Seasonal Confusion

Saturday morning and in deference to my family tired after a busy week of work, school and after school activities I haven't set my alarm this morning, nonetheless I wake early and slip quietly out of bed and gather my birding kit together for the short drive to Titchwell. 

The first bird that I see as I turn off the A149 into Titchwell Marsh is a Barn Owl briefly gliding across the entrance track, a nice start to my visit.

The reserve is empty with just one other car in the car park, I start my usual early morning circuit heading down the meadow trail for a quick look at Patsy's Pool before heading back around the Boardwalk hoping for some flowering spikes of Marsh Orchids, there  are none, but lots of Ragged Robin and Yellow Flag Iris and it is great to hear and see a couple of Cuckoos as they chase each other around the reedbed and scrub. 

Curlew Sandpiper, Titchwell Marsh

I'd forgotten it was a big tide this morning and it is a pleasant surprise as I approach the Fresh Marsh that the first birds I see are a flock of Dunlin and the first bird in my binoculars field of view is a Curlew Sandpiper just moulting out of its breeding plumage. The Dunlin are great all chestnut brown backs and inky black bellies, I'm never sure at this time of year if the waders are on a late trip north or an early journey south, autumn or spring? Five black summer plumaged Spotted Redshank's add to the value and I have a quick scan and count of the mixed flock of winter plumaged Bar and Black Tailed Godwit, whilst a Greenshank fly's over calling.

Pyramidal Orchid

The fenced predator proof area is a noisy "chaos" of Black Headed and Med Gulls and I find three Little Gulls sitting on the edge of an island. It is good too to see Common, Little and Sandwich Terns here.Whilst a couple of wing pricked Pink Footed Geese walk across the marsh and add to the seasonal confusion is it Spring, Summer, autumn or winter?

Male Kestrel

In the afternoon we decide on a family to the Beach Hut at Brancaster, here we have a walk through the dunes get great views of a hunting male Kestrel and flowering spikes of Pyramidal Orchids which are nicely framed by the yellow flowers and dun coloured seed cases of Yellow Rattle.  On the next door beach hut a pair of Swallows are nesting under the eaves, last year it was a pair of Pied Wagtails and the year before that Swallows. We keep as much distance from the birds as we can so that they can make visits to their nest and I try my luck with some flight photography using a ancient lens and decrepit DSLR body whilst perched in a  Directors Chair.

Swallow

A great day.

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

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.

Too wet even for ducks

We've had a lot of rain, some lightening and a little thunder here in west Norfolk this afternoon. I spent a pleasant 45 minutes in Island Hide at Titchwell late afternoon and watched the first wave of bad weather pass through from the shelter of the hide ruefully looking at my old metal tripod and the lightening outside. Later I was in the Jolly Sailors in Brancaster Staithe when a really heavy storm came on, black sky's, lightening and torrential rain with an aftermath of flooded roads requiring the fire service to come and pump out a number of properties.

Juvenile Shelduck in rain storm.

No1 and No2 sons [age 4 and 7] thought all of this was terribly exciting and enjoyed watching the storm out of the pub windows and found the drive home along a very wet A149 exhilarating.

During my brief visit to Titchwell I saw a single Spoonbill circle the Fresh Marsh looking almost grey in the storm light, a couple of Marsh Harriers and some distant Curlew Sandpipers. After the storm 20 - 30 Common and Sandwich Terns hawked over the Fresh Marsh. An Avocet swept past in the shallows feeding and looked splendid with its reflection in the black water.

Avocet and reflection

Whilst it rained heavily it was interesting  to watch the ducks sky pointing, aligning their bodies into the rain presumably to minimise the impact of the rain on their feathers. Quite a spectacular afternoon.

Teal Sky Pointing in rain

July - birds and butterflies

Although it seemed to start slowly as its gone on July hasn't been a bad month for birding and wildlife watching.

As ever at this time of year I am mindful that the Swifts that in so many ways are synonymous with summer will be on the verge of leaving us for another year shortly after the schools round here break for the summer holidays. So during my regular evening walks around the block I have tried to count the local Swifts, always a tricky proposition but by standing on Hunstanton's Recreation Ground I have managed a couple of counts on Wednesday 15th July I counted c 47 Swifts and the following evening 35 from here. Last night [the 23rd] there seemed to be fewer Swifts and I detected a certain indefinable urgency about the packs that remained as they careered through the air above Hunstantons' residential streets.

Peacock butterfly, Ken Hill Wood

Lunchtime walks in Ken Hill Woods near Snettisham are always a bit hit and miss, if the weather is too nice the and the dog walkers are out there is a noticeable drop in the amount of wildlife on view as the dogs and their owners sanitise an area either side of the path of snakes, deer etc. Still on the 17th I saw a Silver Washed Fritillary patrolling a ride and occasionally settling although never long enough for me to take a picture and it disappeared the moment the sun went behind a cloud. Also flying were some White Admirals and a few wonderfully fresh looking Peacocks. The highlight though were two Grass Snakes my first of the year on the ride that skirts the woods southern boundary I even managed to catch one for a closer [and smellier look]. The walk was topped off with nice views of Muntjac and Green Woodpecker.

