Trip Reports

On the trail of a Bogey

2009-01-10T03:10:00.000-08:00

10/01/2009, undisclosed site, James and Simeon

It was absolutely freezing when we got out of the car this morning. I can't remember being so cold - it made a winter seawatch at Holme feel like Barbados! A Kingfisher greeted us, making use of a small patch of unfrozen water. As if we needed more confirmation that the weather was exceptionally harsh, several flocks of Lapwing flapped overhead. A few Bullfinch were flitting about as we walked along a path towards our destination along with a multitude of thrushes, and a Barn Owl added character to the winter scene. A Muntjac and a group of about 20 Roe Deer seemed unaware of us, despite the constant explosions of woodpigeon that marked our movements.

Reaching our destination we scanned for our target - Long-eared Owl. However, it soon became apparent that we were not in luck. We decided to walk towards their favourite haunt, since there was no chance of disturbing them if they weren't there. Our attention was drawn to a shape slinking through a field to our left as 5 Snipe erupted from the grass. The Fox trotted towards us, as oblivious as the deer had been, and disappeared into a ditch. Reaching the Long-eared Owl bushes we scanned the open fields for any owls that may still be hunting. No luck, although we had another mammal surprise in the form of a herd of more than 100 Red Deer, including 2 magnificent stags! What a sight on a misty winter's morning. As if this wasn't enough a large raptor appeared over the top of the woods: a Goshawk!

We left happy, despite not having seen our target. A further 3 Foxes together were an unexpected bonus, evidently a family group. One final surprise came in the form of a Kingfisher which flew along a dyke, crossing our path not 2 metres in front of us. It seemed to be just as shocked as we were, making a violent swerve to avoid us!

More raptors...

2008-12-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

23/12/08 North Norfolk Coast, Simeon, James, Connor, Matthew

We finally dragged Matt out birding again and all four of us were together in force once again!

The only problem was, it was winter - finding wasn't really much of an option - neither was twitching anything to be honest! We had a walk at Titchwell and got good views of Peregrine and Marsh Harrier hunting over the marshes. A ringtail Hen Harrier was just visible over Thornham harbour, where we picked out the Peregrine again. A Black Brant on the Fresh Marsh was probably a hybrid, but one on the beach was nice and proper. Seawatching was tedious, with the mist making identification difficult - a probable Red-necked Grebe was the only bird of note, save for an odd Eider. 40 Snow Buntings flew West along the beach and dribbled back in small flocks during our visit to Thornham Point. The bushes held a Dunnock and 2 Magpies - joy to the world!

Back at Titchwell we had a Spotshank with the Blackwits on the Fresh Marsh and delighted in having bacon baps! Perfect presciption for that winter low that lingers for an age.

We then moved on to Salthouse in hope of photographing the Glaucous Gull that had been on the beach there for a few days. Finding the Glauc was one thing - which proved impossible - let alone photographing it! It later showed up at Cley Marshes to roost apparently.

40 Snow Bunts flew East and then a couple of flocks totalling 60 birds flew West, bringing the day total to 100. Brill!

We then checked a large flock of Brents in fields just South of Salthouse but we couldn't find any Red-Breasted Geese.

The last stop was Warham Greens where we were a little late, but still managed 2 ringtail Hen Harriers and superb views of a Barn Owl hunting right in front of us.

A great trip in all, and a good one to end the 2008 birding season - roll on 2009 (especially Spring!)
Merry Christmas everyone - have a good'un!

NOA Christmas Party!

2008-12-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

20/12/08 Holme, Thornham and Chosely: Simeon, Connor, James

We decided to get to Holme for first light so we could search for owls before the party, but we couldn't be bothered to check the whole forestry, so instead Connor showed us a new area he recently discovered which looks perfect for rarities - we will definitely be visiting it during the next fall! On the way a Lapland Bunting and a few Rock Pipits flew over, and a Barn Owl was floating over the fields. A pair of Bearded Tits showed amazingly well in a reedbed. At the site itself a male Merlin flew over, and another Barn Owl was nearby. We walked back to the observatory before Jed could eat all the food, and had an unhealthy lunch before doing a seawatch. The seawatch was not one of Holme's best moments, although a few Red-throated Divers were nice. Back at the observatory a Snipe flew up off the marsh, and a Water Rail was squealing in the reedbed close by. Single Brambling and Redpoll flew over the car park.

We left to follow up a report of Waxwings nearby, without much luck. As the dusk began to set in we drove back via Chosely. Just before the turning we glimpsed a harrier and quickly pulled over where we all piled out to watch a lovely male Hen Harrier ghosting over the fields. As we were watching the second Merlin of the day, a female, shot through and we were able to watch it for a few minutes before both birds disappeared over the ridge.

Stopping at Choseley we were out of luck for Corn Buntings, but one last highlight was in store before the close of day - a female Hen Harrier gave us a farewell flyby! A great day on the Norfolk coast, despite missing out on the hoped-for Serin.

Blackborough End Tip

2008-12-09T09:06:00.000-08:00

7/12/08, Connor, James and Simeon

Gullwatching was the order of the day for the first Young Norfolk Birders trip since James left for university in the Autumn. Before meeting Connor at 10:00 we stopped at Tottenhill to look for the Smew. A Skylark and a Bullfinch flew over, calling, and several Pintail were on the pit, but there was no sign of the Smew.

Meeting Connor and Billy with David and Ray Roche, we drove to Blackborough End Tip to find Dave Hawkins already there. Despite spending a good hour there we saw nothing unusual, save for a group of Goosanders which David spotted flying over. A Redshank was feeding at the edge of the pit and a Bullfinch called nearby. Eventually we drove to some nearby lakes to try our luck, but there was still no sign of the Caspian, Glaucous or Iceland gulls. A group of about 10 Siskins was searched thoroughly for Redpolls, with no success. However, a couple of Green Sandpipers brightened up the trip, with two adult Bewick's Swans which were later joined by a juvenile.

We ate our sandwiches before leaving for Kings Lynn to meet with Mr Munns about our birding trip to Poland next summer...!

Final stand

2008-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

27/9/08 North Norfolk - Simeon and James
Today was one of James' very last birding outings before he goes to uni. So it had to be good. With a nice fall during the week things were set for the weekend and rares had already been found. We started early and were at Burnham Overy by 6:30am!
It felt good. We were flushing Robins and Song Thrushes from every bush and also the odd Redwing. Goldcrests called but stayed invisible. By the time we had hit the dunes, we had already seen about 40 Robins and 20 Song Thrushes. Little Egrets seemed abundant with a total of 25 flying over (one flock of 18 birds)!
The dunes seemed devoid of birds for some reason but still a few Robins, Dunnocks and millions of Meadow Pipits. We then headed quickly for the pines after the Radde's came out on the pager for the first time that morning. On arrival about 30 people were positioned in a line and we joined the ranks just in time to see it go up and down again in the bracken! It was calling but we hadn't had good views so we stayed.
Over the past hour or so we eventually got good views of the bird (I saw it on top of a bush for about 10 seconds). We also had a Crossbill flying over and a Yellow-Browed Warbler, but it didn't show very well.
On the way back to the car we met Penny Clarke and after talking for a while we headed back through the fields towards the main road. Just at one of our regular scans James spotted a lovely adult Honey Buzzard flying quite low. It headed East quite quickly and we lost it over the pines.
Once back at the car we left for West Runton to try for the Blyth's Reed Warbler. It had last been seen at 9:35am and by the time we got to the deserted buildings it was 2:00pm.
I thought it rather odd that everyone was talking and no-one was really looking for the bird. A few people had gone round the sides of the buildings to search, but for the majority of the birders present, even if it had showed, they probably wouldn't have noticed. Fed up of "standing in line" James and I went round the side ourselves, only to find it 'tacking' in some reeds in a ditch! The first views I had of the bird were undoubtedly the best, with the bird about 3m away and unobstructed by reeds!
We alerted another birder and once positive of the ID I went round to tell the others. After the hordes decended on the ditch it never showed very well again, but enough for most people to be happy with the ID. The bird called a few times but mostly stayed well hidden at the bottom of the reeds.
Feeling very happy that we had saved some birders' day, James and I headed to our final site for the day, Titchwell.
On arrival we went straight along the path and found loads of birders on the bank. Someone kindly showed me the Pectoral Sandpiper in their scope and I then got James onto it. It was showing well but quite distantly. James then spotted the Red-Necked Phalarope which showed very well on the deck and in flight when it flew closer towards us and showed even better! It was associating with a Little Stint as a bonus.
The day ended with a visit to our old patch where we used to live. We didn't see any decent birds, but memories of finding Ring Ouzels came flooding back as we walked down the path.
A cracking end to a wonderful day with some awesome birds seen!

