Summer Holiday Wildlife Highlights [so far ...]

The summer holidays are almost over, The Bird Fair has been and gone for another year and tomorrow the late August Bank Holiday weekend signals the last hurrah of the holidays before a week of haircuts, shoe shop visits and general getting ready for going back to school. The wildlife of the coast is changing too, the beach at Brancaster feels eerily quiet now that the Sandwich Terns have vacated their colony at Scolt Head and flocks of waders are appearing back on the foreshore fresh in from their Arctic breeding grounds.

Sandwich Terns, Scolt Head

We've had a busy staycation with a good number of days on the beach and swims in the sea, but also some time looking at wildlife, often on those same beach visits.

Sanderling, Gore Point

I love it when the wading birds come back and on one recent beach visit I was able to leave the family for half an hour and slowly inch on my belly towards a roosting flock of Sanderling, I wanted a shot with the birds in focus and in the background and out of focus people enjoying, unwittingly, sharing the beach with the birds, I used a ten year old EOS 400D and and an even older 100 - 300 zoom. Later that weekend I grabbed a shot of a Turnstone on the beach in Hunstanton at dusk using my Panasonic Lumix TZ30.

Turnstone, Hunstanton

The sand dunes in north Norfolk are a great wildlife habitat and a few weeks ago whilst walking through the dunes at Holkham I was lucky enough to find and photograph a rather worn Dark Green Fritillary. At Gore Point as the kids played in the sand I managed a short walk in the dunes and got a picture of a rather lovely clump of Sea Rocket and enjoyed watching and photographing a Dune Tiger Beetle as it hurried across the sand in search of prey.

Dune Tiger Beetle, Gore Point

Sea Rocket, Gore Point

Dark Green Fritillary, Holkham

I'm lucky that some days I work from an office in Snettisham and am able to make quick visits to the RSPB reserve there on the edge of the Wash, on one of these I digi-scoped this picture of a flock of Black Tailed Godwits taking flight.

Black Tailed Godwits, Snettisham

Today with the kids tired after a week of playing with their visiting cousins, we had a quiet morning in the playground in Hunstanton, but still there was wildlife with a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the Sensory Garden and this rather Funky / Punky [delete according to your own cultural reference points] Syacmore Moth Caterpillar. One week of holidays to go what will we find next?

Sycamore Moth Caterpillar, Hunstanton

Kestrel Hunting

I rather like Kestrels, they are the Falcon of my London childhood when all other birds of prey were rarities, their populations slowly recovering from the effects of chemical poisoning and human persecution. Kestrels were the bird of prey that I would see over my local parks and woods and which  I would use as my birding yardstick when as I grew more experienced I would encounter and attempt to identify other small raptors.

Male Kestrel about to clobber a rodent, Brancaster

But more than that, like all Falcons they are great to look at, elegant even. And what a skill it is to be able to hover in the wind like they do, but perhaps a skill it is easy to cease to wonder at because it is so common place.

In recent years Kestrel populations have suffered a decline and whilst they are still widespread and relatively common this population fall is enough to make you realise that like all of our wildlife we should not take them for granted.

Male Kestrel hunting

Yesterday I was walking in the sand dunes between Brancaster Beach and the golf links when I saw a hovering Kestrel hunting the long yellow and brown grass of the dunes. This male bird was holding steady in blustery North Westerly breeze, normally I would expect a Kestrel to make several half dives, falling from the sky and then aborting the dive halfway to the ground, but on this occasion its first dive was a success and it disappeared from view into the long grass. Eventually after a few minutes it rose back into the air and flew off.

Male Kestrel about to disappear into the long grass, Brancaster

I had a old DSLR with me with an even old 10 -300mm zoom lens and fired off a few shots. These have not come out as sharp as I would like but I quite like the way that they capture the essence of this small bird of prey and the coastal habitat that it has made its home.

Kestrel departing

Participating in the Yellow Browed Warbler invasion

For the past few weeks the UK has been inundated [well there have been rather a lot] with Yellow Browed Warbler's and I had seen precisely none this year. So it was wonderful this morning to have a chance to go birding with my mate Jim along the north Norfolk coast.

Yellow Browed Warbler, Brancaster

We headed to Brancaster Staithe, our plan was simply to walk the boardwalk back west towards Brancaster and bird the hedgerows and trees that border it. Initially this seemed like a bad call, although there were birds about the wind was keeping them down and those that there were always seemed to have the sun behind them. But then we reached Branodunum, not the housing estate but the field owned by the National Trust and surrounded by a nice sheltering hedgerow, soon we heard our first Yellow Browed Warbler here and although we couldn't pin this bird down we started to feel lucky.

