stoff]

Half right.
Left hand bird - Turnstone
Right hand bird - Dunlin

Cheers
Richard

I think you're looking at the wrong pic Richard, the query referred to the birds in the links I believe

Rob

 

[Richard Abr]

Sanderling

I think you're looking at the wrong pic Richard, the query referred to the birds in the links I believe

Rob

Yep. Just seen the Sanderling on shingle in the first link.
Cheers
Richard

 

[kittykat23uk]

Ok thanks everyone. I wasn't really very sure whether they were sanderling or Dunlins. I did think they were sanderling (very pale being an obvious feature) to begin with but then thought their bills were too long (and of course there were also dunlin on the spit.. But should have stuck with my initial thought!

 

[James Emerson]

Hi everyone,

ETA: Would love to know your tips on where to see or how to find a garden warbler as the only ones I seem to find are blackcaps!

Hi

I saw a Garden Warbler at Carey's Meadow in Thorpe about a week ago, its not too far a walk up from the station. I think there were one or two at Strumpshaw last year as well. I would recommend listening to the song beforehand, if you don't have a recording let me know and I can send you one.

Regards,

James

 

[Connor Rand]

A fasincating day today in many different respects. It was always going to be a good day for fly-overs rather than grounded migrants, and so it proved...viz mig from 6:15-7:15am produced 63 Swallows and 117 Swifts, as well as 11 House Martins, 2 Sand Martins, 5 Yellow Wagtails w, 2 Turtle Doves e and several Common and Sandwich Terns. No weather movement of note but hirundines stil moving along the beach in pulses. Worringly Swallow numbers have actually been badly down at Holme this year, any similar observations elsewhere?

In the dunes 5 Turtle Doves (clearly an arrival of these) and 2 Cuckoos, while a small arrival of commoner warblers with 3 Reed Warblers, 5 Sedge Warblers, 3 Blackcaps, 7 Lesser Whitethroats, 6 Chiffchaffs, 4 Willow Warblers and 10 Whitethroats. Day totals for commoner species recorded: 25 Yellow Wagtails (including one group of 12 with a male channel-type Wagtail in front of the 1st NWT hide, many surely too high overhead), 198 Swifts, 102 Swallows, 60 Woodpigeons, 15 House Martins, 6 Sand Martins, 20 Carrion Crows (a large corvid movement all week and a Hooded rptd in horse paddocks near Redwell Marsh NOA), 5 Little Terns, 16 Whimbrels, 7 Turtle Doves and 60Linnets. 3 Wheatears and a Whinchat seen by others in the dunes.

Raptors were clearly around with 1 Rough-legged Buzzard north at 1:05pm (put out as prob by visitors but all other birders on site c.8 certain of ID), 2 Hobbies, 3 Kestrels, 2 Sparrowhawks, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 ringtail Harrier sp (distant...)

On to Choseley and 4 Dotterels were located... Also male Montagu's Harrier at usual site... 3 Whetears at former site and 1 at latter, so perhaps a small arrival. The forerunners for tommorow maybe?

Finally driving home along the Stanhoe to Docking road a Black Kite powered fairly low over the road, going south. Me and Dad hopped quickly out of the van and got views of it flying away, twisting its tail several times as it went. Perhaps the one at Fring (c. 5 mins away) in the morning and presumably an escape, but a nice find to end a good day...

Summary of Holme highlights in Holme birding (link below), as well as Hooded Crow rptd (details on site)

Cheers,

Connor

 

[Connor Rand]

Am I the only person that witnesses huge flocks of hirundines moving in front of weather fronts? Is it just my chance observations, or does there appear to have been an uncharactistic movement of grey wags & corvids going on last week? Was the Blue-headed Wagtail invasian on the East coast last week typical of elsewhere? Is it just me or do Garden Warblers and Willow Warblers seem to be suprisingly abundant this year and Reed Warblers to have arrived later than usual. That's the kind of thing I'm interested in finding out, which a forum like this should be ideally equipped to answer.

Hi Ilya just thought Id give my slant on these points.

1.Indeed I usually notice hirundines moving in front of weather fronts, especially at this time of year, but no such weather front and still good amount seen today...

2. Certainly has been a few Grey Wags knocking around. I had one over Blakeney, like yourself. As for corvids, according to the good people of Holme a really good movement all week, presumnably bringing a couple of Hoodies (!) into the county.

3. seen Blue-headed Wagtail at Holkham and found Blue-headed Wagtail at Hunstanton (both 1st summer males I think). Also know another observer who had a female Blue-headed Wagtail at Hunstaton, so at least 2 there and 5 at Holkham.