2008-09-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

Titchwell, Sunday 7th September, James and Simeon

Having learnt the basics of pressure chart reading we had been watching the weather forecasts all week and continually changing our weekend plans accordingly (It's astounding how vastly incorrect the forecast can be, even 5 days beforehand!). Simeon wanted to do Blakeney Point as it looked reasonable for migrants, but I managed to persuade him to do Thornham Point, as it is near Titchwell so we could visit the reserve afterwards and seawatch (seawatching looked good for the afternoon). This turned out to be a good decision since the county was almost devoid of rare passerines - all we could come up with was a warbler which flew from a bush, realised it was raining, and promptly dived back into cover never to be seen again. We took shelter in the watchtower (my dream house!), which gives a great view over the surrounding area and has an absolutley amazing garden list! A lone Brent Goose in Thornham Harbour was early.

Realising there were no rarities to be found, and spotting an Arctic Skua flying along the beach, we walked back to Titchwell feeling a little dejected. The mood didn't improve when a couple told us they'd only seen a few Eider, but then Dave Hawkins appeared from behind the dunes and gave us his totals which included good numbers of Arctic and Great Skua and an adult Long-tailed Skua! We joined him out of the wind, and began racking up the skua totals. Simeon locked onto a large pale-brown shearwater but was unable to confirm its identification - in hindsight it was probably a Cory's, which would have been a lifer... The action died down, and we were beginning to get bored, when suddenly Dave located an extremely distant shearwater. I managed to get onto it, though Simeon did not - this time it was definitely a Cory's, though the extreme distance meant that it looked to me more like a Gannet, save for its banking flight. One of the worst ticks I've ever had! However, matters were complicated by the fact that a party of 4 Sabine's Gulls appeared in Dave's scope view as he was following the as yet unidentified shearwater! It was mayhem as he tried to get the 50+ observers onto the birds whilst calling the other wardens. 2 summer plumaged Red-necked Grebes put the finishing touch to a memorable seawatch.

Unfortunately the rain had managed to enter my battered eyepiece and prevented wader watching on the reserve, although the 3 Spoonbills were gorgeous as they demonstrated their characteristic feeding action known as 'spooning'. A false White-rumped Sandpiper alarm had us excited for a few minutes, but it turned out to be a Dunlin (try and get your head around that one!). It was incredibly small and slim-bodied, giving it a vaguely attenuated appearance, although the black underside gave it away.

An amazing day, even if it wasn't what we were expecting!

Scotland!

2008-09-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Scotland 16th-22nd August - James and Simeon

See gallery soon for photos of the trip...

This summer James and I decided to go to Scotland. The aim was to try and see as many British ticks as possible as we had never been to Scotland before. Planning ahead and asking people who either lived there or who had visited before gave us more sites than were possible to visit in the time we were there!
Target species;

Capercaillie
Ptarmigan
Black Grouse
Red Grouse (Simeon only)
Crested Tit
Black-Throated Diver
Scottish Crossbill
Parrot Crossbill
Golden Eagle
Sooty Shearwater
Surf Scoter

Saturday 16th August
We got up quite early and had left home by 7:30am. On the journey up we stopped at Fairburn Ings near Leeds, where there had been a Black-Necked Grebe. It would have been a lifer for me (Simeon), but sadly we had no luck. After an 11 hour jurney we finally arrived near Aviemore, where we stayed the night on a campsite. The journey had been exciting as we got closer and closer to our final destination. The only birds of note on the journey were a small total of 9 Kestrels and a few Buzzards.

Sunday 17th August
We got up when we woke up, as we were very tired after the journey the day before. By about 9:00am we were at Lochindorb for Black-Throated Diver. On arrival there were only a few Red-Throateds on the loch, but before long some Black-Throateds appeared and we counted 4 birds, including 1 juv. Suddenly a strange call behind us alerted us to the presence of a Grouse and on peering over the small crest, we saw 2 Red Grouse quite close to us! Within the first morning we had seen 2 target species.
A trip to nearby Loch Ruthven revealed 4 Slavonian Grebes, 1 Red-Throated Diver, and 6 Red-Breasted Mergansers. 2 Crossbills flew over several times, but we didn't get good enough views to call them anything other than common!
The 3rd stop was the Findhorn Valley where we failed with Golden Eagle, but had amazing views of an Osprey fishing. A female Hen Harrier quartered the long grass for a bit beore moving south. There was also a Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary on one of the hills.

Monday 18th August
If Ptarmigan was to be "had", a climb of Cairn Gorm was in order! On reaching the summit in the afternoon (we didn't start early!) we hadn't had Ptarmigan but there were 3 juv. Snow Buntings hopping around. Seeing a flock on Cley beach is one thing, but seeing juvs. in their breeding grounds was a completely new experience, and a very nice one too.
We walked down a different route from which we climbed, and about 200m above the car park we suddenly came across 4 "moving rocks" - Ptarmigans in summer plumage! It was brilliant to have finally caught up with this elusive species. I would have taken pictures, but let's just say the 70mph winds didn't help the shake...
In the evening we tried for Black Grouse on Tulloch Moor, but to no avail. A walk onto the moor produced 17 different species of Mushroom, but nowt else except a Spotted Flycather!

Tuesday 19th August
After sleeping in the car (much warmer than a tent) we got up early and drove around the roads of Abernethy Forest. We dazzled plenty of Robins, a Woodpecker sp. and a few Song Thrushes, but no Capercaillies, which apparently come for grit there.
The next stop was the Osprey centre at Loch Garten where we sat in the car for 2 hours due to the pouring rain! After it cleared up, we had a quick look at the Red Squirrels and Siskins on the feeders, and took a walk through the forest round Loch Garten. After distinguishing the call of Crested Tit, we eventually had about 6 birds, along with multiple Treecreepers and Goldcrests, and millions of Coal Tits! We also met some birders who told us of a nearby private site at which to get Crossbills. It contained a Loch surrounded by pines. The loch itself had a lovely summer plumaged Slavonian grebe and another Osprey which perched for a while. As we were about to leave, a group of Crossbills perched in the top of a nearby pine, and on getting them in the scope, we could both immediately tell they were Parrot Crossbills, due to the massive "bull-neck" and huge bill! They also called, and as there was a nearby Common Crossbill flying over, we had great comparison between the 2 species. It was great to have finally ticked off one of the most difficult species to get!
Alas, our time in Speyside was over, and that evening we moved on to Deeside, near Balmoral. A quick glance at Glen Muick looked good, but didn't reveal any Black Grouse.

Wednesday 20th August
Getting up relatively early we went to a nearby site called Glen Tanar, where there was a drinking pool for Crossbills, but sadly the only ones we saw were flyovers! We met 2 walkers who also knew a bit about birding. They gave us a nearby top secret site for Capercaillie and said there was a 60% chance of getting them at this time of year! We rushed off in anticipation and after getting lost in the forest, suddenly heard very loud wing-claps from what appeared to be very large birds...we had to get a closer look. Using ultimate tracking skills (the power of hearing) we knew they had flown right. We walked to a fence and just as it started to rain a male Capercaillie flew up about 50 yards off. Then its mate flew up and they both went right, giving ok views, but only in flight. We didn't want to disturb them, so we retreated back to the car, wet, but very happy!
So by now we had both had several British ticks and were feling very pleased, despite the weather!
That afternoon we drove to Peterhead on the East coast of Aberdeenshire, where we stayed the night...

Thursday 21st August
With light onshore winds we had planned a morning seawatch at Rattray Head. On arrival a few birds were moving, some very close Fulmars, Arctic and Great Skuas. From our position in the dunes we had a great vantage point. Suddenly James spotted a Shearwater going North. I got it in his scope and confirmed it as Sooty Shearwater - another British tick for both of us! Another Sooty and a Manx were also seen. Then a small skua went past close in, and brilliant views of the bird for a prolonged period confirmed it as an adult Long-tailed Skua - a British Tick for James. So now we both had 7 British ticks from the trip so far.
A four hour scan at Blackdog in the afternoon revealed plenty of Velvet Scoter, but the sea was too rough to be able to pick up the Surfie that had been present the day before! The odd possibles dived before conclusive views were had.
That evening we started the long journey south, and slept overnight in the car in a quiet village near Scotch Corner.

