Marsh Harriers Mating at Cley

I like visiting the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Cley Marshes nature reserve in part because it has become an occasional treat rather than somewhere I would visit at least monthly before children came along and limited my birding time.

The weather forecast yesterday looked pretty good and so we piled the kids into the car and headed east along the A149.

Male Bearded Tit, Cley

After coffee and cake in the Visitor Centre we walked out to the group of three hides in the middle of the reedbed. This was a quintessentially Norfolk scene behind us Cley Windmill and the Church,  in the reeds the pinging of Bearded Tits and the occasional explosive burst of Cetti's Warbler song. Once in the hide the sound of Avocet's "Klooting" calls hit us as we opened the windows.

Avocet's, Cley

A very pale female Marsh Harrier flew in and landed on the grassy bank on the far side of the lagoon and I got the scope on this for the kids to have a look at this "top predator". As we were admiring the bird a male Marsh Harrier flew in and mounted the female for a few seconds and then flew off. this was the first time I have ever seen Marsh Harriers mating and I managed a few hand held digi-scoped pictures with my little Panasonic Lumix hand held to my Kowa scope eyepiece.

Female Marsh Harrier, Cley

Marsh Harrier mating, Cley

Marsh Harrier mating, Cley

Marsh Harrier mating, Cley

Spring out of the Bottle

Spring is late this year, the Beast from the East and its various pale imitation successors have delayed the arrival of early Summer migrants and to be honest it just hasn't felt that nice out. But with the Easter Bank Holiday weekend safely out of the way the weather took a turn for the better and on Tuesday afternoon I had a walk around Holme Dunes in 12 degrees and with a warm breeze blowing.

Chiff Chaff, Holme Dunes

I knew that there had been a male Black Redstart seen and as I lifted my binoculars to scan a familiar out of focus deep blue shape flitted across my line of sight, a Swallow, soon to be followed by half a dozen others, marvellous. A short walk and I found some Chiff Chaffs feeding in the scrub and there seemed to have been an increase in Stonechat's with at least four present. But best of all were two box fresh totally immaculate male Wheatear's feeding on some short turf.

Wheatear, Holme Dunes

 Still no sign of the Black Redstart and I had almost given up when a movement in the distance caught my eye and I had a brief glimpse of it on a fence wire perhaps 50 metres from where it had last been reported. I walked round for a better view and managed a couple of shaky handheld digi-scoped shots before what proved to be a very skittish bird moved off.

Black Redstart, Holme Dunes

Then the light left the sky and it started to spit a cold rain, this rapidly increased in volume and size of rain drops and I took partial shelter under the pines whilst a heavy cold squall passed through.

This morning I managed a couple of hours out using the car as a mobile hide on the local back roads. It was slow going at first but for the last half hour before I needed to get home to look after the kids, the sun came out and the wildlife action hotted up. Highlights were large numbers of summer plumage Brambling's in the hedgerows, a Bran Owl flying into a hole in an old oak tree presumably its nest site? and a Little Owl standing sentry by a break in an Oak branch, another nest site?

Brown Hares

A Marsh Harrier quartering a field close to the road watched by a wary Hare was the final bird before I had to make a speedy drive home.

Marsh Harrier

Snowdrops

This is forecast to be the coldest week of the winter so far. This morning I had to clear a thin layer of ice from my car windscreen and drove through flurries of snow on my way across Norfolk. Yet by lunchtime the sky had cleared and it was a bright but cold day.

In the Rosary Cemetery I paused on my lunchtime walk to take some photographs of the Snowdrops these has naturalised here and there are great clumps of them, splashes of white petals in lieu of the patches of snow which never settled earlier in the day.

I always love it when there is a sense of a season turning, being elbowed out of the way by its impatient successor and today's show of Snowdrops tells that Spring is starting its inexorable push to succeed winter.

Snowdrops, Rosary Cemetery, Norwich

Full Sum Plum - Male RB Fly at Holme

I noticed on the Birdguides Norfolk page yesterday that there had been a Red Breasted Flycatcher at Holme and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still present today. After a morning spent in the home office catching up on important and all to frequently prevaricated bits of personal admin, I set off early afternoon for the short drive along the coast to Holme Dunes.

A typical view of a bright bird on a grey day, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Holme

As I drove down the bumpy access track I stopped to talk to my friend Trevor who was just leaving and had seen the bird who assured me it was pretty straightforward as it was showing in the car park to a small crowd. He also told me that there were some Wheatear's, a male Redstart and a Whinchat in one of the paddocks.