Black Tailed Godwits, Snettisham

Brown Hare Snettisham

On Saturday 18th I got a call in the morning about a Broad Billed Sandpiper in the wader roost at Snettisham, family commitments meant I couldn't go and look for the bird until the evening tide. I spent a pleasant hour in the hide looking through the large flock of Black Tailed Godwits bit the Broad Billed Sandpiper didn't show. Nonetheless I had a great time photographing terns against the pink twilight sky on the old jetty and had the place to myself.

Oystercatcher at dusk, Snettisham

Terns at dusk, Snettisham

The next morning I had another phone call letting me know the bird was back and this time i could make a mad dash to the southern pit where I joined a few folk, the bird was hidden behind a Black Tailed Godwit and a Knot, eventually it moved and I enjoyed great views for all of about five seconds before the whole roost spooked and it disappeared, at this stage the hide was begining to creak at the seams as more and more birders arrived and I left. On both visits I saw and heard Med Gulls.

The "Gallery" for the Snettisham Broad Billed Sandpiper

Adult Med Gull, Snettisham

A rare treat on the evening of Wednesday 22nd July a week day evening at Titchwell, I got no further than Island Hide where I must have spent an hour and a half. The Marsh was stiff with birds with several hundred Avocets present and good numbers of Black Tailed Godwits plus Ruff and Dunlin, single Greenshank, Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper and a couple of Curlew Sandpipers. Overcast when I arrived the sun broke through and for a short while I had a wonderful combination of great light and close birds including some stunning summer plumaged Black Tailed Godwits. The birds on the Fresh Marsh were quite jumpy and eventually the cause a large female Sparrowhawk showed itself and then later a Hobby shot though. Other birds  included juvenile Bearded tits on the edge of the reedbed and a couple of juvenile Marsh Harrier. But the best bird was a wonderful summer plumaged Little Gull that came really close to the hide.

Adult Little Gull, Titchwell

Black Tailed Godwit, Titchwell

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

May catch up

It's been a busy month, so in short and sweet fashion, here are a few sightings for you.

Wed 12th May

Stopped off in Thornham Harbour en route to a meeting at Titchwell, two Wheatear's whilst I drank my coffee were nice. A morning walk and talk around Titchwell was quiet but a single Little Gull was pleasant. Drove over to Frampton for another meeting, not much time for spotting but always good to see the Yellow Wagtails in the roadside fields here. Back at Titchwell I had a more leisurely look at the reserve and saw 2 Little gulls, heard Bittern and Bearded Tit and saw my first Sand and House Martins of the year along with a single Common Sandpiper.

Crap digiscoping - Little Gulls at Titchwell

Thursday 14th

An evening walk and talk around Strumpshaw Fen with friends was quiet but 3 rather smart Marsh Harriers were good to see.

Friday 15th

A brief stop on the way south at NWT Weeting Heath, didn't see a Stone Curlew but did manage a Stoat and Buzzard.

 

Stoat at Abbey Farm

Friday 15th

A walk along the River Medway in Kent south of Hadlow produced to "purring" Turtle Dove's, a Bullfinch, 

Grey wagtail and singing Blackcap, Chiff Chaff, Whitethroat, willow warbler, and my first Banded Demoisselle of the year. In the evening a Fox crossed the road in front of me in Hadlow.

Saturday 16th

Stopped on my way north at NWT Weeting Heath. Did see a Stone Curlew in the heat haze, notable how many Lapwings had chicks. A Firecrest in the pines by the hide was an added bonus.

Wednesday 20th

Titchwell in the evening, the Red Necked Phalarope along with the Little Gulls which had been present all day were scared off the marsh by a bird scarer half an hour before I got there. But it was a lovely evening with a rising tide being fished by Little Terns as the sun set over the salt marsh. 11 Red Crested Pochard were, I guess, a sign of the times. Best bird was a distant Short Eared Owl.

Friday 22nd

A work visit to Minsmere the walk around produced Bittern 2, Hobby 3, lots of Garden warblers, a very distant Red Necked Phalarope but no Nightingales

Crap digiscoping - Garden Warbler at Minsmere

Sun 24th and Thursday 28th

Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire

Family visits as ever a great place to be and I managed to see Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Dippers, Common Sandpiper, Mandarin, Common Buzzard, Willow Warbler, Chiff Chaff, Nuthatch, and the Bluebells, Wild Garlic and Water Avens were all out

Crap digiscoping - Dipper at Bolton Abbey

Wild Garlic at Bolton Abbey

Evening of the 28th

A walk down to Bronte Falls near Haworth

Curlews over moors and Red Grouse heard in the distance, willow warblers singing in the trees by the falls.