Friday 22nd August
Today was the final day of the trip and we were to get almost home, but stop at Chapel Point in Lincolnshire for the Audoin's Gull. After about 9 hours we (Connor, Ray Roche, James and I) had walked down the beach a short way to get closer to some distant gulls. We were about 200m from the main crowd and about 1 and a half miles from Chapel Point car park. Suddenly I noticed everyone running along the beach away from us. Something had happened and we knew what. We half ran half walked the distance and eventually caught up with some of the crowd. The gull had come up on the pager from Chapel Point car park. We got there and had brilliant veiws of it standing on the beach on its own. It flew up a couple of times but was on the beach when we left. It was a cracking end to the trip which ended with James and I having 8 lifers each including a 5th for Britain which was very unexpected.

Saturday 23rd August
Sleep... Marsh Sandpiper Hickling Broad! Left early afternoon and arrived at Hickling not actually knowing whereabouts the bird was at the reserve. We met a man that worked at the visitor centre and he told us it was seen from Rush Hill Scrape the day before! We went anyway and on arrival met a birder just coming away from the hide who told us it was still there!!! Our chances had increased dramatically. We got to the hide and scanned. A few Green Sandpipers. Then James saw it fly into an inlet, behind the reeds. I missed it! After about 20 minutes a third Green Sandpiper went behind the reeds and probably chased them all out, I got the Marsh Sandpiper in my scope in flight - lucky - with 3 Green Sandpipers. It landed on the near bank and showed excellently for quite a while before flying back into the inlet about 20 minutes later. See gallery for a record shot in fading light - well thats my excuse anyway.
A cracking round-off to the Scotland trip...it was well worth the effort.
9 lifers each.

Heavy birding...

2008-07-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

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)

Last minute decisions!

2008-06-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

22/6/08 Sutton Gault - Simeon and James

After dinner we randomly decided to go for the Spotted Crakes that had been calling recently at Sutton Gault. After the half hour drive we arrived just before 9pm and scanned the marsh as the Crakes were sarting to call at around 9:30 apparently. The totals were; 4 Little Egrets, 11 Grey Herons, 1 Kestrel and 1 Barn Owl which landed on a post.

We then positioned ourselves along the road as far away from trees as possible due to the high winds making a very loud noise!

Then we decided to walk along the edge of the field where they had been calling. At about 9:40 we heard both birds and went back along the bank to where about 5 other birders had gathered. After another 5 minutes or so, listening to the crakes calling, we decided to head home. We reached the end of the causeway and quickly walked down the bank a short distance to where one of the crakes was calling. Luckily, a bird flew out of the field and flew riht past us, but unfortunately, we didn't know it was a Spotted crake until it had gone! At least we saw it!

It was a very nice trip and good to get Spotted Crake on the "BOU List"

Lesser Grey Shrike

2008-06-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

Continuing with our twitching spree, we went for the Lesser Grey Shrike at Hickling, spurred on mainly by the fact that Connor saw the one at Holkham. It was a very long journey, not aided by a record low in Simeon's navigational skills! On arrival only a few cars were there, and we were surprised to see such a small amount of money in the bucket - presumably we were amongst the minority in not having seen the Holkham bird. Besides getting lost on the journey we also got lost at the site, but used our expert tracking skills to locate the bird (where there's a Lesser Grey Shrike there's twitchers, and where there's twitchers there's footprints. Genius!). It was showing well but distantly, so we had to use the 'eye of faith' to make out the pinkish hue. A very nice bird, though somehow lacking the thrill that most twitches bring. On the other hand, it was another tick and we had clawed back one more from Connor...

Mixed Weather...

2008-06-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

14/6/08 Norfolk Coast - Simeon (and Connor)
I got up early and did some ringing at Snettisham Coastal Park. It was nice weather and we caught quite a few birds - female Bullfinch and a family of Long-tailed tits being my favourites! At about 12:00 Ray Roche kindly gave me a lift up to Holme where we met Connor. The sea was fairly dead - 1 female Eider, 7 Gannets and a Fulmar. A Tope shark had been washed up on the beach. Then it started raining so we hid in the obs for a bit. There wasn't much on the marsh but a Tawny Owl was showing very well in the pines. At about 4:00 we headed back towards the car park where we were to be picked up. A female Common Scoter was on the Broadwater along with 3 Ruddy Ducks - 1 male, 1 female and one young bird! Connor then went to the car park to scan the marsh but I went up into the dunes breifly. The winds had been getting stronger throughout the day and I was eager to scan the bushes for any final migrants of spring. 6 Jackdaws "in-off-the-sea" were nice. Then I spotted something very far away. At first I thought it was a massive gull but as it came closer I got my bins onto it. Realising it was a Heron sp. and it had come in off the sea I quickly got my scope onto it. It was an egret which looked very large, so it could have been a Great-White Egret, but unfortunately there wasn't another bird nearby to compare the size so it remains a possible - the one that got away... It dropped onto the marsh not to be seen again despite extansive searching by both Connor and I. Unfortunately I didn't manage any pictures of it because it was flying but I got several other shots during my visit - see gallery...

Insanity!!!

2008-06-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

2/6/08 Blakeney Point - James, Simeon and Connor
With news of a Trumpeter Finch on Blakeney released on Sunday, we were gutted at the fact that we were unable to reach it. However, after staying there for two days, we decided we had to go and see it. So as I arrived home from school I quickly got changed, grabbed my gear and left with James at 5:00pm. We then picked up Connor and were at the site by 7:30. The bird was quickly located and we got reasonable views of it feeding. A couple of record shots were had for memory! The bird was rather plain with a pale pink rump and massive red bill. In the fading light, we could just make out the light grey on the head. It was wonderful! Unfortunately, we had to leave within about 15 minutes as the journey back was long and tiring. We made it back to the car in record time as the tide was going out and some hard sand was revealed. James and I finally arrived home at 10:00pm and had a very late dinner! The trip was brilliant but was made even more insane by the fact that Connor and I had exams the next morning! It was a fabulously exciting trip that I'm sure we will never forget, the bird was truly brilliant, and, as it turned out, the French exam went very well indeed!

Early morning happiness!

2008-05-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

29/5/08 Denver Sluice - Simeon

I was all over the place in the last few days so I decided to keep it local today and got up at 5:00am to go to Denver Sluice. The usual stuff was about; Turtle Dove (2), Cuckoo (2), Great-Crested Grebe (5), and the normal warblers; Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Blackcap. It was nice, but nothing special. Then, a Roe Deer walked through a field and stopped at the edge of a ditch. It gave really good views and allowed me to get some lovely shots of it:

About half way along the main bank, I heard the "peep....peep" call of Oystercatcher and looked up to see 4 birds going South following the river. At the end of the bank a Grey Heron flew over me and I noticed a Fox walking across the cow field. I quickly set up my scope and got awesome views of it eating something it had cought. I was really lucky to get the views I did and of course, I managed a few shots!

It didn't seem afraid of me at all and eventually wandered into the nearby hedgerow - maybe it had a litter in there? The final highlight was just after I had photographed the Fox. I was standing looking at my photos when I heard a familiar wader call above me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it! Looking up, I spotted two birds and got my bins on them as soon as I could. They were Avocets! Not the rarest of birds, but very nice ones, and they were a first for the Sluice! I returned home after a bit more photography very happy...

Above: Jackdaw

Below: Mallard

End of Spring?