Red Breasted Flycatcher, Holme

Having parked a car I walked the twenty or so yards to the assembled birding gallery and very quickly had the bird in my binoculars and managed some very poor record shots. At this point it flew off high into some pines and I decided to head to the paddock where I quickly had scope views of a couple of Wheatears, a Whinchat and lovely Male Redstart. 

Back to the NWT car park where the male Red Breasted Flycatcher had returned and with patience I managed some slightly better if still record only quality shots [all the images in this blog are heavily cropped] as it busily moved through the trees occasionally sitting still for a few seconds, often with it s back turned before continuing its restless feeding. 

Red Breasted Flycatcher, Holme

It really was in great plumage red throated and silver faced. As the afternoon progressed a steady turnover of folk and one or two friends unexpectedly put in appearances which turned this mini twitch into a pleasant social occasion too.

Full frontal, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Holme

Choseley Red Footed Falcon

Its not often that time off work, a gap in family duties, nice weather and a good bird all come together, but that's what happened this morning. I'd mentioned last night to the wife that the forecast looked good for migrants this morning and that I might try and grab a couple of hours spotting and then take the kids swimming in the afternoon.

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

A much later start than anticipated meant that I was aware of a report or a Red Footed Falcon at Choseley and whilst part of me wondered if this was a mis-identified Hobby, I decided to give it a go before dropping down to Titchwell.

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

I arrived at the drying Barns only to be pointed down the hill to the bend in the road where half a dozen cars were squeezed into a small parking space. It was clear that better views could be had from the south side of this giant field and I jumped back in the car for the short drive and a tight verge side parking place.

Red Footed Falcon Gallery

From here the bird gave great scope views as it hovered over the field and then sat on clods of earth in the ploughed field. It really was immaculate with its grey back, apricot brown undersides and highway man mask. I couldn't see what it was catching but there seemed to be plenty of prey to keep it occupied. It would do a regular circuit although never coming to close to the small knot of birders. Having grabbed some crop-able shots I walked back down the lane to a hole in the hedge and was able to get some closer shots.

I'm not that happy with the way the Canon 100 - 400 lens and 5D MK2 performed as many shots are not as sharp as I'd like, may be a combination of the age of the lens and the distance I was working at. I suspect that I could have got some crippling shot with my compact Panasonic TZ30 digi-scoped through the Kowa but that camera needs a trip to the menders.

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

After a while the Red Foot was joined by a male Kestrel which caused a momentary panic as the cry went up "are there two of them?". A very pale Common Buzzard perched in a distant Oak and a Red Kite drifted by. A couple of Wheatears added to the early May Bank holiday migration feel.

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

After about 90 minutes with the Falcon it disappeared when I had my eye off it and I don't think it was seen again.

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

Female Red Footed Falcon, Choseley

I dropped down to Titchwell Marsh for a quick 20 minute look at the Fresh Marsh and was rewarded with  a sleeping male Garganey, three male Red Crested  Pochard's and a couple of cranes in the distance as they flew over Thornham, all in all a great morning.

Blickling Hall Bluebell Walk

Over the past few weeks it became clear from my social media accounts that across the south of the UK the display in Bluebell woods was peaking and with a early May Bank Holiday weekend free we decided to take the family to the National Trusts Blickling Estate to see the carpets of Bluebells in the woods there.

Bluebells at Blickling Hall, Norfolk

On arrival we managed to squeeze into the last parking space in the woodland car park and join a steady stream of families heading up the hill into the woods. Birdsong was a little muted but in the distance I could hear a Nuthatch and there were some very vocal Blackcap's and Chiff Chaffs around the trail.

I'd taken a couple of cameras with me and within minutes our two young boys had taken these off me so that they could join in with the other visitors to the woods in a orgy of  Bluebell Photography and selfie taking. Our fellow Bluebell Pilgrims displayed the full range of camera kit from mobile phones through tablets to full blown DSLR's.

Bluebell photography at Blickling Hall, Norfolk

There are some natural phenomena which seem to drag the great British public out in their droves, in Norfolk early Spring Snowdrop walks are a big thing at places like Walsingham Abbey and are a great way of having a gentle stroll in the countryside perhaps bookmarked by Coffee and cake. A couple of months later come the Bluebell's more nice walks with family and friends and of course more refreshments.

