A Twitchers day out

John · #1 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 01:15 AM

This weekend is pencilled into my calendar each year as it is time to go and look at the Stone Curlews in Norfolk.

Weeting Heath is the recognised reserve but I know another that I like to call into first and that is where I arrived at 7am today. Within minutes I was watching three of these beauties but unfortunately they were too distant for any meaningful photography so I went to Weeting Heath to see if any were nearer. Sadly I only saw one and that had decided to have a nap behind a load of twigs.

I decided to go to Cley from there to see if I could see the reported Shorelarks. Thankfully that was relatively easy but again they were too distant for photography.

As I was watching them my pager went off with the news that a very rare bird was at Minsmere in Suffolk. It was a White-spotted Bluethroat. We normally get the Red-spotted here in Britain so this was an unusual visitor. I was soon off again on the 70 mile drive down to there.

I arrived at 12:30 and made my way to where it had been reported. Unfortunately the path was under about 6 inches of water and it wasn't long before my feet, and the bottom part of my trousers were soaking wet. When I arrived at the site there were two groups of birders. The first set of about 15 birders were ensconced in the middle of the water. The next group were 100 yards away on dry land. Apparently the bird was coming onto the path in-between the two groups.

I stood in 6 inches of water for just over an hour without so much as even a sound out of the bird. It was now 13:45 and the bird hadn't been seen for ninety minutes. Just then a group of people decided to walk towards us and at the same time some of the birders in the far group decided to leave. It was our cue to walk through to that group so we could stand on somewhere dry. Bad decision.

30 minutes later the bird came out and what a beauty but the problem was it was only twenty feet away from where I had been standing but 100 yards from where I was now.

All the photographers were having a field day at the other end with frame filling action whereas my DSLR was useless at that distance so I decided to try some digiscoping shots. They are nowhere near as good as anything that was taken by the DSLR boys but at least you can see what the bird looks like.

Unfortunately this viewing didn't last long as a Coastguards vehicle came up the track dispersing all the birders and also the bird.

It was time to move onto an area just south of Norwich called Wacton Common. Here a Dark-breasted Barn Owl was being reported and I fancied having a go at photographing it, plus maybe a chance of a Short-eared Owl that was also being reported there. I arrived at 16:10 to ever greying clouds and it wasn't long before torrential rain started to fall. It was also bitterly cold with a driving wind. Enough to chill your skin off.

I was just about to leave as Owls are not known to enjoy flying in the rain when it suddenly stopped. I sat there for about another thirty minutes when another birder spotted a Short-eared Owl then two more were seen but the latter two went to ground straight away and never came up again. The remaining Owl was in flight for about ten minutes before it too went to ground.

Here are a couple of heavily cropped images taken in ridiculously bad light.

Sadly the Barn Owl didn't show but that wasn't a surprise in those conditions.

The bonus of this was that for the very first time ever I have seen all five of the British Owls in the same year. In fact I have seen them in the first three months of the year which is a real bonus for me.

Well that was my day out. Wet and cold but not beaten with some stunning birds seen along the way.

John

outdoorguy · #2 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 01:32 AM

sounds great.. love the bluethroat.. i'm not a twitcher but love to see something different.. i do a lot of local watching and have done for about 25 years but go to dungerness and rye which is about as far as i go.. if i had the time and petrol money i'd love a day like that.. very jealous he he james

mrs fish · #3 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 07:26 AM

The white spotted bluethroat is a nice looking bird

Muggsy · #4 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 07:43 AM

is there only one , or is DaveyG's Blue Throat, a different bird ?

mrs fish · #5 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 07:46 AM

I was wondering if they were standing next to each other, I think we do need WAB badges

aeshna5 · #6 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 07:56 AM

A productive day John. I've seen all 5 owls at least a couple of times in a year- so far only 3 this year; haven't seen the 2 "eared" species yet!

You're certainly a trooper willing to suffer for your art. Hope your feet have recovered + haven't developed webbing!

John · #7 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 09:40 AM

Hi Mugsy

I tried finding that photo but couldn't locate it. Any chance of putting a link to it please.

There are up to six variations with this bird but the one we usually get over here is the nominate race Luscinia svecica which is the Red-spotted Bluethroat.

For the breakdown of distribution here is a section I have copied and pasted from a programme I have.

Polytypic. Nominate svecica (Linnaeus, 1758) (synonyms gaetkei, robusta), Scandinavia east through northern Siberia to western Alaska, south to c. 60°N in European USSR, to c. 57°N in western Siberia, to Altai and Sayan mountains in central Siberia, and to c. 55°N along shores of Sea of Okhotsk, also some isolated populations in mountains of central Europe; namnetum Mayaud, 1934, western France; cyanecula (Meisner, 1804), central Europe from eastern and northern France and Netherlands east to Carpathian basin, north-west Ukraine, Smolensk, and Leningrad (USSR), also Spain; volgae (Kleinschmidt, 1907), central European USSR from north-east Ukraine north to c. 57°N and east to middle Volga river, intergrading with cyanecula in west and with nominate svecica further north; pallidogularis (Zarudny, 1897) (synonyms saturatior, altaica), south-east European USSR (east from Volga) and lowland steppes of south-west Siberia south to Turkmeniya, east to foothills of Altai mountains and upper Yenisey, intergrading with volgae in west and with nominate svecica in north and east; magna (Zarudny and Loudon, 1904), Caucasus area, eastern Turkey, and Iran. Extralimital: tianschanica (Tugarinov, 1929), Pamir and Tien Shan mountains; 3 further races in central Asia and western Himalayas.

John

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muggsy

is there only one , or is DaveyG's Blue Throat, a different bird ?

Muggsy · #8 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 09:53 AM

I was thinking Davey's bird had more white.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ar...hp/photo/55809

John · #9 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 10:09 AM

It's the same bird taken on the same day as me but why it is in the unidentified section is beyond me. That's why I couldn't find it.

I have now changed the title of Davy's two photos but if he is reading this could he please re-upload them to the Rare Birds Gallery.

John

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muggsy

I was thinking Davey's bird had more white.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ar...hp/photo/55809

DavyG · #10 (**permalink**) 30-03-2008, 11:21 AM

Hi John, it sounds like you arrived at the bird's location just as we left.

We were at the dry end nearest the sluice and were obviously very lucky, the bird hadn't been seen for a while before we arrived but showed up almost as we did, we left when it disappeared back into the undergrowth.

I thought I'd posted the pics in the Identified Birds section of the archive, I didn't think they were good enough for the Gallery.

I'll rename them and post them in the Rare Birds section.

Dave