2008-05-29T03:31:00.000-07:00

28/5/08 Holme - Simeon, Connor, James
We started late and got dropped off at Holme. James had revision so he returned home. Connor and I stopped at Redwell Marsh first of all. The only bird of note was a male Ruddy Duck. Connor then phoned Ray Roche to see what he had had (he was also at Holme). We were then alerted of an Icterine Warbler at the beach car park! So we raced down there to find one or two others listening to the bird and watching a bush! After about 5 minutes of listening to the bird, I phoned James who was only in Heacham so he turned round and got dropped off at the end of Broadwater Road. After about 5 more minutes, someone got their iPod out and played the song, to which our bird responded by flying right over our heads and into a line of pine trees. After another couple of minutes and some OK views, the bird flew back to a large tree and then dropped into a plum tree next to it. Fortunately, it flew right onto the outside and good views were seen by all eventually.
We were then told about another Icterine Warbler that had been seen early morning on the NOA reserve and had been relocated at the West end of the NWT pines. So Connor and I then walked the back way to the Forestry, flushing a Nightingale out of a bush on the way! The habitat was good, but only common warblers were seen. Just before the NWT pines, we heard the second Icterine Warbler a few times briefly but it was deep in the scrub so we walked to the NOA observatory.
After a rest to have lunch we were about to do the final thrash of the Forestry but the Citrine Wagtail came up on the pager at Titchwell. I hadn't seen it yesterday as I was in Sussex so we got a lift to the reserve. On arrival no-one had heard of it and the report sounded "dodgy" apparently. Never mind... I would have to wait until another day to be able to tick off this species! There were plenty of other birds to keep us occupied though. 3 Temminck's Stints were on the mud along with 27 Little Gulls (some coming into their lovely summer plumage). A male Red-Crested Pochard was in front of the reeds at the back of the marsh.
It had been a great day and the Icterine Warblers had been a life tick for all three of us! Could this be the final push of Spring though?

A change of scenery...

2008-05-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

27/5/08 Ashdown Forest - Simeon
My sister was having an outing to Thorpe Park and we were staying in Sussex so I met up with my uncle and a Bird Forum member called Deborah. We drove to Ashdown Forest - the largest area of open Heathland in the country. It was very different from Norfolk and we had a great time. The highlights were; 2 Cuckoo, 1 Kestrel, 2 Woodlark, 15+ Tree Pipit (singing loads and displaying), 3 Redstarts (including a beautiful male), a male Stonechat and a Buzzard.
It was really good but James ruined my day by telling me he had seen a Citrine Wagtail and found a Red-Backed Shrike in Norfolk!!! Oh well...

A twitch and a self find

2008-05-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

Bored with memorising the reactions of methylbenzene, but determined to stick at it anyway, I was torn apart inside when I recieved the phone call from Connor about a Citrine Wagtail at Titchwell! Luckily mum managed to persuade me that I needed a break, so I gunned it down to the coast, bagging myself a Connor on the way. I felt bad about going without Simeon (who was in Sussex), but I reminded myself that he has Red-breasted Goose and Great Reed Warbler on his list, both birds I dipped sorely!

However, when we arrived it seemed as though I may not have to overcome my birding morals anyway, as it had been seen once since discovery. Little Gulls were everywhere, with a Garganey, Red-crested Pochard and Temminck's Stints, but no sign of the Wagtail. Things got even more frustrating as we learnt of the Red-throated Pipit at Blakeney! Suddenly Connor went beserk - the Citrine Wagtail had flown in right onto a patch of mud in front of us, what a stroke of luck! It stayed for a minute or so and we even managed to get a few photos!

Next we set off at a brisk pace for Blakeney, but realised that was an incredibly dumb idea (luckily before we reached the road) and decided to stop off at Holme on the way back. At first glance this may appear to be equally dumb, and birdwise it seemed that it was so. However, it was immediately made worthwhile when I found three baby foxes in the forestry! A Cuckoo, Turtle Doves and a Barn Owl were lovely, but no sign of the Icterine Warblers that were obviously staring at us concealed in the thickest of bushes. However, just as we were approaching the car park, our instincts were proved correct. Something flew up from the grass onto a low bush - not an Icterine Warbler, but a female Red-backed Shrike! What a cracking end to the day!

James

Lovely day

2008-05-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

11/5/08 Lakenheath RSPB - Simeon and James
James and I were having lunch when a Great Reed Warbler came up on the internet at Lakenheath. After getting indigestion, we set out to Lakenheath, arriving within 25 minutes!
A few questions later, we had found out that the bird had originally been seen at about 12, but had only been heard once since. After 3 hours of waiting I got views of the bird a couple of times, but they were poor and brief. Unfortunately, James didn't! There was also a drake Gargeney and 1 Hobby present.
Just after we left, the warbler came up again but we only found once w3e were nearly home!

Stupidity...

2008-05-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

10/5/08 North Norfolk - James, Simeon, Mr. Munns (former English teacher!)
James is sensible, as is Mr. Munns, but I, on the other hand, am the opposite. I went to a party last night and got to bed after 12, so getting up at 3:45 gave me less than 4 hours sleep. Then we walked Blakeney Point.
Surprisingly, I didn't fall asleep and roll down the shingle bank into the sea. Actually I nearly did at one stage - we were sitting on the dunes in front of the seawatching hide watching Little Terns and Gannets go past, when the small area I was sitting on gave way and I reached the beach within seconds! I just hope the National Trust don't read this.
Bird wise, the point wasn't that good at all - the wind was right, but there was no rain to put the birds down! Totals were; Song Thrush 1, Willow Warbler 1, Whinchat 2, Wheatear 1, Yellow Wagtail 1. There was also a lovely adult summer plumaged male Turnstone near the visitor centre, which should probably have been in Norway.
We then went to Choseley and had 7 Dotterel. They were closer than when we visited 2 weeks ago, but the heat haze was very annoying.
The last stop was Snettisham where we had 2 Little Gulls, 8 Med. Gulls and a Marsh Harrier, along with another summer plumaged male Turnstone.
It was a nice day, but we didn't get the hoped for rarity!

Best Spring I can remember!

2008-05-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

5/5/08 North Norfolk Coast - Simeon, Connor, James
James and I started early with a stop at Pentney, but the Black Terns had left overnight! We then picked up Connor and stopped at Stiffkey where we found a second Temmink's Stint, but again, no Black Terns. Next stop was Salthouse for the Green-Winged Teal. Knowledge had suggested that the bird was only showing late afternoon, but luck was now finally on our side and the bird showed well on the far side of the second pool. It was distant and the light wasn't too good, but in the end it showed well.
The next stop was Kelling Heath, but after an hour of searching, no Dartford Warblers could be found. We were just about to go to the last possible place when a Subalpine Warbler came up on the pager. It was on Blakeney Point, but none of us had had it before so we went for it. We walked the point with 4 other birders. Reaching the patch of seuda we remembered how big it was and split up to search for the bird, as no-one was there. David Norgate finally found it and in the end we all got reasonable views of the bird. It was very hard though, and it was nearly always seen only when flushed! James, Connor and I eventually got views of it on the deck, so after a while we left. The final stop was Stiffkey where there was no sign of the Stints, but we finally caught up with three Black Terns, and just before we left, they all perched on fence posts for us to get then in the scope!
It was a brilliant day, and certainly the best spring one I can remember!

More migrants...

2008-04-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-27T01:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

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!

First few migrants :-)

2008-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

31/3/08 James, Simeon and Connor.
We left Norfolk early and were at Minsmere by 8:30am. On arrival the Bluethroat wasn't showing (it never did show in the end), but several Cetti's Warblers were singing along with loads of Chiffchaffs. We positioned ourselves along the path where the Bluethroat had been, but the clear skies the night before meant that the bird had probably moved on.
Despite extensive searching we failed to locate it, but we did find some summer migrants in the meantime. 3 Wheatears were on a bank on the edge of a pool, 1 Sedge Warbler was singing near South hide, 1 Swallow and 4 Sand Martins flew over, as did a splendid male Yellow Wagtail. 5 Red-Throated Divers were on the sea along with about 100 Common Scoter and a Great-Crested Grebe.
We then went to Sizewell and found another Wheatear along the beach. At the power plant a Willow Warbler sang briefly along with many Chiffchaffs. On return we split up. Connor went to East hide and found a female Black Redstart in the dunes behind the hide, whilst James and I went to West hide, where we had a Bittern fly over the reeds.
All three of us located a Caspian Gull on the marsh. A Bittern was heard booming.
We then went to Dunwich Heath and had a singing male Firecrest but didn't have time to see any Dartford Warblers.
The next stop was Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth. On arrival the Glaucous Gull was sitting in the sun on its own on a jetty. It showed very well for about ten minutes, allowing us to get brilliant views and several pics (see front page). The bird then flew towards the sea with some other gulls, showing the white wings.
The final stop was a site in the brecks where we got 2 singing male Firecrests and 1 showed very well at the top of a small tree.
It was an awesome day, but annoyingly we returned with no Bluethroat on our lists!

