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Norfolk birding (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Edward woodwood
- Start date
This little fella looks like a Field vole, also known as a Short-tailed Field Vole. The pic shows off the tail quite well. Bank voles have a longer tail and contrasting lighter undersides, making them look almost black and white in some lights. Water voles are bigger all round (which is why they are often confused with rats) and also have a longer tail.
Penny Clarke
Well-known member
Got up at 4.30am and arrived Titchwell at 5.40am in hope of seeing the black headed wagtail. I was surprised I was the only person there, apart from a red camper van which had obviously stayed overnight! I stood by the gate by the ploughed field and watched 5 Wheatears in the furrows and 1 Yellow Wagtail by 7.45am - 8am a Turtle Dove was 'purring' in the carpark. The bushes were alive with birds early morning, several common whitethroats, a single wheatear sitting in a bush, blackcaps, hedge sparrows, robins, goldfinches, blackbirds etc. Walked round the Fen Trail and had very close views of Marsh Harriers in front of Fen Hide. One man had travelled from Southampton to see the wagtail!!!!! Beautiful sunny day, but it was freezing first thing!!! Had jam roll and cup of tea, photographed the robin again after he had shared my roll and then moved onto Holme.
Holme 10am. NOA Redwell Marsh Hide - No sign of the Wood Sandpipers whatsoever!!!! Parked on the NOA capark 11am and walked straight over to dunes and had 10 Great Crested Grebes sitting on the sea, my first Gannet (adult) of the year going east and 8 Sandwich Terns. Walked up to observatory and then made the BIG mistake of not going seawatching with Ray Roche and Geoffrey Barker:C - decided to walk along bottom path near obs., phone call from Ray 'Iceland Gull and 2 Little Terns' - bother, bother, bother (the most polite words I can use on here!!!!). Went into NWT Visitor Centre, and in the book with the list of birds for the day was 3 Ring Ouzels!!! I moved the car back up the road by the 5-bar gate and went to look around the NWT Forestry. Found the 3 Ring Ouzels 1.40pm and also watched them fly off across the forestry - speaking to several people, they had been around for several hours (obviously no one rang the bird services!) so I rang them in to RBA. I also found out later in the afternoon that there 5 Ring Ouzels later in afternoon and they were seen altogether in the paddock on right hand side just after 5-bar gate. Also Lesser Whitethroat in Forestry at 2.20pm.
Went back to Redwell Marsh Hide, still no sign of Wood Sandpipers (pouring with rain/wind, when I was in hide and then glorious sun after) - lots of fluffy cute baby ducks scurrying about around the water's edge. Ruddy Duck, 4 avocet, loads of black headed gulls, 2 Med Gulls, tufted ducks, shoveler, shelducks, redshanks, snipe, coots, moorhens, swallows and martins skimming over water and one cuckoo calling.
Went to parents for a while and then continued on to Titchwell to have another look in the ploughed field - 5 Wheatears again and 5 Yellow Wagtails in the glorious evening sun along with several Pied Wagtails, red legged partridge, jackdaws, carrion crows and pheasants.
Carried onto Holkham area to look for Spoonbill, but no luck. A barn owl sat on a branch in a pond at Stanhoe!!!
Best Wishes Penny:girl:
Holme 10am. NOA Redwell Marsh Hide - No sign of the Wood Sandpipers whatsoever!!!! Parked on the NOA capark 11am and walked straight over to dunes and had 10 Great Crested Grebes sitting on the sea, my first Gannet (adult) of the year going east and 8 Sandwich Terns. Walked up to observatory and then made the BIG mistake of not going seawatching with Ray Roche and Geoffrey Barker:C - decided to walk along bottom path near obs., phone call from Ray 'Iceland Gull and 2 Little Terns' - bother, bother, bother (the most polite words I can use on here!!!!). Went into NWT Visitor Centre, and in the book with the list of birds for the day was 3 Ring Ouzels!!! I moved the car back up the road by the 5-bar gate and went to look around the NWT Forestry. Found the 3 Ring Ouzels 1.40pm and also watched them fly off across the forestry - speaking to several people, they had been around for several hours (obviously no one rang the bird services!) so I rang them in to RBA. I also found out later in the afternoon that there 5 Ring Ouzels later in afternoon and they were seen altogether in the paddock on right hand side just after 5-bar gate. Also Lesser Whitethroat in Forestry at 2.20pm.
