Norfolk Surfie!

15/11/14

Skipping a fair number of days birding locally, my next 'full day birding' was in mid November, when with the usual crew we again headed east, and found ourselves in Cambridgeshire, scouring some rather birdless agricultural fields (admittedly with a large area of set aside adjacent) for the Richards Pipit that had been knocking around. After a good while searching, we decided to head off further east, via Guyhirn where we managed views of a superb flock of 8 Common Crane as they fed in roadside fields. It was just a shame the fog had started to descend and it hindered viewing somewhat! 

We continued east, passing into the equally superb birding county that is Norfolk and to Cley Marshes!

Walking the east bank we were soon clocking up the birds, Bearded Tits pinging and showing well in the reedbed, Brent Geese and Marsh Harrier a permanent fixture in the sky, and a loud drawn out wheezy call overhead led us onto a single Twite as it flew over east.

Our main target however (as with many of our recent visits) was the sea and we soon started scanning for Auks and Skuas. Well, we found 5 Auks, however non were particularly small and it was clear that their Arctic cousins just weren't moving today. The swells had its usual and ever-present Red-throated Divers, but things were livened up by a drake Eider flying past and the appearance of 2 adult Little Gull, always a great addition to any day list! 

 A rather pointless visit to Salthouse followed before we headed back west to Holkham, where following a very long and sandy walk we eventually found a large flock of Common Scoter loafting and feeding offshore. We set about scanning, and soon found multiple Velvet Scoter, including some absolutely stunning drakes. Eventually we setted on a total of 10+ of these stunning seabirds!

 With time, among a party of Velvets we picked out our 'yank' target. A drake SURF SCOTER! Nice! 

Personally not even a year tick for me having seen 3 off Pensarn earlier in the year however the views off Holkham were significantly closer! That bill and the white patches stood out a mile, however with sea fog arriving, it was good we arrived when we did and not any time after! 

Drake Surf Scoter

Surf Scoter among Velvets and a few Commons

With the light fading, I tried to make a last minute race to the end of the wood to look for the long staying Rough-legged Buzzard, but as we neared the end of the wood the crew decided to turn around and I dipped for the 4th time this year. Maybe one day.

MB

The long awaited catch up!

So, with my coursework having been completed within the last hour, and with only the two exams worth of revision to go, I think it is about time I should start writing again...

Right.

 

So, back to October we go.

 

26/10/14

Having had such a good time on the last RSPB fieldtrip, it perhaps wasn't too hard of a decision to join them again for their trip over to Titchwell RSPB. Who would complain at that.

 

On the way over as we drove past Guyhirn, I managed to pick up 2 of the Cranes that had been resident in the area for some time. Another birder beside me saw a further 8 standing in the field, however they were distant and the views weren't great from the moving coach.

 

Arriving at Titchwell I did exactly as I was hoping to do, and walked straight out to the beach to do some seawatching, and I was greeted with the rather joyous sight of a large numbers of others with the same idea. If a Skua went past today I was going to see it!

 

Immediately obvious was the large number of Gulls, and among them were a single adult Mediterranean and 8 Kittiwakes. A flock of Common Scoter were bobbing about on the troughs but the first highlight came as I saw a lone Scoter flying in from the east. Head on initially, it moved parallel to the beach revealing bring white secondarys. I was soon shouting a drake Velvet Scoter was going past! Luckily, there were a number of boats of varying colours offshore, so getting the crowd (particularly the ones sitting adjacent to me!) onto the bird was straightforward.

 

Next up was another self find. A small Grebe popped up in the breakers close inshore to the beach further west than the viewpoint, but being strikingly black and white It was obviously one of the 'rarer' small Grebes. Considering I have little field experience with 'Slav', it was immediately obvious as a winter plumaged Slavonian Grebe due to structure. The entire crowd got onto the bird and it continued to show for much of the afternoon and made for the best bird of the day.

Among the regulars (Gannet, Red-Throated Diver, GC Grebe, and both Guillemot and Razorbill) we also picked out a female Red-breasted Merganser on the water fairly close in, and a further 4 flew past, going west.