4. I just dont see Garden Warblers (!) but 4 were trapped in the coastal park this morning. Willows seem average for me. Reed Warblers definitely later than usual IMO (was actually disscussing this with several people today!), only had my first today, later than in past 3 years.

Aditionally Whetears yet again seem very thin on the ground (for about the 3rd year running, although a few seen today) and Ring Ouzels are back down to earth after last years bumper of a spring, wonder what caused that?

Cheers,

Connor

 

[Colin]

Tim's fine. I've been birding with him several times. I think he's just a bit bored of BF and switched to reporting all his stuff on his website. I think part of the reason was that a lot of the people posting on this thread appear to be reporting seeing the stuff that's on the pagers that everyone knows about, which is not something he has much time for:

http://www.freewebs.com/eastnorfolkbirding/articles.htm#158740482

Full credit to those that do, but it would be really nice to hear from you a few more people that are going out and looking for their own stuff as otherwise it becomes rather predictable what people see.

Thanks Ilya and all who have answered my question about Tim. Nice to know that he is ok and still birding though I could never expect him to stop that!!!

 

[lomond]

Kate for one, for all the men folk!!!, pity Simon's not there too, never mind!

Why should we men folk watch it for kate, when we have our own local reporter called Penny, as for simon he is going to be in Scotland.

Barry.

 

[Songkhran]

interesting points

I've been watching hirundines all week at the same time as learning from the oracle that is Giles. Vis mig is best at Beeston during South Westerlies. A great place to watch them is sitting on the cliff (quite safe where there is a steep grassy bank) and watching them flying W below me (hoping for a Rumper this way)- they seem to hug the cliff edge especially when the wind is a bit stronger . I'm not sure of numbers as this is my first year, but Ive been doing 1/2 hr counts and Monday had 130 hirundines (about half swallows) between 6.35 -7.05 then about 80 in next half hour. Friday had 48 swallows followed by 39. Ive been told when passage is strong these numbers can be in their thousands. House Martins seem to be coming in in ok numbers 40ish on both days but apparently they can delay their migration until the end of May (incidentally the highest count of HMs is around 15000 in the autumn). When we havent got SWs these number completely dry up so they seem fairly wind direction dependent.

In contrast Swifts seem either to come in off the sea at the Bump or arrive from the East higher up, i hardly ever see them flying below me they also currently are flying past earlier.

Think we are very lucky to get the number of Yellow Wags that we do and a really good challenge is to pick out the females of different races. There's already been some very decent candidates this spring (firstrees had possible Lutea) and with an Iberian about nationally is worth really scrutinising them - and investing in the Pipits and Wagtails book. Highest count of Yellow Wags is 600 going west over Scolt Head

Had 27 Wheatears in the Runton area on Monday (there was a fall of around 40) but certainly up to that point pretty thin on the ground. Id say there been above average no's of Ring Ouzels this spring but they do seem to prefer NW's over the Uk which seems to stall their migration. I remember there was a fascinating weather chart last year when they were arriving which had SW over southern Britain which then swirled round to NW's over the North sea - the NW airstream actually appeared most concentrated over the Wash - which initially was where all the Ring Ouzels and other migrants turned up.

As far as the geographical position of Norfolk is concerned i think most migrants find it damn confusing. Possibly when birds are flying West along the North coast they think they are still going North and this is why Holme and Hunstanton are such great places for vis mig - with birds concentrating then hitting a landlocked dead end when they reach the Wash (seemed to also occur with the Poms last autumn). Corvids seem to typify this confusion, they seem utterly baffled by the Bump which they can presumably see from quite a long way off. They quite often circle round going east then come back west and will even head off out to sea.

Ok didnt seem like it happened today (except for Connor who sounded like he had a blinder) but the weeks forecast still shows that those Black Lark easterlies are back with us and the good stuff may just take a few days to get to us.

 

[Connor Rand]

interesting points

I've been watching hirundines all week at the same time as learning from the oracle that is Giles. Vis mig is best at Beeston during South Westerlies. A great place to watch them is sitting on the cliff (quite safe where there is a steep grassy bank) and watching them flying W below me (hoping for a Rumper this way)- they seem to hug the cliff edge especially when the wind is a bit stronger . I'm not sure of numbers as this is my first year, but Ive been doing 1/2 hr counts and Monday had 130 hirundines (about half swallows) between 6.35 -7.05 then about 80 in next half hour. Friday had 48 swallows followed by 39. Ive been told when passage is strong these numbers can be in their thousands. House Martins seem to be coming in in ok numbers 40ish on both days but apparently they can delay their migration until the end of May (incidentally the highest count of HMs is around 15000 in the autumn). When we havent got SWs these number completely dry up so they seem fairly wind direction dependent.

