More migrants...

27/4/08 Denver area - Simeon and James
We went to Denver sluice after a rain shower in the afternoon. Totals included; 6 Yellow Wagtails over, 8 House Martins, 5 Swallows, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Swift, 6 Sedge Warbler, a male Cuckoo singing, 5 Common Terns and a Common Sandpiper.
James then dropped me off at Whin Common and a Nightingale was singing there.

Spring is here!

26/4/08 Norfolk Coast - Simeon, James and Connor
We started early by walking Blakeney Point. Plenty of common migrants were straeming over but there were very few grounded ones. 43 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Grey Wagtail, 5 Pied Wagtails, 120+ Linnets, 150+ Swallows, 25+ Sand Martins, 25+ House Martins, 18 Swift, 120+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Arctic Tern, and 3 Tree Pipits went West. Grounded migrants included only 4 Chiffchaffs, 6 Wheatears and 1 White Wagtail. 40+ Whimbrel were going West. 2 Greenshank were on the marsh. A Grasshopper was reeling near the West bank at Cley.
We then went to Acle to try and see the 13 Dotterel that were there. On arrival at about 2:15, we heard that they had flown North at 1 o'clock so we then went to nearby Waxham for the Wryneck. It showed (partially obscured) in the same bush for ages. It was obviously very tired as it never left its perch! Another Grasshopper warbler was reeling nearby. James suddenly spotted a Common Crane above us and I spotted another 2 above that! We managed to get good views of them in the scope but they soon drifted South. On our way back to the car, a Swallow flew over us calling like a Red-Rumped but it disappeared behind the dunes before we could see it through optics!
On our way home we popped in at the Great-Grey Shrike at Heacham which showed very well, but the light was poor, so the only picture I managed to get was a record shot! See Connor's site for much better ones!
We were just about to drop Connor at his house when 5 Dotterel came up on the pager at Choseley! We turned round and raced towards them. On arrival 3 were showing distantly in a field south of the drying barns, but they were lovely adult summer plumaged ones so that made up for it!
A cracking day overall but the only annoying thing was that my scope fell to pieces! (literally - at Waxham)

Wow, that was random!

2/4/08 Holme NOA Simeon, James and Connor
We started late at about 8 by walking through the pines. We picked up the male Firecrest and the female showed well too. The male sang a few times in the morning sun. The sea was virtually dead, with only 2 Red-Breasted Mergansers, 300+ Common Scoter, a few Eider, and only 1 Long-Tailed Duck. A walk through the dunes produced a few Siskins and 2 Tree Sparrows over. Sitting at the observatory we ate lunch.
I (Simeon) suddenly picked up 5 large birds flying west over the church which turned out to be Common Cranes! We all managed to get onto them thankfully. 10 minutes later I spotted a raptor circling overhead which turned out to be a ringtail Montagu's Harrier! It was really early (apparently the fourth earliest record) and one of the first in the UK this year!
The male Firecrest appeared on top of the Budlia bush outside the observatory and started singing. It gave amazing views as it fed in a small bush.
The 20 minutes of exitement were over, it had been a random flurry of nice birds!
Troughout the day 12 Sand Martins and 4 Swallows flew over the broadwater on passage, some of the first this year. A Marsh Harrier, 3 Common Buzzzards, a Barn Owl, a Grey Heron and a Little Egret were also on the reserve at different times during the day, and at least 30 Brambling were in the pines.
All in all it was a very good day, signalling the true start of migration!