Bronte Bridge near Haworth

Lapwing near Haworth

Wednesday 27th

Kilnsea Yorkshire Dales National Park

Visited the trout farm and walked up the hill to see the "captive" Lady's Slipper Orchids.

"Captive" Lady's Slipper Orchid, Kilnsea

Blue and Rainbow Trout, Kilnsea

End of one year list and the start of the next

Last year my UK year list ended on 179, poor by the standards of most folk who keep year lists but judged against my last few years birding pretty good and evidence that the boys although still small are slightly less demanding, that and the time saving benefits of internet grocery shopping that I have become a big fan of over the past few months.

Blue Tit, Rosary Cemetery Norwich

That 179 also includes some great birding moments that I can look back on last year. Below are some that with no reference to my notebook stand out in my memory.

Half a day at Bempton in the spring, good company, nice weather, spectacular seabirds and a great peregrine.

Five minutes in the company of some ring necked parakeets feeding on the seed pods of an Indian Bean tree in St James's park a real biological mash up in the heart of London.

This winter finally getting some birds into our pocket handkerchief Hunstanton Garden the highlight being an autumn Coal Tit. Like I said all things are relative.

A morning a Holme in the spring with our then two year old boy, lovely weather and summer migrants  in force and singing away.

A spring lunchtime in the Rosary cemetery in Norwich, it just felt perfect, warm and sunny with singing Chiff-Chaffs, Blackcaps and a Stock Dove.

Roydon Common before Christmas with no1 son and locating the Great Grey Shrike. It was just lovely to share the moment with him.

Another Shrike moment a mad after work dash in the autumn to Burnham Norton taking advantage of the new flexitime rules to see the Steppe Great Grey Shrike.

A morning at Burnham Overy Staithe in the midst of a autumn fall, with my personal tally including a Yellow Browed Warbler and two Red Breasted Flycatchers.

And finally that New Years Eve Waxwing in my late father in laws Brancaster garden, this was rather wonderful.

So for 2015 well, it will still be a full on year at work and at home and it includes a big birthday for me to mull on. But I've set myself a modest personal goal of seeing 200 plus species in the UK this year. Having made this resolution I decided to focus my efforts early in the new year on getting a few of the less reliable winter birds under my belt and so far as you'll read below I've done ok in the limited time I have had available, with Twite, Rough Legged Buzzard, Great Grey Shrike, Red Kite and Black Necked Grebe all seen.

Thursday 1st January 2015
A brief visit to a grey, overcast and cold Titchwell Marsh where I spent an hour in Island hide. There were high water levels, but I saw most of the freshwater ducks and four marsh harriers. Earlier in teh day I'd popped into Brancaster Staithe and seen a few of the common waders. A bonus was a Tree Sparrow in a friends garden in Brancaster on his bird feeders.

Brancaster Staithe, New Years Day 2015

Sunday 4th
A 149 East on Burnham Overy Staithe overlooking Holkham freshes. Saw maybe three Common Buzzard and a single distant Rough Legged Buzzard, also year ticked White Fronted Goose from here.

Monday 5
The day before the kids went back to school so I took the morning off work to look after them and we headed to a bitterly cold Thornham Harbour. On the drive down to the harbour a pair of Bullfinch flew across the road between tall hedgerows. We walked a little way out towards Holme and soon found the flock of Twite and I eventually counted 58 on the ground together at one point. Aldso added Rock Pipit and Linnet to the year list.

Twite, Thornham

Tuesday 6th

A real surprise on the morning commute into Norwich was a Merlin bombing across the rod just south of Guist. A brief but distinctive barrel chested arrow shaped falcon.

6th and 7th

Lunchtime walks in Norwich's Rosary cemetery were quiet but added Nuthatch, Long tailed tit, Redwing and Great Spotted Woodpecker to my year list.

Thursday 8th
Train south from King's Lynn to London added Bewicks and Whooper swans to the year list plus the usual smattering of Roe Deer in the Fens.

Friday 9th
Lunchtime and a quick in and out visit to look at the southernmost pit at Snettisham RSPB where I quickly scored the Black Necked Grebe I was after. First reaction on seeing it was, what a cutie with its fluffed up feathers and ruby red eye.

Black Necked Grebe, Snettisham

Sunday 11th
I needed to visit the municipal dump in Heacham and took the opportunity to carry on down the road and pop into Roydon Common to see if I could see the wintering Great Grey Shrike. On arrival the rutted, muddy car park was surprisingly full and one old boy with an east midlands accent said that there were lots of folk looking for the Shrike but that it wasn't showing.

Roydon Common

Heading out and following the path along the southern edge of the Common I quickly located the silhouetted Shrike alternately perched and hunting the top of the rise to my south. It then flew down out onto the heath perching at the top of a lone birch tree from where it was flushed by a couple of dog walkers and disappeared from view.

After this I headed back to the car stopping for a few scans which turned up two to three Common Buzzards, a Red Kite, male Stonechat, a handful of Fieldfares and the distant yaffling call of a Green Woodpecker. All in all a productive half hours birding.