Tail end of Migration

(Connor) Well spring migration has ended but it certainly went out with a bang! After having an activity day out in Norwich on 2/6/06 I returned back to my parents car at 6:00 pm to look at the mobile and find six missed calls! This could only mean one thing! I promptly rung dad to hear a Hoopoe had been found at Dersingham Bog, my local patch! A mad dash across Norfolk with a brief stop home saw me arrive at Dersingham Bog at 7:20 pm. On arrival the bird was thankfully in view and I continued to watch it until 7:30 pm when it was flushed by a very stupid birdwatcher and it flew into the distance, never to be seen again!

In May highlights had included a Temmincks Stint at Ttchwell RSPB on 5/5/06 and a male Montgue's Harrier giving superb views at an undisclosed site, circling over my head (!) on 14/5/06. Other good birds were an Osprey at Holme (5/5/06) and a Wood Sandpiper at Titchwell RSPB (9/5/06) while dad had a Red Necked Phalarope at Cley NWT (1/6/06).

Not long after the Hoopoe a male Red Backed Shrike turnt up at Titchwell RSPB (7/6/06) and was twitched on it's first evening from fen hide. Just as well as it only stayed one day! A Red Kite was a pleasing self find at Great Bircham (11/6/06).

Although spring migration has ended return wader passage has begun with a Spoonbill at Titchwell RSPB (27/6/06) along with a good supporting cast of a Wood Sandpiper, 8 summer plumaged Spotted Redshanks, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Greenshanks, 6 Little Gulls and a Willow Tit by the feeding station. A repeat of the 2004 Greater Sand Plover wouldn't go a miss on wader passage this year; or something even rarer!