Heavy birding...

25-26/7/08 Norfolk Coast - Simeon (Connor and James)
I visited Cley, Holme, Titchwell and Dersingham Bog all between Friday evening and Saturday evening!
My trip started on Friday at Connor's house in the afternoon. At 6:30 we left for Cley for the White-rumped Sandpiper. On arrival we went straight to Pat's Pool where it had moved to, instead of North Scrape. There were a few people in the hide and showed us the bird quickly, otherwise it would have taken us hours to trawl through the 70 or so Dunlin present. A Little Stint often associated with the sandpiper.
Also present were 12 Little gulls, 2 Yellow-legged gulls, 2 Marsh Harrier, and a Bittern flew over the reeds.
On Saturday we started early and were at Holme by 7:00am! Redwell marsh produced 1 Whimbrel (over), 1 Greenshank (over), 3 Green Sandpipers, 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Ruff, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Avocets, 5 Turtle Dove, and 12 Common Snipe. Connor and I then walked from the Golf Course to the pines through the forestry and dunes.
By the time we reached the obs. we had clocked up a fair few warblers, there had obviously been a small arrival; 16 Willow Warblers, 7 Whitethroat, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 8 Blackcap, and 1 Chiffchaff.
Other highlights included; 5 female Crossbills in the pines, 4 Green Sandpipers over the marsh, a hirundine passage including 50 Swallows, 50 House Martin, 10 Sand Martins, but just 1 Swift, 7 Goldcrests in the pines, a juvenile Green Woodpecker, 2 female Marsh Harriers, 15 Pied Wagtails (over) and 15 Meadow Pipits (over). The sea was relatively quiet bit held a couple of surprises. In one hour; 13 Gannet, 2 Fulmar, 5 Common Tern, 5 Little Tern, a female Red-breasted Merganser (!), 2 Arctic Skuas, 1 Eider, 3 Guillemot, 1 Razorbill and 56 Common Scoters.
Several Curlews went over throughout the day totalling 26 birds, including one Whimbrel.
At about 3:oopm I went back to Redwell and Connor went home. A Little gret flew over the Marsh on the way down. The marsh itself produced 4 Green Sandpipers and 3 Yellow Wagtails amongst the numerous Pieds.
Then James picked me up and we went to Titchwell for a bit. 4 summer plumaged Curlew Sandpipers were very nice along with 6 Little gulls, 2 Bearded tits and a Little Stint. A small wader had us going for a bit, but it turned out to be a Dunlin (with a shorter bill than usual!).



We then ended at Dersingham Bog where we got 2 Woodcock and a Nightjar.
It was a very nice couple of days and a signal that Autumn is finally here...did spring ever end?

Autumn waders...

24/7/08 Welney WWT - James and Simeon
James and I went to Welney to try and see the Spoonbill reported there. On arrival a volunteer said that it roosts on the reserve but flies out into the fens every morning at about 7am.
So James and I went over to the main hide anyway and the logbook read; "3 Spoonbills this morning..." So there were three.
As it was, there were none visible during our time there (as always) but we had a good time anyway. The new camera they have set up on one of the islands was great! A Black-Headed Gull was standing on top of it so Igot it in my scope. Then I rotated the camera and the gull rotated too! I think it got dizzy because it soon fell off! It was a bit mean, but so funny.
The numbers of Little Egrets was phenominal, challenging Titchwell even! I counted 37 all on the main lagoon!
Other birds of note included; 19 Black-Tailed Godwit, 2 Ruff, 3 Marsh Harriers, a Common Tern, only one female Garganey (apparently there had been up to 12) and a Whimbrel that I found using the camera!
On the journey home we saw 2 Turtle Doves and 2 Corn Buntings. It was a lovely trip and made one thing for certain...autumn has begun!

New areas...

23/7/08 Oxford - James and Simeon
Dad was going to Oxford for the day so we decided to hitch a lift and bird some completely new areas. We started at Farmoor reservoir where there were 2 Yellow-Legged Gulls, 3 Green Sandpipers and 2 Common Sandpipers from the causeway, along with 8 Lapwings and 1 Grey Heron in Shrike Meadow.
We then went to Dix Pit (part of Stanton Harcourt gravel pits). The area looks very good as a winter site, but there were still some interesting birds. 2 Little Egrets and 2 Grey Herons were on the island amongst the Cormorant colony. About 40 Great-Crested Grebes were in a large group on the far side of the pit, and 2 Common Sandpipers landed on the far bank. A Red Kite flew over and disturbed all the gulls.
We then went around to a different side of the it and stood on some concrete blocks to veiw the pit. James spotted some Pochards with the numerous Tufted Ducks, whilst I scanned a group of gulls on the landfill site. The flock of about 70 birds contained at least 10 Yellow-Legged Gulls! Some showed quite well but we didn't have enough time for photos.
On the way home another Red Kite flew from behind a bush in Stanton Harcourt Village, and on the M40 we saw a high of 18 Red Kites, following 12 on the outward journey!
It was a really good day and it was nice to go birding in a completely different setting from the Norfolk Coast!

Skuas and a Shrike!

17/7/08 Sea Palling - James and Simeon
Dad was going to Norwich for the day, so we drove onto Sea Palling after dropping him off! The Red-Backed Shrike showed well eventually but it took a bit of finding (in the rain). See gallery for pictures. We then did some seawatching the other side of the dunes from the Shrike and had 3 Arctic Skuas past in about 30 mins.
So we moved to Waxham to get a better vantage point. The total in 2 and a half hours was 25 Arctic Skuas, including some really close birds - one flew right over Simeons head! Most were adult pale morphs but there were a few juvs and one or two dark morph adults. Other birds of note on the sea were; 1 female Eider, 50+ Guillemots (including several young birds) and a single adult Razorbill along with 13 Gannets.
Whilst standing in the dunes a male Kestrel and a beautiful Hobby went over. Just before a masive raincloud came in, a large passage of hirundines included 70+ Swift and 40+ House Martin.
It was a really good day, despite the rain, and allowed us to get back on seawatching form in time for Wales... (5th-13th August)