 

With no Skuas I moved back onto the reserve for the Gull roost. The usual assembley of waders was present, and 6 Marsh Harriers were buzzing the reedbed. It was here I also caught up with an old friend, as the same female Stonechat that got me onto the Penduline Tit on my last visit was feeding in the same area of reedmace. Sadly, no Penduline today though. Scrutiny of the increasing gull flock produced 2 Yellow-legged Gulls before I had to head back to the coach.

 

 

 

1/11/14

 

I had visited Steart Marshes WWT just a week previously in the hope of catching up with the juvenile Pallid Harrier, having dipped, we returned on the first day of November, but again our luck was out. A good showing of Raptors (Buzzard, 1 Sprawk, 7 Kestrel, 3 Peregrine) was highlighted by 2 Merlin, including a great view of a female as we arrived, which barrelled fairly low over our heads.

 

 

With the bird having not shown again, we moved around the Huntspill Sluice. As we neared Bridgewater we heard the unthinkable.. The Pallid had just shown again (Insert relevant word of choice). Being stuck in traffic we couldn't go anywhere and carried on in the hope it would be viewable from the opposite side of the Parrett River. It wasn't, and we dipped it again. At least 1 female Red-breasted Merganser was feeding in the shallows, which gave slight compensation for the dip. It was from here while scanning for a ochre coloured bird of prey a superb sight of 3 Merlin chasing each other took place low over the saltmarsh. A good count of Avocets were also viewable form here, with 296 being visible among the huge swirling flocks of other estuarine waders.

 

 

Any other day without having dipped a Pallid Harrier and this would have been a good day!

 

2/11/14

 

That annoyance from dipping was relieved somewhat where a standard patch thrash led to the chance discovery of a female BLACK REDSTART! Standing scanning the Lapwings and Gulls within the now flooded quarry, I neglected to look on the small patch of ground adjacent to the hedgeline behind me. Having counted the Lapwing (32) and scanned through the Gulls to little avail, I turned around to see a bird flick up onto the top of a hawthorn in the hedgeline.

 

Getting my bins onto the bird which was only around 50ft away I was slightly perplexed to begin. It was head on, and just a slightly silhouetted greyish brown thing. There just wasn't any marks in this view, but it soon moved slightly, and I saw the quivering red tail!

 

I span to get my scope on it, aimed it at the bird, and just as I got it into focus it flew up, across the quarry, hesitantly at first, but it kept going.... And going..... And going. I kept on it until it was nothing more than a speck, when it suddenly dived down in the vicinity of Burlish Top. I spent the next 3 hours plodding around Burlish, Burlish Top, Moult Plesent etc, but I failed to refind this incredibly brief first for the patch.

 

Presumably this was the bird which then was found on the other side of the golf course a week or so after on the WFC Building.

 

6/11/14

A Uni fieldtrip led us across Wales to Aberystwyth, and we stopped at a number of sites on the way over. One of these was the Bwlch Nant yr Arian Red Kite feeding Centre, where we had excellent views of around 200 Kites. A female Goosander on the pool was also a nice surprise.

 

 

 

Moving onto Aberystwyth for the Starling roost, we stood near the pier and watched the aggregation grow, which despite not being the biggest Starling roost I have ever seen was still fairly spectacular.

 

 

As you would expect though, as we stood, I began to notice large numbers of Gulls roosting offshore, and being the fanatic I am, I just had to go through them. My efforts were rewarded when I picked up an adult Mediterranean Gull fly in from the south and drop onto the water in front of us. Nice!

 

The weather the next day was little short of vile, heavy rain and strong winds. A Rock Pipit pottered along the beach, and I had a flight view of what was probably one of the 5 Black Redstarts in the area as it flicked off the old college building and onto the castle.

 

MB

Tri-county Birding- Seabirds and Gulls

17/01/14

With the days slowly getting longer, the opportunity for some late night gull watching in the roost at Bartley comes into play, and after suffering the horrendous traffic from Dudley to Bartley Green we arrived with about 15 minutes before darkness.

