Wow! What a weekend!!

"How about having a weekend in London?", Angela asked a week ago.
"I don't know - lots of rare stuff turns up in June. More firsts for Britain than any other month", was my reply.
"Oh come on. Spring's over. What's going to turn up in the middle of June?"
Well, what in deed...

So, fast-forward to Saturday this weekend. We'd just paid the extortionate entrance fee to Ripley's Believe-it-or-not in Piccadilly Circus, when my phone beeped with the sound of a text message. Don't ask me how, but I just knew it was going to be a mega-alert. And indeed it was, in the shape of a Pacific Swift in Suffolk. As there was four of us and I was dependant on a lift from Morden to Sutton, where we were staying, there was no way I could demand that everyone headed back to the tube station so I could get to my car. So, I thought I'd give it a while, see if the bird was hanging around and if so, ask if we could head back a bit early. It did hang around and my companions, very understandingly, agreed to return to Sutton early so I could go for the swift. So we headed back, and I left Sutton in my car at 2pm, arriving at Trimley Marshes at 4pm. After a brisk half-hour walk, I arrived on site and within 10 minutes had the bird flying around the lagoons in front of us. They views were good, but didn't last more than about 10 minutes before a massive deluge opened up, pouring rain on us, soaking me to the skin. I literally had water running out of the arm of my jacket. Still, nothing could dampen the spirits. It had been 20 years since I dipped on the last Pacific Swift, so it was great to finally get it under the belt.
Anyway, I headed back to the car with the Clayheads that I know from my home town of Stoke and managed to get back to Sutton in time to dry out, get changed and head out for a curry. Nice end to the day!

On Sunday, we headed back to Norwich. I unpacked, did a few chores and then headed out to the gym. After a particular gruelling and sweaty workout, I headed home and checked the pager only to find that a Roller had been seen in north Norfolk, near Edgefield. It has been 30 years since I saw Roller in the UK (Woodhall Spa, Lincs - in the field with the white horse!), so I quickly changed out of my gym kit and headed off to north Norfolk. When I arrived at the site, the bird had done a bunk and was nowhere to be found and after a rather worrying hour-and-a-half-long hunt, it was re-found (about 30 metres from my car!) and performed nicely, if not a bit distantly for the rest of the evening.
It was always a bit distant, but I managed a few shots of it anyway. What a lovely way to end a weekend.

European Roller, Holt Country Park

European Roller, Holt Country Park

European Roller, Holt Country Park

European Roller, Holt Country Park

Late Spring update

Again, I've left it far too long in updating my blog, wanting to spend more time in the field and less time in front of my computer.
It's been a pretty quiet spring. The first notable thing is that it was very late. The strong, cold north-easterly winds kept many of the migrants at bay and it wasn't until mid-April when birds really started to arrive.
Not much to report until Mark Golley and I did some birding in North Norfolk on 17 May. We started off sea-watching off Cley, were the north-easterly winds had pushed quite a lot of auks close inshore, with a really good count of about 15 Puffins plus 300+ auk sps. Blue-headed Wagtail in the Eye Field and Little Stint on North Scrape were also nice to see.
We then walked along Warham Greens where there were a few migrants, including 2 Ring Ouzels and we also found a rather late Black Brant feeding on the saltmarsh. It was a bit difficult to photograph as it was quite a long way off in a slight heat-haze and the camera kept focusing on the grass in front of it. A few photos of it are included below:

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Warham Saltmarsh

 Thankfully, some birds weren't quite so difficult to photograph, like this Skylark

Skylark, Warham Greens

More most people, me included, the best bird of the spring was a female Dusky Thrush in Margate Cemetery on 18 May that remained for a full day after its discovery, much to the delight (and relief) of the assembled twitchers.

Dusky Thursh, female, Margate Cemetery, Kent

Dusky Thursh, female, Margate Cemetery, Kent

Dusky Thursh, female, Margate Cemetery, Kent

On 28 May, there was quite a good number of waders on Rush Hills Scrape; 4 Dunlin, 17 Ringed Plover and 9 Sanderling, plus 2 Sandwich Terns which are quite rare at this inland spot.

Finally, on 1 Jun I was motivated by a number of migrants on the north Norfolk coast to spend some time between Horsey and Winterton, so I spent 7 hours searching the bushes between Nelson Head and Winterton Beach Road. The grand-total for my 7-hour effort was a single Wheatear! It's hard in late-spring to keep up the enthusiasm as it's really only that single bird that you're searching for, rather than being spurred on by an obvious movement of common migrants in mid-spring and autumn. Anyway, the courting Little Terns on the beach provided a nice contrast to the empty bushes in the dunes.