A day in East Norfolk

[Fourwings]

A few of us attended a meeting yesterday that was organised for the Leicesterhire & Rutland Ornithological society by my good friend and fellow WAB member Oscar2006.
We spent the day in East Norfolk chasing down a few of the specialitys that the area has to offer at this time of year.
Our first port of call was Strumpshaw fen RSPB reserve, unfortunately this was suffering badly from flooding so only as small section of the reserve was open, despite this we did add Cettis Warbler, Marsh Harrier,& Chinese Water Deer to the list of commoner species present.

Our next stop was Cantley marshes to catch up with the wild Bean goose flock, these flew into view shortly after we arrived giving us good in-flight views and an excellent chance to see them land thus noting the bright orange legs that are a key ID feature of this species. Possibly the most exciting find here was two Peregrine Falcons, Oscar had initially caught sight of the first one whilst watching the Bean Geese and had followed it in flight until it landed on an area of raised earth, where another one was already perched, they both sat there for several minutes allowing us to get excellent views of them through the spotting scopes, but unfortunately well out of reach of the camera lenses.

Pictured below, part of our group at Cantley featuring 4 WAB members, from right to left - fourwings - MTR - Oscar2006 - Boddie, plus our friends Tim and Nigel.


We then moved on to try and catch up with a flock of Bewicks Swans that were supposed to be in the Broads area of Norfolk. We finally found 130+ of these feeding in a sugar beet field just outside the village of Catfield. We had excellent views of these from the side of a minor road and were able to read the yellow neck tag that one of the swans was wearing, we have since learnt that this Swan was tagged in Holland in late 2005 and has since spent time in Holland, Estonia and the UK, interesting stuff!

My best image of the Bewicks taken with the S7000 at 200mm zoom


Our final stop of the day was the roost watchpoint at Stubb's mill near Hickling broad. This is a very popular place and gets very busy for good reason, in the two hours that we were there we saw 19 Common Cranes in-flight twice, both Hen and Marsh Harriers in flight, it really is so difficult to count them all but we seemed to agree of a maximum of 26+ in the air at any one time, but there could well have been more than twice that there,and as the light fades it really is a stunning sight to see so many of these graceful raptors flying together.

The watchpoint at Stubb's mill, get there early if you want a space!


The view from the watchpoint looking East.


In the final bit of daylight left we added Woodcock to our list, the final count of 51 species was pretty low for Norfolk really but it was a day of quality birds rather than quantity. Big thanks go to Oscar for organising a thoroughly enjoyable days birding.

[John]

You did better than I did the week before. I still need Peregrine, Bean Geese and Woodcock for my list this year.

Good to see you visiting the hallowed ground Steve and having a quality day. I love it in Norfolk and it's almost like a second home to me.

John

[Oscar2006]

Originally Posted by John

You did better than I did the week before. I still need Peregrine, Bean Geese and Woodcock for my list this year.

Good to see you visiting the hallowed ground Steve and having a quality day. I love it in Norfolk and it's almost like a second home to me.

John

It is a second home for me as well John.
Only a couple of hours away, but always good for really scarce birds or if the urge takes over an easy 100 species in a day.

I'm glad Fourwings, MTR & Boddie were able to join us as we saw a number of species that most of the members of this group would die for.
The male Hen Harrier always does it for me!

ps
there were at least another 15 people not in the photo that Fourwings took of the the watchpoint at Stubb's Mill, It really is popular, and easy!

[John]

Originally Posted by Oscar2006

ps
there were at least another 15 people not in the photo that Fourwings took of the the watchpoint at Stubb's Mill, It really is popular, and easy!

When I was there on New Years day the birders couldn't move on that high bank as there was no room to move. Some had to queue up around the corner. I have very rarely found Stubbs Mill to be quiet, and I don't suppose I ever will whilst the Cranes roost there.

John

[cannylad]

Oh cmon flocks of Bean goose and Bewick swans, i m so jealous. glad you enjoyed your day and enjoyed reading your report.

canny.

[mrs fish]

Glad to hear you all had a good day, I'm not jealous

[Oscar2006]

Maybe next January (2008) we can do a WAB meet to see these beasties?
Let's get the majority of 2007 out of the way and then we can get a meeting thread started.

[Fourwings]

Originally Posted by John

Good to see you visiting the hallowed ground Steve and having a quality day. I love it in Norfolk and it's almost like a second home to me.John

I've always loved Norfolk John, back in the 1970's I used to visit the North Norfolk coast to go beachcasting, those were the days when you could still catch large Cod 20 metres from the surfline!

There's just something about the place in general, a sense of tranquility and the un-spoilt wilderness of the vast reedbeds, pure magic.

Its always such a wrench when you realise the days over and you have to go home

[colinaj]

Did you see the Merlin? it always comes in last from behind the watchpoint. Suffolk has a good raptor Roost too.
colin

[John]

Originally Posted by colinaj

Did you see the Merlin? it always comes in last from behind the watchpoint. Suffolk has a good raptor Roost too.
colin

Hi Colin

The Merlin didn't show on New Years day and there was enough people looking for it.

I have seen a few reports from Stubbs Mill this year that haven't mentioned Merlin on them. I must admit that it was the first time I hadn't seen one there in all my visits. Shame as it was one of those banker bets to start the year off.

John

[The Valley sparrow]

I would have loved to have been there, never seen any Harriers in wild, i reacon they are spectacular birds. Also, are Woodcock in decline, we were asked by our local recorder to keep an eye out for these, also Woodlark, Grasshopper warbler.

[Fourwings]

Originally Posted by colinaj

Did you see the Merlin? it always comes in last from behind the watchpoint. Suffolk has a good raptor Roost too.
colin

A complete "no show" from both Merlin and Barn owl, but to be honest seeing the Cranes and all those Harriers more than made up for their absence.

[MTR]

I thought I would have my say
I thoroughly enjoyed my day out with a gang of like minded people.
It was a real treat to see c140 Bewick's Swans feeding on a field so close to the main road was a little bizarre
The highlight of the day was definitely the 2 hours at Stubb's Mill. To see all those Harrier's gliding around is real moving experience for me.

Below is a bad photo of the cranes we saw