Holme can be good sometimes

2008-03-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Connor had kindly invited Simeon and I round for a sleepover with a spot of birding, so we got down to business on arrival spending 5mins outside the front door counting curlews. Continuing the productive theme we spent the rest of the evening on the PS2.

Generally when we have a birding sleep-over at Connor's we leave with about 27 lifers in the bag. However, Connor had already seen the Bluethroat so that wasn't on the menu, and Norfolk didn't have much else to offer. In view of the situation we therefore decided to go on a migrant finding mission!

The day began exceedingly early with a spot of visual migration at Hunstanton. Between 6:20 and 7:50 we managed to lock onto an incredible 708 Woodpigeons and 193 Meadow Pipits, together with good numbers of finches and Pied Wagtails, with a probable White Wagtail. A Redpoll, Grey Wagtail, 2 Reed Buntings and 11 Tree Sparrows added interest, together with 2 migrating Great Tits! Meanwhile there was a Red-throated Diver and Kittiwake on the sea with 30+ Eider, good numbers of Fulmars and a large flock of Brent Geese. A Black Redstart added a touch of class. Every single bird was moving South. Please see Connor's personal diary for full details.

We moved on to Holme, where the migration continued overhead. A Marsh Harrier and displaying Ruddy Duck were on the reserve, though sadly there was no sign of any Bluethroats lurking in the forestry, or even the elusive Great White Egret. Another Red-throated Diver flew past over the sea. Most of our time was spent tracking (shadows of) Firecrests through the pines, until Sophie saved the day when she located 3 showing brilliantly - most people on the reserve were treated to fantastic views.

There was nothing left to see at Holme, so naturally we decided to go to Minsmere to see the Bluethroat. We realised the foolishness of our plans around about Fakenham, so we ended up at Hempton Marsh where we saw a long-tailed tit with no tail - always good comedy value. As we were in the area we stopped off at an old favourite, Flitcham, which also produced very, very little.

Connor resigned, so we dropped him off in time for the Norwich match and went patchwatching. A call from Connor told of a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe on the sea at Titchwell. We knew we wouldn't see it. We went anyway.

On the way back from Titchwell, where we had seen hordes of Red-breasted Mergansers, I finished patchwatching out of a sense of duty. And it delivered! A cracking Whimbrel made for an excellent early yearer, and put the day's rating from 5ish/10 back up to a solid 7.

James

2008-03-03T02:37:00.000-08:00

01/02/08, Norfolk Coast

James and Simeon

After a February devoid of lifers we decided to kick start March with a day trip to the coast. We took Nigel as he hadn't seen the White-crowned Sparrow yet, and really needed a break from work. However, the trip maybe wasn't what the doctor ordered, as it was a far from relaxing day!

We set out at 6:30, with the wind buffeting the car and debris all over the road! Somehow we arrived safely at Cley, to find a somewhat smaller crowd than when we went in January! The atmosphere was still there in part however, and Nigel was ecstatic when the bird eventually showed (much better than when it was on the driveway). Next stop was Salthouse where the Snow Buntings showed extremely close, as did the sea - it wasn't far off from crashing over the bank! The Ross' Goose at Holkham showed extremely well from the roadside when we stopped off on the way to Titchwell.

On arrival at Titchwell we were greeted by a flurry of Robins, which seemed to be putting on a show for us in the hope of being fed. We promptly sat down and had lunch inside the car. After lunch we made our way to the feeding station - 3 Bramblings showed extremely well. There wasn't a great deal in the way of variety on the lagoons (perhaps unsurprising considering it was still winter), but a Kingfisher flew over the reeds and Simeon and Nigel had another flock of Snow Buntings through. Moving on to Parrinder hide we were delighted with some showy Spotted Redshanks and a Water Pipit, the latter another lifer for Nigel! The weather had decided to play behind schedule, so the wind didn't die down until very late on - we didn't go to the beach! This turned out to be a great decision - a flock of 9 Redpoll in front of Island hide and a Black Brant in fields on the way back to the visitor centre polished off our visit rather nicely. Of course it wouldn't be the same without bacon butties, which we noticed had dropped in price for once... Feeling generous, Nigel bought a tub of mealworms for the robins on the way back. A Woodcock was skulking near the path in 'the usual place'.

With a bit of time to spare we popped in at Holme as Nigel had never been. 7 Bramblings and a Barn Owl were in the pines (yes, that's right, a Barn Owl!). Jed collared us to play cricket for Holme in the Summer, as he often does around this time of year, and we were also forced to do a seawatch in the interests of science. I won't be doing anything in the interests of science for a long time...

A great day out, despite the crumminess of Holme!

Sweden - Hemavan

2008-02-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

Simeon and James

During half term we had the fabulous opportunity of a skiing holiday in Hemavan in the north of Sweden. On condition that Orjan, our host, acted as Hemavan's "Turistprast" (tourist priest - fairly self explanatory) for the duration of the holiday, we could borrow a house next to the church!

We packed our binoculars dreaming of hordes of Nutcrackers and Siberian Jays, but unfortunately the reality was almost more surprising. There weren't any birds! The total number of species seen on the whole trip was about 10...

Magpies and Hooded Crows were the only regular birds. Great tits were fairly common, averaging about 5 individuals per day! Pistewatching (not a recommended activity) produced only Raven, whilst snowballfightwatching delivered a lovely flypast by a male Black Grouse - the star bird of the trip!
A very tantalising "owl sp." made an brief appearance for James; he thought it was a very small Barn Owl, before realising that Sweden has no Barn Owls, and decided it was probably Tengmalm's. Simeon heard a distant call which was possibly a Hawk Owl.

Perhaps the best birding was when we sat in a ditch and watched someone's bird feeders! Blue Tit, (Northern) Bullfinch and several gorgeous Willow Tits were added to the list before we resorted to burying each other.

Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Willow Grouse and Ptarmigan were all seen stuffed in various cafes.

Still, despite the lack of birds we had an amazing holiday with some great friends!

Ring-billed Gull

2008-02-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Welney, 27/01/08, James and Simeon

Secretly hoping that I wouldn't have any work to do so that we could spend the day plover watching, Simeon and I arrived at Welney at 2:00. As usual Sarah wasn't there, so after making sure everything had already been done I went over to the observatory for my 'last resort' job - assisting with Guide in the Hide (ie. bird watching!). There was very little at all, so that after about 5mins everybody had seen pretty much everything there was to see!

We were off the hook, so we made a speedy getaway. Unfortunately our tactics were in vain because, once again, no plovers were to be found. Feeling somewhat peeved we thought it might be worth going back to Ten Mile Bank to inspect a flooded field full of gulls. Simeon predicted boredom and failure, and therefore sat in the car keeping warm. As I got out of the car the whole flock took to the air! Perhaps Simeon had been right. Nevertheless I waited impatiently for them to settle, muttering to myself about Simeon being the world's most annoying birding companion. It appeared that most of the big (ie. interesting) gulls had made off, leaving a pile of Black-headed Gulls. Just as I was giving up hope, I struck gold! At the back of the flock stood an adult winter Ring-billed Gull (I could be certain of this thanks to the lack of birds at Welney which had driven me to gen-up on gulls, in particular Ring-billed!). The light wasn't particularly cooperative, but the bill was diagnostic; a lovely bird indeed! I got Simeon out of the car to get a second opinion, and the look on his face made my day! Who wants to see an American Golden Plover anyway?

2008-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

Welney, 26/01/08, Simeon and James

The plan was to do the Big Garden Birdwatch in the morning, Simeon would then do the Sluice whilst I went to Wisbech for a hockey match, and then we would race to Welney and refind the American Golden Plover. It didn't work out quite as well as we had hoped.

The Big Garden Birdwatch was a success, though we were annoyed that the rules wouldn't allow us to count Buzzard! Simeon's Sluice trip was somewhat mundane as the flood pools had dried up (last weekend they successfully managed to steal nearly all of Welney's waders). I lost 4-0 to Stamford and our coach didn't even turn up!

