Apart from a few hours at Brandon Marsh, near Coventry, in January I
haven't done any birding other than in the garden or on the way to
work but yesterday was my Birthday so I decided to spend the day plus
a few hours this morning on total birding. Yesterday was Norfolk,
today was local.
I had to pick up my mate in Loughborough at 05:30 and luckily on the way
a Tawny Owl flew across my car on the M69. That was a new bird for the
year.
The first port of call was at the Wolferton Triangle for the Golden
Pheasant. We arrived at 07:15 but already there were about half a
dozen cars skirting the perimeter of this wood so we only gave it ten
minutes before moving off to Hunstanton. Our first stop here was just
below Tesco's at the Hunstanton Jet Ski Slope where Purple Sandpipers
used to be. They are not there any more but I did add a few New Year
ticks to my list in the shape of Common Gull (in a field near
Tesco's). At the Ski slope we also saw plenty of Oystercatchers,
Ringed Plover, Bar-tail Godwits, Turnstone, Curlew, Sanderling, Grey
Plover and out on the sea were a pair of Red-breasted Merganser,
Common Scoter, Brent Geese, Shelduck, Fulmar and a fly by Red-throated
Diver. That was a good start.
Next was Thornham Harbour and we were soon into some more new year
birds. A large flock of Linnet were performing aerial displays along
with many Skylark. A few Rock Pipit were darting around plus there
were about 400 Golden Plover in the middle of the field along with
twenty three Ruff (two of which were colour ringed).
In the channels were quite a few Dunlin & Black-tailed Godwit,
Lapwing and a couple of Redshank. A distant Marsh Harrier put in an appearance along with two
over flying Pink-footed Geese.
It was now time to move onto Titchwell. We were hoping for quite a
bit of action out to sea but it was very quiet with hardly any birds
out to be seen on the water. In fact there was nothing new for me on the sea. There were about a dozen Goldeneye and the same number of
Great-crested Grebes and about thirty Common Scoter but we did have a
pair of Goosander's fly by which were new for the year but nothing
else could be seen. On the shoreline were a fair number of waders,
mainly what we had already seen at Thornham but there were a few new
ones as well, such as Sanderling & Knot.
On the reserve itself there were some good numbers of Pintail
(possibly 50+) 87 Avocet, Wigeon a Spotted Redshank plus Snipe, Meadow
Pipit, Stonechat, Cetti's Warbler plus at last my first Wren of the
year. My mate Steve did manage to find the Black Brant as well which
was a nice bonus.
A quick call to the other side of Titchwell on the Gypsy Lane resulted
in a nice Black-necked Grebe. A nice bonus bird.
Going slightly back on ourselves we called around to Choseley Barns were
we saw a flock of thirty plus Corn Buntings, about ten Yellowhammer &
twenty plus Stock Dove. We could hear Tree Sparrow but they didn't
show and one birder called out two Grey Partridge but by the time I
got to him they had scurried out of site and didn't show again.
We were getting pushed for time now with a few places still to go to.
Salthouse being the first. Along the way we saw a few Red-legged
Partridge and Steve saw a pair of Buzzards south of Brancaster along
one of the side roads we were using.
Salthouse had a couple of birds we were after. Snow Bunting and a Juv
Glaucous Gull.
They were both easy to find but the gull was in a bit of a distressed
state with a drooping left wing. It looks like it could fly ok and
the photos clearly show both the drooping wing and that it can fly.
Another new bird found here was a couple of Egyptian Geese. Below are
some photos of that poorly Gull.
From here it was off to Sherringham for the reported Purple Sandpipers
and they were easily found as they were about two hundred yards east
of the seawatching shelter along with my first Great Black-backed
Gulls of the year.
Below are some photos of the Turnstone first then the Purple Sandpiper.
There were still two sites to go to. Barningham Hall, near Plumstead
for the Cattle Egret and Holkham for Short-eared Owl.
Just as we had reached the site for the Cattle Egret it flew off just
before we saw it. Thankfully it was only about another 400 yards away
and easily found, although distant.
The last site to go to was Holkham but we did add a new bird on the
way just outside of Stiffkey when a Barn Owl made a brief appearance
before disappearing behind a hedge.
Holkham was very disappointing. Very few geese were present (only
about twenty Pink-feet) plus we never saw the Short-eared Owl. We
were treated to a stunning sunset though. Below is just one of the
photo's of this sunset.
It was a brilliant day out with one down side. The lack of Geese. We
only saw about thirty Pink Feet all day. None in any of the Beet
fields we looked at and very few at Holkham. No White-fronts, fewer
Brents than I expected to see, hardly any Greylags and none of the
Tundra Bean geese that had been reported the previous day.
I didn't get home until just after 9pm last night and was far too
tired to do anything with the few photos I had taken at that time.
Today I decided to do a few hours local and try for a few nice birds.
First call was to try and find three Scaup at Lea Marston. Despite a
near one hour search I couldn't find them so I moved onto an
industrial estate in Coleshill after a Black Redstart. After thirty
minutes it was located but it was distant. The gates were locked to
the Industrial Units so a photo was not possible. Perhaps if it is
still there next Saturday I might try again as some excellent photos
have been taken of this bird from within the gates when the Units are
open and working.
Next was Ham's Hall where a couple of Firecrest have been reported.
Whilst waiting I picked up some more new birds with Goldcrest, three
Chiffchaff (two were singing) then one of the Firecrest's made a brief
appearance. We waited a further hour but it was turning bitterly cold
with a strong wind as well so I decided to go home via the Scaup site
to try for them again. Before going to the car I ventured down to the
river and saw my first Grey Wagtail of the year.
Another fruitless search at Lea Marston for the Scaup lasted another
hour and now it was time for me to go home.
Back at home I received a call from a mate telling me that there had
been a few Waxwings that had roosted for two nights at a private site
in Coventry. You can only get in by invite, as it is always locked
up. He asked if I wanted to go and of course I said yes. I duly
arrived at 4:45pm, rang my mate's mobile and he came out to open the
gate to let me in. Apparently 16 of the little beauties had just
arrived and for the next thirty minutes, in ever diminishing light, I
watched them fly around, perch for a while then fly off again but this
night they may not have roosted there as the last we saw of them was
of them flying off into the distance towards Knowle. Below is the only photo I managed, which wasn't far of nightime.
A really good weekend with 57 new year birds going onto my data base.
John
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