Went back to Redwell Marsh Hide, still no sign of Wood Sandpipers (pouring with rain/wind, when I was in hide and then glorious sun after) - lots of fluffy cute baby ducks scurrying about around the water's edge. Ruddy Duck, 4 avocet, loads of black headed gulls, 2 Med Gulls, tufted ducks, shoveler, shelducks, redshanks, snipe, coots, moorhens, swallows and martins skimming over water and one cuckoo calling.
Went to parents for a while and then continued on to Titchwell to have another look in the ploughed field - 5 Wheatears again and 5 Yellow Wagtails in the glorious evening sun along with several Pied Wagtails, red legged partridge, jackdaws, carrion crows and pheasants.
Carried onto Holkham area to look for Spoonbill, but no luck. A barn owl sat on a branch in a pond at Stanhoe!!!
Best Wishes Penny:girl:
Last edited:
ben_lewis
Well-known member
major wildlife
Registered Member
HarassedDad
Norfolk County Butterfly Recorder
County mammal recorder: Dave Leech - [email protected]
(Just worked out the eagle must have gone over my head yesterday -sob)
(Just worked out the eagle must have gone over my head yesterday -sob)
Irene Boston
Well-known member
And a Goldie in Cornwall recently - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=139493&highlight=Eagle+Cornwall
And on the pager yesterday, an eagle sp. over Waveney Forest - very intriguing. For a reachable eagle sp. I could easily screech off in a cloud of dust!
Irene Boston
Well-known member
The one that got away .... whatever it was!
Had a puzzling 15 minutes at Dersingham Bog yesterday afternoon.
From the escarpment above the pond scoping back towards Whinhill Covert (the trees in front of the cliff, so a good half mile away), I picked up something large gaining height out behind the trees. From its slow flapping flight, for one heart stopping moment I thought 'raptor' ..... then 'raptor carrying/trailing something' ..... then, 'no, scrub that, not a raptor but something with a long tail and equally long legs projecting beyond the tail'.
After vanishing behind the trees, it eventually reappeared climbing all the time, still flapping slowly but a fairly stiff winged action, not loose at all. It must have caught a thermal as it stopped flapping and then spiralled and banked ever upward, then drifted north towards Snettisham Coastal Park. I eventually lost it in the haze but it seemed to be dropping. (I had a wander round the CP later on but could find nothing large lurking on the marshes!). After consulting with Stuart at RBA, I thought it best to stick something out on the pager (hence the poss Crane message). I'd rather look daft with a mis-ID than a possible interesting bird be missed. So if anyone was north of the Bog at the coastal park yesterday?? Having scribbled my notes and looked up a few images, the best I can come up with is either Stork or Crane but I'm not totally convinced with either.
It was never viewed at nearer than half a mile and going away from me all the time. Watched for 10-15 minutes and both upper and underparts seen as it banked and turned frequently when spiralling upward.
Size - it dwarfed the large gulls which occasionally appeared in the same scope view but they may not have been at the same distance.
Wings - broad and tapered to a point, rather than spread primaries (although this could have been the distance not letting me see that bit clearly enough). It gave an almost triangular appearance to the wings at times, with the ends only occasionally drooping down. At all other times, the wings appeared to be held straight.
Tail - same length as the width of wings. Square ended tail so it appeared to 'step in' towards the legs forming a distinct angled corner.
Legs - projected beyond the tail for at least the length of the tail again. Impression of the 'clump' of feet but no more than an impression.
Neck/head - length roughly the width of the wings and appeared thinnish, with no discernible beak or 'spoon' (should it look longer on a crane??)