Yellow Browed Warbler, Brancaster

Walking into the north west corner of the field I picked up a a Phylosc in the top of a tree and Jim and I called it simultaneously as a Yellow Browed, soon we had two of these flitting around and calling giving good if always brief views.

Leaving Branodunum we headed back to the car at Brancaster Staithe with the pinging of Bearded Tits accompanying us. A couple of Red Kites drifted overhead and a Peregrine shot through with the sun behind it as it hunted the marsh. We also saw Common Buzzard and Marsh Harrier here.

Not seeing the Red Breasted Flycatcher at Titchwell

Titchwell was busy, very busy. We spent a while not seeing the Red Breasted Flycatcher but getting brief views of a Pied Flycatcher. On the Fen Trail we heard but didn't see a couple of YBW's and we saw a Common Redstart in a hedge near Patsy's Pool. Walking down the West Bank path expecting a tough time finding the Pectoral Sandpiper we were pleased to find it staked out right by the side of the path, it spent a lot of time in cover only ever giving brief views, often of its back.

Pied Flycatcher, Titchwell

Heading home we picked up a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by Jackdaws,  which meant five species of BOP in a morning and no Kestrel.

Pectoral Sandpiper, Titchwell

All in all a great four hours birding, the best bit being the time Jim and I had a prime bit of east coast habitat to ourselves along with a couple of Yellow Browed's. I love the sense of being able to say not only did I clap eyes on these birds but that I also shared the communal experience of this years invasion of this tiny little warblers. Just as last year it was great to share in that amazing period at Holkham when the bushes were full of rares and birders from across the UK came together to join in the fun. Not that today was all plain sailing whilst giving the kids their tea I had a quick look at BirdGuides Norfolk page on my mobile phone only to discover that a Black Browed Albatross had flown past Old Hunstanton, maybe half a mile as the Albatross flies from my kitchen, ho bloody hum.

Quick round up for June and early July

A very quick run through of a few sightings in June and early July.

Sunday 7th June
Painted Lady butterflies, at least six around Hunstanton, perhaps in the vanguard of the invasion predicted for this summer.

Painted Lady

Thursday 11th June
A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in our Hunstanton front garden.

Saturday 13th June
Evening visit to Titchwell at the end of a wet and grey day. Little Gull 12, Spoonbill 1, Cuckoo 2 - 3, Sparrowhawk 1, Black Tailed Godwit c 200, Marsh Harrier 1, Bearded Tits and Cetti's Warblers heard.

Little Gulls at Titchwell

Sunday 14th June
Lady Anne's Drive Holkham with the family.
At least 5 Spoonbills hanging around the pool by the Cormorant colony, also heard Cetti's and saw a couple of Marsh Harriers

Titchwell Spoonbill

Thursday 25th June
A lunch time walk in Ken Hill Woods
Only sighting of note was when I 'phished' a Tit flock and pulled in a couple of Marsh Tits.

Marsh Tit, Ken Hill Wood

Saturday 28th June
Sitting in our tiny back garden in Hunstanton idly looking at the Swifts a Hobby shot through our small window of sky and was gone in a matter of seconds, a nice garden tick. Went for a walk that evening and had a nice Painted Lady down Chapel Bank.Very warm.

Friday 3rd July
A work walk and talk around Snettisham early morning, lovely and warm notable birds were and Eider sitting on the beach, a Turtle Dove that landed briefly in a bush, a nice black summer plumaged Spotted Redshank and several Med Gulls. The shingle flora of Yellow Horned Poppy, Vipers Bugloss and Stonecrop looked great.

Yellow Horned Poppy's Snettisham

Eider, Snettisham

Turtle Dove, Snettisham

Med Gulls, Snettisham

A quick lunchtime stroll the same day in Ken Hill Wood saw me find my first White Admirals of the year. Back in the village good to see House Martins still coming to the muddy puddle we have kept going for them and to hear the constant chirruping of House Sparrows.

House Martins, Snettisham

That evening I had my highest Hunstanton Swift count of the Summer with 4- to 45 over Glebe House School.

Saturday 4th July
Another Nightjarring visit to Dersingham Bog, very warm [20+C] and still, hence very bad for Mossies and Midges. Reasonable Nightjar display, plus 3 Woodcock, some Stonechats, a reeling Grasshopper Warbler and a couple of Glow Worms.