Bluebell walk at Blickling Hall, Norfolk

The Bluebells at Blickling were at their peak all were open and none that I could see had yet started to turn over, amongst them were the odd spots of pink from Red Campion flowers and a thin splash of white where a clump of Wild Garlic grew along the side of a ditch.

Bluebells at Blickling Hall, Norfolk

Bluebells are a feature of our woods as I understand a combination of our mild  Atlantic climate and a removal of some natural processes such as Wild Boar rooting for bulbs has allowed the carpets that we see today to flourish. I wonder if anyone has noticed a change to the display of Bluebells where Wild Boar have made a welcome return to our woods in places such as the Forest of Dean? Other threats are introduced Spanish Bluebells hybridising with out native Bluebells and climate change impacting on the conditions that they need to thrive.

Bluebells at Blickling Hall, Norfolk

We ended our walk by driving the short distance round to the main Blickling Hall car park and walked down to the edge of the lake for a picnic tea. All in all a pleasant afternoon.

Spring Waxwings

Late April and the Bird Guides Norfolk page continues to carry news of a flock of Waxwings on the outskirts of Norwich, I realise that they are hanging a round a retail park and industrial estate just off the A47 on my way home and that I haven't seen a Waxwing this year.

Waxwing, Norwich

The next morning I pull off the A47 and have a drive around the industrial estate but no joy, its a big place and I could do with directions, fortunately a colleague spent Sunday morning watching the birds and is able to sketch a map for me on a piece of scrap paper.

Waxwing, Norwich

Properly equipped I revisit the industrial estate and soon find the birds or rather they find me as they fly over my car. As soon as I get out I can hear their wonderful trilling call and by arching my neck I can see half a dozen Waxwings in the tree above me. Soon they take flight across the road and back to some berry bushes to feed and I am able to get close enough wit a old 100 - 300mm zoom lens to take a few snaps, the lights isn't great but it is still lovely to be so close to these birds.

Waxwing, Norwich

Fittingly the weather is wintry with grey cloud a cold wind and occasional showers, I wonder if they will still be here in a weeks time when the first returning Swifts could be flying overhead?

Black Tern at Titchwell

Saturday's are always a busy family day with kids swimming lessons, and shopping for groceries to do and usually involve me casting regular glances at my phone to check the Bird Guides Norfolk news page. Last weekend was no exception to this pattern and I even squeezed in a kick about with the boys in the park after lunch.

Black Tern, Titchwell

The bird news was dominated by the east of the county where a singing Savi's Warbler and wandering Sea Eagle were the highlights. Closer to home though a Black Tern stood out as a good bird to go for, these are annual here but never common and it is perfectly possible to go a year or two without seeing one [I can prove that because it must be a couple of years since I last saw one on the coast].

Black Tern, Titchwell

So after putting some sausages in the oven for the boys tea I left them at home with their Mum and headed east along the A149 for the six or so mile drive to Titchwell. Walking down the West Bank path past a trio of male Red Created Pochard's I soon could see the Tern distantly swooping over the most distant side of the Fresh Marsh. I decided to position myself just outside the Parrinder Hide in the hope that it would at least once fly close enough for some decent pictures.

Once in position the Tern gave great scope views, its dark charcoal black plumage glistening in the spring sunshine. Unfortunately it never did come close and so the pictures I have to share with you here are heavily cropped record shots rather than works of art. But it was a great bird to see and it gave me an excuse to spend a very peasant hour looking out across the Fresh Marsh listening to he calls of the Avocets and the distant boom of a Bittern.

Couple of Shelduck that flew over whilst watching the Tern

Butterfly Ball

Out of the wind there is a little warmth in the air, a treat in this cold Spring. The Cow Parsley has grown high to fill the space between the gravestones, their white flowers helping to show off clumps of bluebells.

Walking along one of the paths that winds its way along the edge of the hillside that Cemetery sits on is like walking down a woodland ride, there are clumps of Primroses and I can hear a Chiff Chaffs monotonous song.

A scrap of bright blue catches my eye as it fly's past, it could easily be a detached bluebell petal caught by the wind, but it purposefully gains height around a Holly Tree and is joined by another flying blue petal. They are Holly Blues and they dance around each other and the Holly, occasionally one will break off and disappear into the depths of the overgrown Cemetery, only for another blue scrap to appear and join in the dance, sometimes there are up to half a dozen taking part in this butterfly lek. Then when the sun goes behind a cloud and the temperature drops, they disappear, settled on a leaf, wings folded, blue hidden until the sun reappears, the temperature rises and the butterfly ball starts again.