Luckily, a selection of locals were already present, and after getting out of the car i was quickly ushered by Terry onto a stunning 1st winter CASPIAN GULL, which really was a looker of a bird.

 

Even in the low light, it stood out like a sore thumb, so much so that after leaving Terrys scope and setting up my own, i was on it within a few seconds! Luckily, it was in with the closest mass of Gulls, with most having landed near the dam end.

Unfortunately, i failed to pick out the Iceland, but the light had all but gone by that time.

 

18/01/14

Having dipped the Velvet Scoter earlier in the week, i was somewhat relieved to hear that it had been refound! This time in adjacent Shropshire! So with the morning tasks done, we took the relatively short journey up to Telford.

Luckily, again, a few familiar faces were present and on site at the time, and they relieved me by saying the bird was still showing.

Pulling into the layby at Priorslee Lake revealed a nice group of mostly local birders, all of whom had come to admire this seaduck!

Soon after, i was watching the female VELVET SCOTER as it swam around with the flock of Tufted Duck, Pochard and Coot really close in to the dam! It was great to be able to study this unusual seaduck so closely, as most Scoter are usually miles away sitting on the sea. It was quite surreal to see a duck, so closely tied to the sea swimming around and happily feeding with a flock of Tufted Duck just about as far from the sea as you can get! 

What made the visit even better though was the presence of 3 GREATER SCAUP (1w drake and 2 females) which were similarly swimming around and roosting with the Tufted's at close range!

 

 

Priorslee is also famed for its Gulls, and it wasn't long before a YELLOW-LEGGED GULL joined the flock briefly before it was flushed by a Sparrowhawk and flew north with the majority of the Gulls.

 

With a dark cloud now approaching, we decided to bite the bullet and blast along the A5 towards Cannock, were more avian treats awaited us.

 

Gailey Reservoirs was the next destination, despite no news having emerged from the site, so we were 'going in blind'. Once parked and scanning, we quickly located the GREAT-NORTHERN DIVER, which was showing well on the sailing pool. It was while watching this though that i turned and scanned the edges of the fishing pool, were i was struck by a white 'object' in the reedbed adjacent to a flock of Grey Herons. A few seconds later, and the head and neck of a GREAT WHITE EGRET emerged from the reeds, showing off its bright yellow bill. It was while trying to get the attention of some nearby birders though that i saw the bird jump out of the reeds, and then very quickly fly off along the shore, and then over the treeline heading south.

As if the Egret had sensed danger, this was quickly followed the by arrival of the local hunting 'party' (Feel free to change the word 'party with a word of personal preference). Needless to say, once they started going 'gun ho' on anything that flew by, i vacated the site in disgust at how such vile people can live in a so called 'civilised world'. It was somewhat heart wrenching to see a female Goldeneye flying for its life followed by a barrage of gunfire, and more so to see an unidentified duck fall out of the sky having had its body plastered in shotgun shot.

 

With the light now dropping, a brief drop into Engine lane, Brownhills was rewarded with very good views of the GLOSSY IBIS as it fed in the now very saturated 2nd paddock. After a brief time watching, the streams of Gulls passing over our heads became obvious, and it was time for the pilgrimage to Chasewater,

As if just to show the amount of luck i have had for the day, everything about the Gull roost was perfect. Due to the strong southerly winds, a large proportion of the gulls seemed to be using the south shore as cover, and were very close in for roost standards. Having just placed my scope down on the south shore, i panned onto my main targets. A stunning juvenile GLAUCOUS GULL! As it was still 'early' in the roost, and with the bird being very close in, i took the opportunity to get some pictures and video as it sat on the water!

 

Having been joined by a few extra gullers, we were soon grilling the flocks, and being in the prime position we were able to pick out 3 CASPIAN GULLS (The 2 regular adults and a 3w bird), which was also a huge surprise, as i have never had more than singles in the roost before. As if to complete the set, we also picked up 2 YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, ending what was probably the best possibly days birding in the midlands for the time of year!

MB