Nightjar, Dersingham Bog

Sunday 5th July
A family morning on the beach, involving me having my first sea swim of the year. Offshore good numbers of fishing and calling Sandwich Terns. In the dunes around the beach huts a Common Lizard and a few Small Heath butterflies. Nice to see a Thick Kneed Beetle sitting in a Sea Bindweed flower.

Sandwich Tern, Brancaster

Thick Kneed Beetle on Sea Bindweed, Brancaster

February brief update

Monday 9th February

Nice to see a flock of Whoopers from the train as I headed south across the Fens from Kings Lynn. Walking from the guided Busway stop in Swavesey to my meeting in the village I saw a Water Rail in a roadside ditch and a Sparrowhawk flew over carrying prey. Later on my way back to the Busway I had a nice Great Spotted Woodpecker perched up.

Roadside Water Rail

Thursday 12th

A meeting at Minsmere ended with a short blast of fresh air before the drive home, not a great deal seen in the gloom but always nice to see a few Marsh Harriers over the reedbed and a perched Kingfisher and Bullfinch. Lots of Muntjac's.

Minsmere Muntjac

Minsmere, Landscape art, I liked this

Sunday15th

A family stroll around the boardwalk along the edge of the saltmarsh in Brancaster was enlivened by a male Peregrine "having a go" at a Lapwing. After this I managed a short visit to Titchwell where I finally added Spotted Redshank and Bearded Tit to my year list.

 

Marsh Harriers displaying over Brancaster saltings

Sunday 22nd, 

I made a brief stop at the "Wolferton Triangle" on my way home from visiting my mum in hospital in Kent. Had brief views of a nice male Golden Pheasant.

Wednesday 25th

A day of meetings at the Lodge in Bedfordshire, I factored in time to walk up from Sandy station across the nature reserve and was rewarded by two Ravens flying over calling.

Saturday 28th

Another flying visit to see my mum in hospital in Kent and this time I came home via Thetford Forest, I stopped at Lyndford Arboretum mainly for a walk and some fresh air but also in the hope of connecting with a Hawfinch, I didn't do this, but did add Siskin and Marsh Tit to my year list which stands at an OK for me 122, so 10 months to find the 78 species needed to hit my target of 200 for the year.

Heavily cropped Marsh Tit

Waxwing - Great Bird to end the year with.

New Year's Eve Waxwing, Brancaster, Norfolk

Was it a birding sixth sense that made me look into the berry laden bush that overhung the shed in which my kids were noisily playing? I'd' clocked the mass of red berry's earlier and thought it ought to be good for winter thrushes or even in a better winter for them waxwings. 

As I walked towards the shed on New Years Eve my eye was first caught by a male blackbird diving into the depths of the berry laden tree above it, and then a pale starling sized bird sitting on a branch that was weighed down by red berry's, a waxwing.

Now at this time of year as I walk and drive around Norfolk I am constantly, almost subconsciously, scanning trees and shrubs for waxwings. Day in day out my mind is scanning and filtering likely spots for a waxwing to perch and feed and then filtering out the perches with no birds on them and the rag bag of birds such as Starlings and Thrushes that more than 99 times out of 100 I do see. 

I guess these fleeting non-sightings are as much a manifestation of my birding sixth sense as the rare occasions when all those conscious and subconscious habits that are the culmination of  more than 10,000 hours in the field come together and turn up a quality bird.

New Year's Eve Waxwing, Brancaster, Norfolk

Over the last few years driving around Norfolk I've found a autumn Great Grey Shrike, instinct telling me to vary might commute home and take a slightly longer route via the coast. Various Red Kites who's' distinctive long winged flight triggers something in my birding radar to distinguish them from large gulls even at some distance. And of course on several occasions flocks of Waxwings.

One of the great things about waxwings is that they are pretty distinctive with their head crests and face masks and so within seconds I'd been able to call my wife over and show her and our two small boys the Waxwing. I quickly ran indoors and grabbed my little compact super zoom camera and was able to spend ten minutes grabbing some record shots before the bird gave its trilling call and flew off.

Brief encounter with a Norfolk Fox

Note below a direct transcript of the lines I scribbled in the notebook whilst watching this Fox in Brancaster.

Been a while since i had the luck to spend any time watching a fox. This one seemed small, sleek and in good condition. Classic russet [Red Panda coloured] body, dark blackish tail and a shining / glowing white tip to its tail [like a Tigers].

Fox in twilight, Brancaster

In the rapidly fading twilight it exuded suppleness and energy as it hunted a yellow field of scrappy overgrown grass. Arching its back as it paused , face, eyes, ears and muzzle pointed down. Then springing into the air and landing as it pounced on a vole.