Holly Blue taking time out from the Butterfly Ball

A brief visit to South Essex

Spent a couple of days for work in south Essex on the 15th and 16th of April, managed to see a few birds along the way.

A hot Wednesday afternoon was spent walking the seawall at Wallasea Island a real feel of summer with the odd Swallow hawking over the approach road and a smattering of citrus bright Yellow Wagtails. As ever the hugeness of this site hits you straight between the yes as you walk down footpath along the edge of the Crouch estuary and view the island being transformed before your eyes.

Bird-wise we heard then saw two or three Med Gulls and a number of Little Egrets and lost of sky larks and singing Corn Buntings. But perhaps the highlight of the visit were the two Short Eared Owls hunting the rank grass by the side of the road.

Black Winged Stilts caught in the act at Bowers Marsh

On Thursday a walk and talk around Bowers Marsh was enlivened by the presence of a pair of Black Winged Stilts part of an influx in the K this spring as this species continues to show signs of colonising. Whilst watching the Stilts and Avocet's we also managed to pick out an unexpected Glaucous Gull. Half a dozen Swallows were the most I have seen together this year. I tried my hand at digiscoping through my old Nikon ED and got the "best" results using my Panasonic Lumix TZ30 Macro Zoom setting.

Glaucous Gull at Bowers Marsh

Finished the tour at Wat Tyler Country Park where the first bird I saw and heard was a Cuckoo, pretty quickly followed by the explosive song of a Cettis Warbler.

Decaying boat at Wat Tyler Country Park

Spring gathers pace

April has been a really busy month with nights away for work, a short family holiday and a family bereavement. Below is a bit of a wrap up of some bird and butterfly sightings this month. I've posted two short separate blogs about visits to the Peak District and Bempton Cliffs.

Friday 4th April, Snettisham
A work visit in between discussing the storm damage it was nice to see a male Red Breasted Merganser, a Black Brant and three Mediterranean Gulls. At the Coastal Park I heard my first Willow Warbler of the year.

Monday 7th April
On the way home from Norwich I saw my first Swallow of the Spring whilst waiting for the traffic lights at Heacham to change colour.

Wednesday 9th April
A sunny lunchtime walk in the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich gave me nice views of my fist Orangetip Butterflies of the year plus Holly Blue and Small Tortoiseshell and singing Blackcap and Chiff Chaff.

Rosary Chiff Chaff

Rosary Primroses

Friday 11th April
Durng a work visit to York University it was nice to see a male Goosander on the University lake and a early Swallow hunting for food. Two Great Crested Grebe nests close to the edge of the lake were a real treat.

York Uni Great Crested Grebes

Saturday 18th April
I took no 1 son for short walk down the West Bank path at Titchwell, from Parrinder Hide we saw Little Ringed Plover and Yellow Wagtail and elsewhere we heard Cetti's and Sedge Warblers. A kindly old lady offered to lend my 5 year old her bird book so that he could find out what the Black and White bird was only to be told he knew that it was an Avocet.

Titchwell Avocet

Monday 21st
A walk with the kids around Wharton's Belt at Courtyard Farm was great for lots of early Spring Butterflies including some wonderfully fresh looking Speckled Woods and Peacocks and more Green Hairstreaks than I can ever remember seeing here, in the short time I had with them I saw at least six insects quite easily.

Green Hairstreak

Wednesday 23rd April

A walk with no2 son along the top of the Dunes at Holme NWT this morning was wonderful with seen and / or heard: Cuckoo, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Chiff Chaff, Sedge Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Whimbrel, Sandwich tern and 8 Wheatears.

An afternoon at Bempton Cliffs

Gannet at Bempton

Saturday 12 April

I managed to grab a few hours at Bempton during a work visit to York this weekend/ Always a great place o visit in the Spring with an assault on the sense from the noise of the seabirds especially the Kittiwakes, the fishy smell of the seabird colony and of course the great views of Gannets.

What I was also reminded of on this visit was that Bempton also has a great supporting cast of land birds including a colony of tree sparrows nesting on and around the Visitor Centre, Corn Buntings in the cliff top fields and Peregrines on the cliffs. 