Once we reached Welney Simeon decided he wanted to leave, partly because there were no plovers, but also because he hadn't done some vital shopping. I managed to convince him to stay, possibly aided by the fact that Simeon can't drive yet, until a multitude of Golden Plover began to pour in. They were incredibly annoying and we had to leave before they landed. At least Simeon got to the shops in time!

Local birding...

2008-01-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

20/1/08 Denver Sluice, Welney WWT and Tottenhill; James and Simeon
I started early and was at the sluice by 8am. The floodplain had become waterlogged with all the rain over the past few days and hundreds of birds had been attracted to it.
Down the road, Welney had flooded completely and all the land was underwater, so all the wading birds had moved to Denver Sluice!
On arrival at the sluice, hundreds of Lapwing were on the fields and 8 Whooper Swans had roosted in the water and were begining to wake up. 5 Wigeon were flying about and 30+ Teal were on the water too. I called James and he came down too, with a scope. We managed to pick out 100+ Golden Plover swirling above us in amongst 700+ Lapwing! When the flocks landed, we found 9 Ruff, a new species for the sluice! 2 Curlews and 2 Black-tailed Godwits (another first for the sluice) were also present. Then a Sparrowhawk zipped across and put everything up. I went home and James shortly followed.
After lunch we headed to Welney and on arrival, we quickly got the three Bean Geese in the field behind the visitor centre near the haystack. The main hide produced nothing of note at all so we quickly moved on to Tottenhill to try for the Smew.
We saw about 10 ducks overall, which is very unusual for this time! There are usually loads of Wigeon, Pochard, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Pintail etc. But today there were only about 7 Goldeneye, 3 Tufted Duck and 2 Great Crested Grebes. It was rubbish. It had been good to see so many birds at the sluice in the morning though.
Hurry up spring!!!

More pie please!

2008-01-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

19/1/08 Pymoor; James and Simeon
After having pie for lunch we were still hungry... so we went to Pymoor! Sadly there was no pie as the village name would suggest, but after 10 minutes of searching, we came across a lovely Great White egret in a ditch. It showed distantly, but well. Some awful photos of the bird were taken before we left it and continued on our pie-quest.

North Norfolk

2008-01-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

(Connor) Another good day in north Norfolk today (12/1/08) produced Lesser-spotted Woodpecker at Holkham Park, Firecrest at Walsey Hills NOA, Lapland Bunting and 50+ Snow Buntings at Salthouse, Water Pipit at Cley NWT and second helpings of the White-crowned Sparrow at Cley Village, having first seen it last Sunday.

On the 5th a day around Holme NOA produced 7 Bramblings, a Rock Pipit and a female Peregrine.

Below are a few record shots of the White-crowned Sparrow.

Now that's what I call twitching!

2008-01-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

12/1/08 James and Simeon; Norfolk coast
James and I got up at 5 and were on the road by just after 6. Cutting through Norfolk we were at Cley just before 8. As we got out of the car in the semi-light you could feel the tension. Birders were getting out of their cars in silence and making their way to the crowd opposite a gravel drive. As the light improved, the number of birders grew and soon there were more than 200 of us! Luckily James and I were near the front and we could both see most of the driveway. The first sighting of the White-crowned Sparrow came at about 8:50. However, some inconsiderate birders rushed to the gate on the other side of the road, so we din't get a look in. The bird was flushed into the hedge again, but at least it was still around! No more than 10 minutes later it appeared again and as I now had a front row seat, (I was kneeling on the road!) I got really good views through my bins and so did James! Then a lorry went past the drive and the crowd erupted into angry shouting. When it had gone, so had the bird! James and I were happy with the views we got so we left, to let other people see it. It was a brilliant atmosphere and I just love the tension in a massive crowd at a mega twitch!
The next stop was Walsey Hills NOA where a Firecrest had been seen 2 days ago. We walked up to the observatory and then down the track past the feeders. About 50 yards along the bottom track James spotted a crest, and, sure enough, it was the Firecrest! It showed brilliantly, but was very flittery and it soon popped down, out of site. We told another birder of its whereabouts and were off on the road again to Salthouse.
Arriving in the beach car park, we walked west for about 50 yards and there were the buntings on the South side of the sea wall. They showed really well, down to about 10 metres. There were 70+ Snow Buntings and a lovely Lapland Bunting!
We then went back through Norfolk and arrived at Roydon Common to the news that the shrike had disappeared 5 minutes ago! We thought our luck was beginning to run out. But then, just as we were about to go to the car and have lunch, someone refound it on top of the hill! It showed distantly and the light was rubbish, but it was still a nice bird! We marveled at its ability to sneak round the back of us unseen in an open heath. If only we were that good...
Next stop was Ongar Hill, to try for the Richard's Pipit. The walk was very long and the bird hadn't been seen for about half an hour, but it was a pipit after all. We waited for a few minutes and it soon reappeared on the bank we were standing on! It walked up the bank and started feeding on the path! It gave excellent views and we were really pleased - we had picked up every bird we had gone for that day - an extremely rare occurrence! We then took a short walk along the bank and at a barn, 20+ Twite were calling on the wires!
We decided to leave it at that, and started the journey home. On the way back, we stopped off at Tottenhill. The usual stuff was about; Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and Pochard. Then a massive goose flock came in and as they were landing, I picked out a white bird. Thoughts of Snow Goose flashed through my head, but as I got my scope on the bird, I saw it was a Feral Goose! Oh well! Scanning the goose flock again, I found a single Barnacle Goose and James found a White Fronted Goose!
We returned home with a brilliant lifer and several scarce yearers "in the bag", and it's still only January! What a day...!

2008-01-04T04:36:00.001-08:00

2/1/08 Draycote Water, James and Simeon
James and I were in Oxfordshire so we quickly popped over to Draycote Water in the next county to try and see the Lesser Scaup. Arriving in the car park we met a birder who informed us that the bird was showing to about 20 yards! We were really excited and the next mile seemed the longest we had ever walked. When we got to the area it had been seen, loads of birds were around! 8 Goosanders, loads of Little and Great-crested grebes and thousands of gulls were on the reservoir. The sun was beginning to set so we set about the task of finding the rare. It didn't actually take that long as James soon found the Lesser Scaup right next to the bank! The bird had its head tucked in at first, but we could see the scalloped back and peaked hind crown. The sun was in a bad position for photos, but it was good for seeing the purple sheen on the birds head. (Greater) Scaups have a green sheen. At one time, it lifted its head for about 5 seconds, but we did manage to see the tiny "nail" on the end of its bill! A few other birders saw it with us, including a young girl (about 8 probably) who was still learning garden birds! Lucky! These were the only shots I managed of the bird;

Night birding!!!

2007-12-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

1/1/08 James and Simeon

James and I went for a leisurely stroll to celebrate the new year! We notched our year lists up to and inredible 4 in the pitch black! A Tawny Owl hooted a few times, we heard a Little Owl at Whin Common, a startled Blackbird called once and the distinctive heavy flapping of a Woodpigeon was heard as it was woken up (though the Woodpigeon doesn't really count!). I was really pleased to have Little Owl so early on in the year, because they are generally quite hard to cath up with in my area!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

2007-12-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

Simeon and I decided to go for what was probably the last birding trip of the year, down to the coast for a spot of seawatching. Our first stop was Denver Sluice to attempt to relocate Saturday's Firecrest, as I really wanted to see it through optics. However, we wanted to get on so didn't try particularly hard, and left after picking up 3 Goosanders.

10 minutes down the road was Tottenhill GP's where we checked for Smew. Unusually there were none present (probably all at Welney!), but there were several Goldeneye. Approaching Kings Lynn we decided to have a crack at the Great Grey Shrike at Roydon. The pattern repeated itself, despite the efforts of several birders, and we left without any yearticks, feeling somewhat annoyed. A brief check at Dersingham Bog still yielded no Shrike.

We stopped off at Matt's house to see if he wanted to go to Titchwell. Finding him in his pyjamas we left later than planned, but luckily there wasn't much at Titchwell so this wasn't too devastating! Connor was already on the coast doing a sponsored birdwatch with Jed and Sophie (the wardens of Holme NOA) and David Roche, and had already had Black-throated Diver (a potential lifer for us) and Grey Phalarope past on the sea at Holme. Apparently it was otherwise dead, which was more good news becausec there was no way we would be able to get to the sea and back in time and have actually done some decent birding! We picked up some bacon sandwiches, then went to the first hide (having 2 water rails along the way) and found plenty of nice looking wildfowl, but nothing particularly exciting.

