Graham's Birding Blog: May 2012

Thursday, 31 May 2012

30 May 12, Red-backed Shrike, Horsey Gap

I don't often make the effort to go birding out to the coast after work, but yesterday I thought I would. I packed my birding gear into my car in the morning and then headed out to East Norfolk after work. It was a lovely still sunny evening - just what I wasn't hoping for! I'd anticipated a bit of easterly wind and murky skies. I spent the first couple of hours at Waxham, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see a single migrant, so I drove south to Horsey Gap. I had about an hours worth of good light left, so I decided to bird the entrance track and bushes around the beach car-park. The entrance track was fairly quiet; a good mixture of breeding warblers, but nothing else, but when when I got to the car-park one of the first birds I saw was a shrike feeding in the fenced off area to the north-west. The bird was straight into the sun, so I wasn't 100% sure what species it was (although I suspected it was Red-backed). I moved round to the conifer strand to get a better view and sure enough - female Red-backed Shrike. I took a few photos, called Tim Allwood and put the bird out on RBA. Tim popped down for a quick look for the last half-hour of light and the bird was still there at 9pm when we all left.

Red-backed Shrike, female, Horsey Gap 30 May 12

Sunday, 27 May 2012

What has 12 wings...

..and goes "Preeet-preet"?
The flock of 6 Bee-eaters I had flying over Waxham yesterday!
It was really nice to see the Bee-eater feeding from wires at Gladford last weekend, but finding 6 birds over Waxham, even though they just flew straight through, was much better. It had been a fairly quiet day. I'd been stood behind Shangri-la cottage for about half-an-hour looking for a possible Icterine Warbler that I'd heard brief song-snatches off. Listening for the song again I was aware of a "Preeet-preet" call coming from the sky and my thoughts turned immediately to Bee-eater, and sure enough there was the source of the call emerging from behind the nearby trees that were initially obscuring it from me. Just as I was about to lift my bins I noticed another bird behind it, then another....and another! I lifted my bins and sure enough all four birds were Bee-eaters, with gleaming yellow throats and aquamarine underparts. But then another bird flew into view and I dropped my bins to count exactly how may birds there were - six! I enjoyed the view of all 6 birds as they passed by and then tried to grab a couple of photos of the birds. Unfortunately, they were a bit too distant and my auto-focus wouldn't settle on them.

Bee-eater, Glandford, Norfolk, 20 May 2012

Even though I missed getting some snaps of today's Bee-eaters there were a few other photo-opportunities. A Turtle Dove has taken up residence in Waxham dunes and can be heard 'purring'. He sat up in the sun for me for some nice photos. Also a male Marsh Harrier flew uncharacteristically close to me today, obviously distracted by the Oystercatcher that was trying to drive it away from its nest.

Turtle Dove, Waxham Dunes 26 May 2012

Marsh Harrier, male, Horsey 26 May 2012

Monday, 7 May 2012

Spring has well and truly sprung

Actually, spring had pretty well arrived a week ago, with a good arrival of Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Swifts, Common Tern, Sedge Warbler and other common migrants, along with 2 White Storks at Damgate near Acle. Also a Merlin was an entertaining watch as it swooped and dived around Waxham dunes. This Early-May Bank Holiday weekend heralded a further arrival of migrants with Cuckoo, Turtle Doves, Redstart, Yellow Wagtails, lots of Swifts, hirrundines etc. I spent the Saturday at Waxham and today (Monday) up on the North Norfolk coast between Kelling and Stiffkey. Stiffkey Fen was quite good with 8 adult summer Med Gulls, an adult summer and 1st-summer Little Gulls plus lots of swift and hirrundines to look through.