Fox pouncing

One unfortunate Vole / Mouse was tossed forwards by the Fox two or three times.

After 20 minutes in its company it moved away towards some trees and into longer, thicker grass. Got a sense it was aware of me and would take in my presence as it looked around.

Fox, Brancaster

On reflection not a bad week, I had to spend 4 days working in Norwich and had very little time for lunch time walks. On the one brisk walk between meetings that I did manage I grabbed the shot below of a Grey Squirrel in the Rosary Cemetery, this was one of 3 or 4 animals feeding close together and occasionally chasing each other around the Gravestones and trees.

Grey Squirrel, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

The commute to Norwich sometimes goes by in a daze of Radio 4 or music on a CD, this week I did manage a sighting of a Barn Owl near Docking and a Muntjac.

Friday saw me taking a few hours off work and I chose to spend them walking around Holme, I dipped on the Short Eared Owl and Snow Buntings, but did see 45 species including Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel and Common Buzzard which was nice.

On Saturday I grabbed a couple of hours in the cold wind under the cliffs in Hunstanton and spent most of this trying to photograph Bar Tailed Godwit's, the shot below is my favourite image of this session.

Bar Tailed Godwits, Hunstanton, The Wash

Sanderling, Hunstanton, The Wash

Sunday morning was taken up with a nice family walk along the boardwalk on the edge of the Marshes in Brancaster, followed by a lunch of some rather nice takeaway Pizza's from the Jolly Sailors in Brancaster Staithe. The shot below is of cropped shot from my compact camera of a Long Tailed Tit on my father in laws bird feeders. After lunch I took number two son for a drive to get him to sleep and spent the last part of this parked in Brancaster Staithe harbour photographing feeding Bar Tailed Godiwt's. All in all not a bad week.

Long Tailed Tit, Brancaster

Catch up - Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th January 2014

A new year and if I have one resolution it's to try and keep life, whether at home or at work, simple. This is in the belief that I will achieve my personal targets for the year [and if I wish add to and build on them] rather than setting myself up to fail. What's that got to do with this blog? well I'm not entirely sure but I think it will mean less messing about drafting and then not getting around to posting short essays and more short summary's of what I have been up to. This I hope will act as a celebration of life, of what it is possible to see, feel and and think in the midst of a busy life with little bespoke time for birding and photography, but with a mind and eyes accustomed to seeing and taking plenty of incidental opportunities and sharing some of these with you.

Brancaster saltmarsh

My last bird of 2013 was a invisible Robin singing its' plaintive winter song from a bush in a Hunstanton front garden, my first birds of 2014 were Feral Pigeons wheeling in the wind over our street in Hunstanton. New Year's Day was manky [cold, grey and wet] and I spent it with the family visiting relatives in Brancaster, a short walk along the edge of the Marsh followed by an interrogation of my father in law's bird feeders produced 28 species. My favourite birds of the day were the smart little Coal Tits on the feeders.

The 2nd saw me back at work in Norwich and taking a boot around what is in effect my 'lunchtime patch' of the Rosary Cemetery, Lion Wood and part of the River Yare, good for 50+ species in 2014 I reckon. A relatively quiet walk did produce two sightings of Sparrowhawk, a Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a brace of Coal Tits. But perhaps the best bird of the day was on the drive into work when I had a drive by sighting of a Barn Owl just outside Docking.

Lion Wood, Norwich

On Friday the 3rd I had a work related walk and talk at Snettisham and Titchwell, a lovely day with some cracking black and white male Goldeneye at Snettisham and a nice flock of Avocet's at Titchwell, where a female Marsh Harrier spooked the waders and wildfowl and where I photographed the splendid male Pintail below. The day ended with an unseasonal Hedgehog in Snettisham village.

Male Pintail, Titchwell Marsh

Saturday was another wet day, whem the rain cleared mid afternoon I took no 1 son [age 4] 'shell hunting' under the cliffs in Hunstanton, not much bird activity but good to see Fulmar's hanging around the cliffs in some numbers.

Fulmar's Hunstanton Cliffs

Today [Sunday 5th] I was again back in Brancaster with the family, a drive along the coast to get no 2 son [age 2] to sleep gave me a chance to pop into Burnham Overy Staithe Harbour which was very quiet and Brancaster Staithe Harbour where I picked up Rock Pipit for the year. But the most fun was when I stopped to look at some bird feeders and noticed the finches and sparrows bathing in a puddle on the opposite side of the road.

Chaffinch & Goldfinch bathing