Whilst helping somebody with gull identification, my phone rang in the hide! This is usually a bad thing, but this time it was Connor, ringing to tell us that Sophie had found a female Red-crested Pochard about 200m away (THANK YOU CONNOR!!!!!!!). Swiftly exiting the hide we used the patented Mr Reade Walk to reach the Pochard in the shortest possible time. Woohoo! A really unexpected lifer for all of us which more than made up for the day's dipping! We made our way back to the visitor centre as I needed to buy some new bins (a birthday present from grandparents). The new release of a pair of RSPB binoculars made the choice more difficult than I thought. Vistrons were holding up well (partly because they look so cool), but I finally settled on a pair of 10x45 Viking GR's, putting me out £260, but they were definitely worth it!

Back at Matt's house I had a call from Connor saying they had a lovely Red-necked Grebe on the sea and some Med Gulls one hide down from where we had been, but also that there was a Glaucous Gull at Saddlebow! My heart beat faster and I didn't spare the accelerator on the way! At Saddlebow we got out of the car... and nearly cried. Literally thousands of gulls moving all around us, more than half of them juv. Herring Gulls, and we had to find a juv. Glaucous. No chance! Using carefully honed bush-ninja surveillance skills we crept up on the flock and observed from behind some brambles. It was horrible! After a while however, Simeon had it! He tried to direct me to it in a scope view full of gulls, but alas. I think I got onto the right bird, but it had its back to us and I couldn't clearly get the pink on the bill and it didn't flap for me (to show pale wingtips) as it did for Simeon, before I lost it in the mayhem. I suddenly went mad and lost my cool, leaving the cover of the bush and walking closer to the gulls! They all took to the air and scattered; Simeon went back to the car. I spent another hour dredging, finding a possible Yellow-legged Gull (but it was on the water so I couldn't clinch it, and anyway the Glaucous was far more important so I moved on) but failed to pick up on the much sought after second lifer of the day.

Just to put the icing on the cake, Connor called me back at home to tell me that the Shrike had been reported at 4.00, and someone else had had the Glauc and - yes, you guessed it - a Yellow-legged Gull.

But the Red-crested Pochard was nice!

Merry Christmas everybody!

(James)

Winter Wetlands...

2007-12-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

16/12/07 Simeon and James.
We went to Welney after lunch and picked up 1 female Marsh Harrier and 50+ Black-tailed Godwit, with a female Bahama Pintail (returning from the previous winter). The other hides were flooded so we left for Denver sluice at about 3. Loads of Wigeon were on the Ouse as well as a seal eating a fish! 2 Snipe and a Grey Wagtail were also present. We then went to Tottenhill and saw loads of Pintail, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Greylag geese, 1 Little grebe, 1 Great-crested grebe and will be returning soon to look for smew.

2007-12-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

15/12/07 Bates Wood, Denver. Simeon
Ringing started at 8:ooam this morning at Bates Wood, Denver. Quite a few birds were caught, amongst which were 3 Coal tits, 1 Goldcrest, several Long-tailed tits, a Woodpigeon and a splendid adult Green Woodpecker! The best pictures of the woodpecker are in the gallery. Its claws were really sharp and I came home bearings the painful, but respectable scars! Other birds caught were; loads of Blackbirds, Blue tits, Great tits, and the odd Robin and Dunnock. Other birds seen were; several Siskin flying over, a Great-Spotted Woodpecker and a Sparrowhawk. It was a great morning.

I'm ringing in the rain...

2007-12-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

8/12/07 Bates Wood, Denver (Simeon)
Trevor came down here and we did some ringing at Bates Wood for about 3 hours. 31 birds were caught in 4 nets. 16 Blackbirds, 1 Wren, 1 Chaffinch and some Blue and Great Tits. On a walk around the wood we flushed a Woodcock from the ditch at the South end. A Kingfisher entertained us in the rain along the stream and a Siskin flew over calling a few times.

Shetland – land of the incomprehensible bus drivers

2007-11-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

20th October 6:00, the first day of half term, and a car carrying seven crazy people is gradually moving towards Aberdeen. Nine hours later it finally rolls onto the ferry, Mum and Dad looking the worse for wear. That was the good journey – the return can only be described as “evil”!

Taking note from our last trip we stampeded for the lounge area to procure our ‘beds’, in order to avoid the ordeal of sleeping with one’s nose pressed against a pair of feet. This done, we found time to go up to the top deck and do a bit of harbourwatching. Kittiwakes gave great views and some Razorbills had a close shave with the ferry! However, a juvenile Peregrine stole the show when the passerine it was chasing decided to weave between the observers on deck: a brilliant display of agility and speed!

A female Blackbird landed on the railings when we were just at the tip of Scotland, circled the ship a few times and went for land. Sadly it wasn’t anything else like a Ring Ouzel!

Suddenly a deep low rumble reminded us to go and get dinner, after which we went to watch the Rugby final. It soon came to our attention that we were a minority, being the only ones supporting England – everybody else was Scottish! The outcome was inevitable, and we retired to basecamp feeling dejected. Two men pretending to be Steve Irwin amused us as they tried to “creep up on a dangerous troll”, running away when it woke up and shouted at them... we managed an average of about 5 hours sleep per person!

Sunday morning started groggily, but a good bowl of porridge galvanised the troops as we docked at Lerwick, greeted by none other than the famous Tysties and a supporting cast of Eider. With 5 hours to kill before we were allowed into our apartment we were ambitiously hoping for a trip to Sumburgh, forgetting that Mum and Dad had driven 450 miles the previous day. Instead, we went to Clickimin broch – an Iron Age settlement which doubles up as an excellent adventure playground! A Coot, 4 Goldeneye, 2 Brambling and 8 Siskin were present.
Next stop was the Methodist Church, which turned out to be one of the best decisions of the whole trip: Connor and Simeon found a Yellow-browed Warbler nearby, and inside we found Derek (vice chairman of the Shetland Bird Club and infinite source of knowledge)! After the service Derek took us to the hospital for lunch, before giving us a tour of the Ness of Sound. Highlights included 3 Long-tailed ducks, 3 Purple sandpipers, 9 Twite and a very close Shetland Wren. Matt managed to rip his best jeans climbing over barbed wire to look at an ancient cooking site.
Before the first day ended Mum kindly drove us to Tingwall Loch to see the drake Ring-necked duck. Luckily we had the experience of Connor to hand, who located the Ring-necked duck whilst the rest of us were tracking dodgy Tufteds. A gorgeous lifer for Matt, Simeon and I! A Kestrel seen on the journey was a Shetland scarcity.

Monday 22nd began early with a walk to the bus station to find the earliest bus to Sumburgh. It resulted in us wandering round Lerwick and returning 2 hours later, annoyed that we had wasted so much valuable birding time! Matt paid the system back for this travesty of justice by spilling his lucozade, sitting in the terminal with a yellow puddle between his legs and a guilty puppy look on his face. Priceless!
Shetland buses apparently have no stops. You can ask the driver to stop and he will randomly let you off the bus in the middle of the road. We put this to use and got dropped off right at the Pool of Virkie! A short walk past the willows produced Rob Fray (1) and his dog (1) but nowt else.
A quick visit from the juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper for about 8 seconds (before it realised it didn’t want to get involved with us hoodies) seemed promising... 3 and a half hours of sitting/standing/kicking stones/jumping over ditches later we were really, really bored! However, we soon met a birder in a white van (don’t trust anyone with a white van) who said the Killdeer had been favouring some small pools the other end of Virkie. So we trudged along the road, meeting several people more than once, to these small pools. A Redshank and a resident Wheatear were scant reward.
On returning to the beginning we bust the willows wide open, revealing several House sparrows, a Siberian type Chiffchaff and a “normal” Chiffchaff.
So we sat back down... and quickly got up again because James had found the Killdeer right in front of us! It just goes to show that when you get bored you simply don’t notice what’s right in front of you. James did though! After a few shots of the bird it flew to the far shore with a group of Ringed Plovers and we couldn’t be bothered to chase after it.