Overall impression all dark both above and below, which is what was leaning me towards Crane. I've only seen a handful of Storks (one black and several white) but I remember being struck by the contrast in colour of the black and white, and at no point did I get anything other than all dark on this bird. I'm pretty confident it wasn't a heron sp. as there was no neck 'keel' impression. Nor a GWE or Spoonbill as surely I'd have got a lighter impression rather than all dark? (Nor an eagle sp. either or there'd have been no confusion! .... and certainly not legs/tail like that!)
The only thing that makes me hesitate with Crane is that I've seen a lot in flight over the years, at varying distances and after an initial hesitation, they've nearly always been readily identified as cranes (there's just something about that silhouette that says 'crane'!). The more I stared at this thing yesterday, the more puzzled I became and I was no clearer at the end.
Drat it! It would have been a patch tick of some sort if only I'd been able to identify it! Any thoughts? Apart from - daft woman didn't have a camera with her! I shall just have to accept that it goes in the notebook under the 'what the heck' category.
Irene
Had a puzzling 15 minutes at Dersingham Bog yesterday afternoon.
From the escarpment above the pond scoping back towards Whinhill Covert (the trees in front of the cliff, so a good half mile away), I picked up something large gaining height out behind the trees. From its slow flapping flight, for one heart stopping moment I thought 'raptor' ..... then 'raptor carrying/trailing something' ..... then, 'no, scrub that, not a raptor but something with a long tail and equally long legs projecting beyond the tail'.
After vanishing behind the trees, it eventually reappeared climbing all the time, still flapping slowly but a fairly stiff winged action, not loose at all. It must have caught a thermal as it stopped flapping and then spiralled and banked ever upward, then drifted north towards Snettisham Coastal Park. I eventually lost it in the haze but it seemed to be dropping. (I had a wander round the CP later on but could find nothing large lurking on the marshes!). After consulting with Stuart at RBA, I thought it best to stick something out on the pager (hence the poss Crane message). I'd rather look daft with a mis-ID than a possible interesting bird be missed. So if anyone was north of the Bog at the coastal park yesterday?? Having scribbled my notes and looked up a few images, the best I can come up with is either Stork or Crane but I'm not totally convinced with either.
It was never viewed at nearer than half a mile and going away from me all the time. Watched for 10-15 minutes and both upper and underparts seen as it banked and turned frequently when spiralling upward.
Size - it dwarfed the large gulls which occasionally appeared in the same scope view but they may not have been at the same distance.
Wings - broad and tapered to a point, rather than spread primaries (although this could have been the distance not letting me see that bit clearly enough). It gave an almost triangular appearance to the wings at times, with the ends only occasionally drooping down. At all other times, the wings appeared to be held straight.
Tail - same length as the width of wings. Square ended tail so it appeared to 'step in' towards the legs forming a distinct angled corner.
Legs - projected beyond the tail for at least the length of the tail again. Impression of the 'clump' of feet but no more than an impression.
Neck/head - length roughly the width of the wings and appeared thinnish, with no discernible beak or 'spoon' (should it look longer on a crane??)
Overall impression all dark both above and below, which is what was leaning me towards Crane. I've only seen a handful of Storks (one black and several white) but I remember being struck by the contrast in colour of the black and white, and at no point did I get anything other than all dark on this bird. I'm pretty confident it wasn't a heron sp. as there was no neck 'keel' impression. Nor a GWE or Spoonbill as surely I'd have got a lighter impression rather than all dark? (Nor an eagle sp. either or there'd have been no confusion! .... and certainly not legs/tail like that!)
The only thing that makes me hesitate with Crane is that I've seen a lot in flight over the years, at varying distances and after an initial hesitation, they've nearly always been readily identified as cranes (there's just something about that silhouette that says 'crane'!). The more I stared at this thing yesterday, the more puzzled I became and I was no clearer at the end.
Drat it! It would have been a patch tick of some sort if only I'd been able to identify it! Any thoughts? Apart from - daft woman didn't have a camera with her! I shall just have to accept that it goes in the notebook under the 'what the heck' category.
Irene
Happisbirder
Always looking, seldom finding...
