I was heading south from Holt, intending to catch the second-half of Man City v Chelsea, when my pager Mega Alert sprang into action....
Earlier in the day, I'd been birding around Stiffkey. I'd started off at Stiffkey Fen, then to Stiffkey Woods and then went out to the little plantation on Stiffkey Saltmarsh. It hadn't been a bad day. A couple of Spoonbills dropped into the Fen, a rather tame Lapland Bunting allowed me to take some nice photos of it and the first Pink-footed Geese of the autumn had returned to Norfolk. But after battling away in the wind and rain and not seeing a single passage migrant, I decided to cut my losses, nothing was going to show it's face in this weather....
Eurasian Spoonbill
Eurasian Spoonbill
Pink-footed Geese in flight.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Lapland Bunting
Lapland Bunting
Lapland Bunting
I picked up my pager and glanced down at the message. It's not what you should be doing when driving, but the message that met my gaze almost made me crash the car. I pulled over to double check I'd read the message right "MEGA Norfolk Empidonax flycatcher (probably Alder, Willow or Least) Blakeney Point in Plantation at 1.05pm. Approach with caution"!!!!
Reverse, break, first gear, wheel-spin, away....
20 minutes later I was geared up in my waterproofs starting the arduous 3 mile trek into a raging wet North-westerly in order to get to 'The Point'. 1 hour and 10 minutes later I arrived and after a rather nervous wait, the Empid put in a brief appearance. It showed briefly on and off for the next 3 hours that I watch it. The pager was carrying the bird as Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, but I wasn't really convinced about that and discussed the ID with a few locals. (It now appears that my scepticism was well founded and that the bird is an Alder Flycatcher).
Here's some naff video of it.
This rather cute little Grey Seal pup was sheltering on the beach on the way back
Grey Seal pup
Grey Seal pup
26 Sep 2010, Waxham
I only popped out for the afternoon, but the wind had subsided considerably from yesterday and a few hours around Waxham finally paid dividends when I heard a Yellow-browed Warbler give a short call and found the bird feeding in some sycamores just north of Shangri-la Cottage. It's a bit out of focus, but you tell what it is.
Yellow-browed Warbler
27 Sep 2010, Waxham
The wind was north-easterly today, so I started out at Wells Wood, looking for yesterday's Western Bonelli's Warbler. The bird didn't show, but it was obvious there were lots of birds on the move; Ring Ouzels, Brambling, Siskin, Pied Flycatchers, and loads of Song Thrushes and Redwing were flying around. I decided to head off to Burnham Overy Dunes to see what migrants were around. I spent 6 hours in the dunes and the west side of Holkham Pines and saw lots of birds, but not the 'biggy' I was hoping for.
Shorelark and Wood Warbler were the best birds of the day, but 7 Ring Ouzels, 6+ Redstarts, 40 Chiffchaff, 10 Willow Warblers, 5+ Garden Warblers, Lesser Whitethroat, and Northern Wheatears were all nice to see, but the most amazing thing was the amount of thrushes. I estimated at least 2000 Song Thrush, 150 Redwing and about 200 Robins. I hardly remember a second when there wasn't a Song Thrush within a few metres.
Shorelark, Burnham Overy Dunes
Shorelark, Burnham Overy Dunes
Shorelark, Burnham Overy Dunes
Wood Warbler, Holkham Pines
Wood Warbler, Holkham Pines
Wood Warbler, Holkham Pines
Wood Warbler, Holkham Pines
Redstart, Burnham Overy Dunes
Redstart, Burnham Overy Dunes
Garden Warbler, Burnham Overy Dunes
Garden Warbler, Burnham Overy Dunes
Blackcap, Burnham Overy Dunes
Northern Wheatear, Burnham Overy Dunes
And just to show it's not ALL about the migrants...