During our visit we saw all of the breeding seabirds: Gannets, Kittiwakes, Herring Gulls, Shags, Guillemot's, Razorbills, Puffin's, as well as Jackdaw's, Rock Dove's and Peregrines. We also had great views of Tree Sparrow's and Corn Bunting's. Worth noting that there are not that many Puffins nesting here and you can find yourself working quite hard to see them

Another Gannet at Bempton

A shame about the lack of a decent cafe with the food offer restricted to some long life cakes and packets of crisps served by a rather dour Yorkshire man, still I believes the RSPB have received a grant from HLF to extend and improve the Visitor Centre so hopefully the catering will improve.

Peregrine and Herring Gull having an altercation at Bempton

Redwing's out, Wheatear's in

From mid February until about a week ago life went on hold as we cared for our two little boys who too it in turn to be ill with Chicken Pox and a nice range of other bugs. Fortunately other than both having colds both are well again and so I am able to update this blog with details of the few birds I've stumbled across since early March.

Boats in the Spring sunshine at low tide, Burnham Overy Staithe

Work took me out to Great Missenden on the edge of the Chilterns and just beyond the reach of the Metropolitan line.  Walking to Marylebone station to get the overland train I picked out a pair of Mandarin Duck in flight over a garden square. Out of the train window I saw three Red Kites and there were often Kites and Common Buzzards over the conference centre and a pair of Grey Wagtails feeding on the lawn.

Sunday the 16th was a quiet family Sunday with a visit to Grand dads in Brancaster, standing outside in the garden there was a light passage of Redwing's heading west and that evening I heard more Redwing's calling over Hunstanton.

On Monday 17th I was I Minsmere for a meeting and managed a very short walk on the reserve after the meeting during which I heard my first Cetti's Warblers and Chiff Chaffs for the year and watched a couple of Marsh Harriers quarter the reedbed from Bittern Hide.

A lunchtime walk in Ken Hill Wood on Friday 21st was enlivened by all five resident Tit species [Marsh, Great, Coal, Blue and Long Tailed] and I picked up on call and then saw a pair of Bullfinches, rather embarrassingly these were a year tick.

On Saturday 22nd I found a nice flock of Redwings up by Choesley drying barns and a male Wheatear in a ploughed field at Courtyard Farm.  I took the time on this day to check through flocks of Turnstones at Hunstanton and Brancaster Staithe and couldn't find any colour ringed birds which suggest that the flocks of Turnstones I was seeing earlier in the winter have moved on taking the marked birds with them. 

Yesterday the 23rd I managed ten minutes in Brancaster Staithe Harbour photographing Black Tailed Godwits in poor light but it was so good to see some of these moulting into their lovely red breeding plumage it was worth the effort.

Black Tailed Godwit, Brancaster Staithe

Sap starting to rise: Monday 10 to Monday 17 February

A relatively quiet first part of the week with the highlight perhaps being a Barn Owl in my headlights near Heacham, as I returned home from Norwich one evening.

Common Buzzard

A drive around the back roads on Sunday 16th was enlivened by two Common Buzzards drifting low over the car whilst no 2 son took his afternoon nap in the back. But the highlight of this drive was a couple of Brown Hare's that I spotted in a roadside field, normally these would have run off the moment I stopped the car but they had their minds on other things and I had a great five minutes watching them chase and box around the field, the sun even came out for a short while. You can see a few more pictures from this session on my Flickr page.

Another feature of the weekend was noticing for the first time in ages Skylarks in full song, a great sign that as the days draw out we are inexorably moving towards Spring.

Boxing Brown Hares

Today was taken up with a family outing to Wells Beach, all very quiet for birds although it was nice to hear a Little Grebe 'laughing' on the boating Lake where a male Goldeneye was great to see.

Shags on Hunstanton Cliffs at dusk

This evening I managed a walk at dusk under Hunstanton Cliffs, highlights were a pair of Red Breasted Merganser on the sea, c 350 Brent Geese over, lots of Fulmars on the cliffs, plus four Shags sitting on the sea that one by one took off into the wind and circled round over the sea before landing on the Cliffs to roost. As I headed home , in a bit of a hurry kids to bath, I flushed Peregrine which landed on a rocky bluff and allowed me to take some very grainy and distant pictures with the compact camera I had in my pocket. A nice end to the day.

Grainy, distant, slightly blurry shot of a Peregrine on Hunstanton Cliffs