In contrast Swifts seem either to come in off the sea at the Bump or arrive from the East higher up, i hardly ever see them flying below me they also currently are flying past earlier.

Think we are very lucky to get the number of Yellow Wags that we do and a really good challenge is to pick out the females of different races. There's already been some very decent candidates this spring (firstrees had possible Lutea) and with an Iberian about nationally is worth really scrutinising them - and investing in the Pipits and Wagtails book. Highest count of Yellow Wags is 600 going west over Scolt Head

Had 27 Wheatears in the Runton area on Monday (there was a fall of around 40) but certainly up to that point pretty thin on the ground. Id say there been above average no's of Ring Ouzels this spring but they do seem to prefer NW's over the Uk which seems to stall their migration. I remember there was a fascinating weather chart last year when they were arriving which had SW over southern Britain which then swirled round to NW's over the North sea - the NW airstream actually appeared most concentrated over the Wash - which initially was where all the Ring Ouzels and other migrants turned up.

As far as the geographical position of Norfolk is concerned i think most migrants find it damn confusing. Possibly when birds are flying West along the North coast they think they are still going North and this is why Holme and Hunstanton are such great places for vis mig - with birds concentrating then hitting a landlocked dead end when they reach the Wash (seemed to also occur with the Poms last autumn). Corvids seem to typify this confusion, they seem utterly baffled by the Bump which they can presumably see from quite a long way off. They quite often circle round going east then come back west and will even head off out to sea.

Ok didnt seem like it happened today (except for Connor who sounded like he had a blinder) but the weeks forecast still shows that those Black Lark easterlies are back with us and the good stuff may just take a few days to get to us.

Hi Pomskua,

agree with most of these points. Particularly in strong winds hirundines seem to hug the dunes at Holme and south-westerlies are always best. I would say Scolt Head Island is a pretty excellent viz-mig place, as undeniably is Hunstanton Cliffs, however the two problems with Holme are that once migrants have hugged the coast at Titchwell they tend to funnel out, so the passerines flying over tend to be spread from the A149 all the way to the coast. These passerines tend to funnel together again, due to the turning off the coast, at Hunstanton Cliffs and to a lesser extent Gore Point dunes, hence why we do are viz-mig there! Secondly the majority of raptors and cranes/storks etc follow the ridge inland and are thus very hard to pick up at Holme, I would say for this reason we only get about 40% of birds tracked around the coast (we do get most of the Cranes because of there sheer size...) Raptors also seem to favour coming in of the sea at Titchwell... Agreed, sometimes Skua and Shearwater numbers seem best from Titchwell/Holme and Sheringham, as opposed to in between, 'casue of the reasons you explained...

All good stuff...

Connor

 

[sacha]

KittyKat: Gunton Lane's a very nice spot. The pond's are good for Azure damselfly later in the season, while the river has good numbers of banded demoiselle. I seem to remember seeing a grey wag there a couple of years ago as well.

matt: yes that's an immature Large Red female.

Barry: Buxton is a brilliant spot for Nightjars, with woodcock and wood larks about as well. It's also home to the largest Norfolk colony of Silver-spotted Blue butterfly. That's all for later, but at the moment keep your eyes open for Emperor Moth - the males fly in daylight and there's good numbers out at the moment there.

Good to read about Buxton as i have recently moved to a nearby village (Felthorpe) and plan to cycle to Buxton a few times from now and into the summer (some of the pubs on the way look ok too!).

So far since January in Felthorpe i have seen nearly 60 species: a couple of Mealy Redpoll wintering in amongst 30+ Redpoll and sum plum Brambling being the highlights. If anyone else visits Buxton would be great to hear what you see!

Will be giving the Blakeney Point a try tomorrow... Hoping for rain overnight....could be interesting. Good luck to anyone else out looking for migrants tomorrow.

 

[matt green]

Good to read about Buxton as i have recently moved to a nearby village (Felthorpe) and plan to cycle to Buxton a few times from now and into the summer (some of the pubs on the way look ok too!).

So far since January in Felthorpe i have seen nearly 60 species: a couple of Mealy Redpoll wintering in amongst 30+ Redpoll and sum plum Brambling being the highlights. If anyone else visits Buxton would be great to hear what you see!

For those who expressed an interest in Buxton Heath, the following link may be of interest...


http://www.freewebs.com/buxtonheath/

Matt

 

[Jon Oates]

Thanks Matt. Will definitely give it a visit next time I'm down. Are there any access restrictions?
Jon