A chap out this way who recently did some fence work for me told me he flies raptors and has a pair of Golden Eagles at home. I'll endeavour to contact him and see if he has any contacts who may know about any escapees in the country...
The Dotterel that appeared at Happisburgh yesterday were there very briefly it seems. I didn't find them but had a call about 09:45am, shortly after they were found I believe. By 10:10am they had flown NW and, despite searching suitable fields west of the village, they weren't refound.
James
The Dotterel that appeared at Happisburgh yesterday were there very briefly it seems. I didn't find them but had a call about 09:45am, shortly after they were found I believe. By 10:10am they had flown NW and, despite searching suitable fields west of the village, they weren't refound.
James
StuartReeves
Local rarity
The second sighting of the bird I saw was at Haddiscoe & it was lost from sight over Waveney Forest. However, I'm sure the second observer didn't report it to RBA which raises the possibility that someone else saw it. My bird wasn't a Goldie by the way.
Stuart
Titchwell April 28th
Today's highlights
Red kite - 3 east over reserve towards Titchwell village early morning
Spotted redshank - 4 on fresh marsh
Grasshopper warbler - 1 singing on grazing meadow
Greenshank - 1 on brackish marsh
Little gull - 6 on fresh marsh
Bittern - 1 booming in reedbed
Red crested pochard - drake on fresh marsh
Paul
Today's highlights
Red kite - 3 east over reserve towards Titchwell village early morning
Spotted redshank - 4 on fresh marsh
Grasshopper warbler - 1 singing on grazing meadow
Greenshank - 1 on brackish marsh
Little gull - 6 on fresh marsh
Bittern - 1 booming in reedbed
Red crested pochard - drake on fresh marsh
Paul
mr.sim
Honourable founding member of the "day late" gang
Interesting to see that the three Red Kites (presuming there are the ones seen at Great Yarmouth a few days ago) have decided to go back East. Did anyone pick them up further along the coast? There has also been a small southward movement of raptors along the Yorkshire coast, mostly Marsh Harriers, but one or two Red Kites if I remember rightly. Any thoughts as to why they are going South/West instead of the standard North which is expected by most migrants at this time of year?
Happisbirder
Always looking, seldom finding...
Here's a couple of ideas Sim... The easiest route back to mainland Europe for a large raptor would be at the shortest sea crossing, so maybe these southbound raptors are heading for the south-east of the UK for that reason. Another reason could be that, with the increase in numbers generally of our larger birds of prey, many more immature birds will be 'finding themselves' and therefore going walkabout so to speak...
Fairly quiet out here this morning with Ring Ouzel still present, Wheatear too and a couple of Yellow Wags through. A distant Buzzard was probably a local bird. With Wryneck just down the coast and Redstart nearby, who knows what tomorrow may bring. |:d|
James
Fairly quiet out here this morning with Ring Ouzel still present, Wheatear too and a couple of Yellow Wags through. A distant Buzzard was probably a local bird. With Wryneck just down the coast and Redstart nearby, who knows what tomorrow may bring. |:d|
James
mr.sim
Honourable founding member of the "day late" gang
Yes, but why would they be doing that at this time of year? I can easily understand it if it were autumn, but it's not, unfortunately 3
Am I slightly missing your point here? Are you implying that they didn't mean to come over here in the first place, and want to get back to mainland Europe where they normally breed? If so, that's a very interesting point. Thanks!
PYRTLE
Old Berkshire Boy
Yes, but why would they be doing that at this time of year? I can easily understand it if it were autumn, but it's not, unfortunately 3
I'm thinking that Frootshot is suggesting, as have I in discussion this week with a colleague, that these are likely to be younger UK birds that have been ousted from their home territories by the parents or more dominant adults establishing a breeding area - therefore they go a wandering to pastures new. Although they were first picked up at Great Yarmouth it does not mean they channel hopped - remember last years multiple sightings of spring Black kites coming in from the east through Overstrand and then continuing and being tracked eastwards - these no doubt included some birds that escaped from an avairy near London I think. Perhaps they join up and follow a "natural" route/flightpath known only to raptors. Just a thought.
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