Headed up to Holme NOA today in the hope of seeing the Arctic Warbler which was caught and ringed on Monday, but had been a real nut to crack for the rest of the week, only showing once or twice a day. I arrived at 7.30 and spent the first 90 minutes trying to get to grips with the tit flock in the NWT car park, but the bird departed so I joined the small throng of birders in the pines, where after chasing around for 5 minutes I finally saw the bird low down in a pine tree. The Arctic Warbler remained very difficult to see, spending all of its time near the top of pines and never showing for more than 10 seconds.
Redwell Marsh was not quite so frustrating, with a lovely juvenile Red-necked Pharalope feeding on the marsh, along with a nice apricot-coloured Ruff and a couple of Green Sandpipers.
I'd long predicted seeing a Red Kite over my workplace at The John Innes Centre and when I first saw a large raptor circling from my office window I thought today was the day. The bird was back-on and could just make out the dark back and slightly downward-flexed wings. I was expecting the bird to circle round and reveal a long forked tail and white wing patches, but when it did turn I was momentarily flummoxed. Instead of red-brown underparts with a big white wing patches, I was confronted with a short-tailed bird with black and white underparts, with a large black carpel patch. "Oh my God! Osprey! Osprey! Look up here - it's a fuckin' Osprey!!!" was my reaction to my somewhat bemused office mates. I grabbed my bins and watched the bird as it soared around, gaining height on a thermal. I rushed round to a the office of a work college who I knew was interested in birds, but by the time we returned to see the bird it had drifted off west.
This now brings my work list to 81. BUBO Work list
Even a 5 a.m. rise wasn't early enough to earn me a spot in the fully-occupied Sheringham seawatching shelter, so at 5.50 a.m I found myself sheltering behind a small wall at the far western end of Sheringham promenade with my scope trained on the 'busiest' area of sea. The seawatching started off quite well, with plenty of skuas, mainly Arctic and Great but also a single Pom. I got onto a possible adult Long-tailed Skua, which promptly disappeared behind a trough, never to emerge from the other end of it. The rush of shearwaters that others had witnessed the day before wasn't apparent this morning. I saw only two shearwaters - one Sooty and one Manx, both heading west, into the wind. There were lost of waterfowl heading west too. A few hundred Common Teal and lots of Common Scoter, along with a few Pintail and a single Greater Scaup. A few Arctic Terns also added to a bit of diversity.
After watching the sea for 4 hours, I headed off to Muckleburgh Hill as it was about the only sheltered spot that might have been harbouring some migrants. A Spotted Flycatcher was nice to see, and the large flock of Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed Tits occupied about an hour of my time.
One of many Chiffchaffs at Muckleburgh Hill.
I then headed off to Cley where I was first on the scene of a juvenile Red-backed Shrike that had just been found at Walsey Hills.
After that I spent the rest of the afternoon on Cley reserve in Dauke's hide, photographing waders and waterfowl. Gargany Some of my efforts are below.
Juvenile Ruff, Cley.
Curlew Sandpiper, juvenile, Cley.
Spotted Redshank, adult winter, Cley.
Curlew Sandpiper, juvenile in flight with Dunlin.
Curlew Sandpiper, juveniles in flight with Dunlin.
So, after travelling more than 1700 miles in search of White-tailed
Plover in the UK I finally got to put this bird on my British list
today. I was kicking myself for not going to see the bird at Rainham
Marshes a few days earlier, thinking that Spain v Germany in the World
Cup was a suitable substitute (how wrong I was). Anyway, when this bird
turned up at Dungeness RSPB yesterday I decided to drive down over night
and look for the bird at dawn. After watching the World Cup Final, I
set out from Norwich and arrived at Dunge at 02.00am. I tried to get
some sleep, but the heavens opened and I spent the whole night in a
noisy thunderstorm not getting any sleep at all. Anyway, after a rather
worrying start, when I couldn't find the bird for half-an-hour from
dawn, I finally found it feeding on the edge of an overgrown pool. I
watched the bird for an hour and a half and then again later on. Some
nice photos and video of the bird below.
