[John]

Part 1

Saturday 21st January 2006.

This year I have decided that chasing most rare birds is not going to be economically viable so I have stayed closeish to where I live but this weekend I let myself loose and visited Suffolk and Norfolk. I did target certain birds but actually deliberately ignored some due to maximising my time.

Apart from seeing quite a few birds I wanted to try for some photos, possibly of birds I hadn’t got before but more to the point getting better shots of those I already had.

I must admit that the end product of the two day venture was brilliant with some incredible sights and sounds around me.

I started Saturday at Lowestoft after Purple Sandpiper and Black throated Diver (both of which I saw) then onto Haverigg after the Tundra Bean Geese and again found them easy enough. Onto great Yarmouth, by the Marina, for the Med Gulls and yet again got good views and one or two photos of them.

From here I ventured to Caister after a reported large flock of Snow Buntings. This is a bird I have always wanted to get a photo of. Surely this would be easy??

Arriving at the 2nd Avenue car park I started my walk northwards along the beach. For the first 500 yards nothing then a little cloud of small birds could be seen. Soon possibly over 300 of the little beauties could be seen dropping onto the beach. I crept closer but they were very flighty and kept on taking off. Soon it became obvious that there was one area more than most that they returned to, near some rocks, so whilst they were further down the beach I moved closer to those rocks and just stood and waited. Many times they dropped nearby but would always take off again almost straight away. Thankfully they became more and more confident with me being there and almost two hours later they flew all around me and landed with me being in the middle of them. Now they were too close to photograph as my camera was attached to my scope but eventually they took off and landed about 50 yards away. Just the ideal distance but even so they were constantly on the move and never posing for the camera. Many times they would take off and land all around me and it was a brilliant feeling as I had dozens of these little crackers grubbing around my feet. I daren’t move for fear of frightening them so stood stock still each time until they had moved slightly further away. In the end I spent three hours in their company. A stunning moment in my life and one that won’t be forgotten easily.

From here it was onto Filby Broad after the Black necked Grebe, which I found about 400 yards on the other side of the broad and then onto my final site of the day, Stubbs Mill. This is at the side of Hickling Broad and is famous for the Harrier and Common Crane roost. Unfortunately only 4 Cranes were visible this time as there have been up to 29 reported at times. The upside was the sighting of 22+ Marsh Harriers, 2 Hen Harriers, 4 Merlin, 4 Barn Owls, thousands of Pink footed Geese overhead and an escaped Harris Hawk in the roost that was being constantly mobbed by the Marsh Harriers.

A good end to a very good first day. Some photos will follow once I have edited them.