Not sure what was going on with RBA this morning though - I phoned the news out at 5.05 and again at 6.30, but the news didn't go out until about 7.30. Oh how a bird loses it's 'mega-status' so quickly these days (it is, after all, still only the 5th British record).
I also managed to see the pair of Purple Herons that are nesting on the
reserve. They should have well grown young now which will be fledging
over the next week or so
Below are some photos and video of the White-tailed Plover. Enjoy!
It took a bit of racing about, but I finally connected with 5 Black-winged Stilts at Titchwell RSPB.
I was just arriving in Holt when the pager bleeped to tell me there were 4 Black-winged Stilts at Titchwell, so I drove passed my exit to Cley and headed off to Titchwell. By the time I arrived, the number had grown to 5, a Norfolk record, so I quickly parked up and head out onto the marsh only to meet Paul Eele who informed me they'd just flew off east, but may have landed just over the bank at the end of Gypsy Lane.
I dashed back to my car and headed off to Gypsy Lane. After 10 minutes I was nicely situated in the middle of the saltmarsh when my pager bleeped to tell me they'd returned to Titchwell - doh!
Anyway, I headed back to Titchwell to find all 5 birds feeding on the freshmarsh.
Although they were fairly distant and didn't stay together as a group very much, I did manage to get a couple of shots of 4 birds together.
It's been ages since I updated my blog. I blame this on Stoke City's great season and my general tardiness.
Anyway, I got down to Winterton Dunes this afternoon to see the rather showy Woodchat Shrike that had been hanging around.
My main mission today was to go and have a look at Barton Broad, which had Ferruginous Duck and drake Smew there. I tried last weekend, but it was blowing a NE gale right across the ice-covered broad straight into my face and I really couldn't be bothered to stand there in the freezing-cold looking right across the other side of the broad in the fading afternoon light. Today though, was to be different. With most of the snow gone, ice melted and the sun in the sky, I diverted to Wroxham Broad to have a quick check. Not much going on there. Lots of Tufted Ducks and lots of small gulls roosting, but not much else.
I arrived at Barton Broad at about 1.30pm and the 'Fudge' Duck, along
with 3 drake Smew were showing really well in the, now ice-free, bay in
front of the the observation platform.
Then it was off to Rush Hills Scrape where there was quite a lot of coming and going of ducks (mainly Teal and Shoveler). A nice Lesser Redpoll stopped to feed in a nearby Alder giving some nice photo opportunities. A walk a little further along the Weavers Way provided more Redpoll, a fly-over drake Goosander and a couple of roosting Tawny Owls.
On the way back, the number of duck had risen quite markedly up to 250 Common Teal, but Andy Kane appeared on the opposite bank (presumably to do some maintenance work) and all the duck got up and flew off. Presumably there was a redhead Smew with them as one was reported there around the same time.
Anyway, a nice day around the broads and it's good to see the back of the snow and ice.
The BBC News 24 team obviously saw my potential and singled me out of the crowd of c700 birders at the Eastern Crowned Warbler for this interview. I'm just waiting for the TV offers to come flooding in. Expect to see me on Springwatch next year...
Dashed out for an extended lunch today for a quick twitch up to Horsey Gap to see the 1st-winter male Pied Wheatear sat on the pillbox just south of the NT car park. The bird called quite often, a soft "chit", similar to a Stonechat, but without the hard 'tacking' property. It often flew in the air and hovered a-la Eurasian Skylark and this enabled viewers to see the sooty underwing and characteristic tail pattern.
The bird was really co-operative and sat on the pillbox at close range for extended periods. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Paddyfield Warbler at Snettisham. After sitting on news of it for 6 hour, word finally got out but the bird had gone. Thanks guys - not!
Whilst driving around Oxfordshire looking for gulls, there was a number of photo opps for raptors, particularly a nice perched-up Common Buzzard and numerous Red Kites.
Here's a selection....