Wondering what to do next we scanned the Pool in deep thought. Two Whooper Swans had joined the gulls in the middle and a one-legged Bar-Tailed godwit fed on the shore with some more Ringos.
Connor and Simeon had a large pipit with an olive back (seriously), but it was lost in the airfield. James tried to refind it but didn’t fancy entering the forbidden land (Sumburgh airfield), and Matt remained seated!
Then a guy who had taken some great pics of the Killdeer - and also owned a Hotel in Hoswick - took us to Sumburgh Hotel in his “hyped up” van. Connor took the dignified option and sat in the front; Matt, Simeon and I lay in the boot, which was surprisingly comfortable. 3 Starlings were in the bushes in the garden so Connor and Simeon walked up to the farm, which was also pointless. Matt and I walked the dunes, following a tip-off about the long lost Blyth’s pipit. The dunes held no birds at all, though 3 Razorbills and a Long-tailed duck were present in the West Voe of Sumburgh. A Linnet accompanied 40 Twite in a garden in Grutness.
We caught the next bus to Lerwick and again got dropped off by the side of the road at Clickimin. 25+ Siskin were in the trees down Helendale drive and a late House Martin circled us several times.
The day ended in the warmth of the apartment as we planned the next day.

By 23rd October we were wondering if we were ever going to find anything in the South-Westerly winds. A day trip to the northern mainland produced little. On the way to Hillswick 3 Grey Herons and 7 Whooper Swans were on various lochs and streams. 2 House Martins accompanied 60+ Lapwing crossing the bay in Hillswick! A juv. Moorhen was seen by Matt and James in some dead reeds near a graveyard.

Seawatching off Eshaness near the lighthouse produced loads (of waves); a Little gull, a Kittiwake, some Gannets and 3 Razorbill. Simeon missed all of these (except the waves) as he had already given up and retired to the warm interior of the car. Matt and James wandered off and saw a female Goosander on a random loch.

On the way back in the car we flushed a thrush from a field. Connor immediately shouted “Ring Ouzel – stop the car!” at which Simeon replied “That was a Fieldfare you idiot, you’re going mad!” Connor insisted he was right so we got out of the car and walked back along the road. We flushed a Fieldfare. Connor remained silent as we mocked him (in a friendly way of course). We also flushed a Blackcap from a dyke (not a Sardinian Warbler though!) and a Snipe. Across the road 36 Greylag geese were grazing in a field.
Back in Lerwick, Helendale produced 1 Greenland Redpoll, 20+ Siskin, 2 Brambling, 1 Blackcap and a Reed Bunting overhead whilst 2 Whooper Swans were on Clickimin Loch.

Wednesday was Simeon’s birthday, so we all took the ferry to Bressay. Sadly the cold and wind soon saw Tamsin and Mum heading for home, whilst Dad headed off into the wilderness. We followed the road signs to the lochs on the other side of the Island, which was a bad move because somebody had twisted the signpost round. However, we would like to thank this kind, thoughtful person, as they pointed us towards the best birding of the day! Gardens on the way yielded migrant blackcaps, chiffchaff and robins. Nearby on the sea was a party of 12 Red-breasted Merganser, and Twite, Siskin and Redpoll flew overhead.
After much walking we stopped at the playground for a spot of lunch and to discuss tactics. As we were already miles from our target we made the best of a bad job and decided to check out a nearby plantation up the hill. Spotting a Golden Plover flock on the hillside we took up undercover surveillance positions, but one glance from an angry-looking woman in the window spelt failure. We moved, fast! Unfortunately so did the plovers, and the strange whistling/piping calls coming from one individual which had split from the flock did nothing to help the situation! A long debate ensued, with Simeon and I proposing Dotterel, Connor going with ‘dodgy’ Golden Plover and Matt abstaining (back at the apartment CD analysis proved only that it definitely wasn’t either of those). The plantation itself produced Woodcock (the first of a small influx over the next few days) and Rook.
We marched purposefully towards the lochs, stopping only when absolutely necessary (such as to purchase chocolate – tip from the inside: it is actually cheaper to go to Bressay, buy chocolate and come back, than to buy it in Lerwick! Seriously; £1.89 for a big bar in the Lerwick garage opposite Clickimin - £1.25 on Bressay and only 40 p to get there makes £1.65 for a bar the same size!). Gardens on the brow of the hill produced more common migrants, but the Warbler of Dreams still eluded us. The lochs offered no consolation Glaucous Gulls either. Back at the ferry a last ditch effort to produce the goods offered more of the same.
The mystery of the Plover was never resolved, though Pacific Golden Plover was a tempting possibility, unfortunately lacking the field observations to substantiate the record. So near, yet so far!
Back on the Mainland a trip to Lerwick swimming pool made up for birding frustration: pod racing in the rapids, diving, flumes and an outside section, finishing with a Magnum classic each!

The dawn of Thursday 25th marked the final day and the last chance for a self find, so we brought out the big guns and opened fire! Sumburgh was the obvious choice, and exercising extreme self-discipline we were in place at first light. This time we made sure we planned our bus timing properly, and it was still dark when we were dropped off at Sumburgh Hotel. The plan was to hit the Head and work backwards, and there were smiles all round when it payed off with a Richard’s Pipit over just as we reached the lighthouse! Connor’s experience again proved vital, though Matt was the sharp-eyed spotter. Up at the lighthouse the regular Twite showed well, and Gannets, Shags and Fulmar were on the sea. The bushes held only Blackbirds, so after a thorough scouring we set off for the two quarries. Both were buzzing with migrants: the Warbler of Dreams still chose to remain inside our heads, but Snipe, 4 Woodcock, Blackcaps, Goldcrests, plenty of Thrushes and many Siskin kept us happily busy. 2 Jackdaw, a Linnet and a Reed bunting flew by.

On the sea Black Guillemot and Long-tailed duck gave good views, and 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese on the West Voe of Sumburgh were unexpected. We met up with our old pal; Heinog (a black pony) in Grutness briefly before catching the bus home.

Back at Helendale a Grey Wagtail, Jackdaw and 2 Brambling were present for a final farewell. Matt and James walked to Shetland catch for a final crack at Glaucous Gull, producing the only Guillemot of the trip. A strange bird which was either a Long-tailed Skua or a gull with something attached to its leg avoided identification by magically disappearing (behind a big ship). Sometimes it seems that birds live only for the thrill of eluding birders!
As the last hours of the trip waned we found ourselves heading for the ferry; an early dinner was in order because, according to an old sea dog Matt and James met at the catch, it was going to be a bumpy ride!

It certainly was a bumpy ride; with the swell of the North Sea and Atlantic mixed with gale force 9 winds! We started in the bar at the front of the ship. This was a bad idea, because when the ship rose on a wave the crash down made the whole thing shudder. Several times, the ship crashed onto another wave and the drinks in the bar went everywhere! Matt and James couldn’t help entertaining thoughts of the Titanic... We then moved to the back of the ship where we attempted to sleep in the restaurant area. This worked for some, but Simeon’s sleep was reduced to a mere 1 and a half hours, if that, whilst Matt hurled three times!
Needless to say, we slept loads on the car journey home, after an amazing trip!

By James and Simeon

It's that Bunting time of year...

2007-11-18T04:38:00.001-08:00

17/11/07 Salthouse, James and Simeon
We went to Salthouse to try and see the Pomerine Skua on the floods. On arrival 2 Snow Buntings and 7 Lapland Buntings were feeding on some seed on the sea wall. They flew off quickly, but we got cracking views of a Snow Bunting that eventually returned! We scanned for the Pom. Skua that had flown off a while ago and came across a hybrid duck with a dark back, pale breast and even a dark crown, but we just couldn't turn it into a skua!

2007-11-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

(Simeon) 13/11/07 Denver Sluice
I quickly visited the Sluice after school for a couple of hours and saw 2 Little Grebes, the first of the winter, 3 Great-Crested Grebes, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 2 Great-Spotted Woodpeckers, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Grey Herons and 7 Goosanders (also the first for the winter). There were 5 male Goosanders and 2 Females. Not bad for a couple of hours!

Cranes at Welney

2007-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

14/10/07

Simeon and I went to Welney this afternoon because I volunteer there, but we made sure to arrive a little early to look for the cranes. It was a long trek down to Friend's Hide, but definitely worth it! They were absolutely beautiful, giving excellent views, and the Wood sandpiper (which I missed last week) was an added bonus!

(James)

Titchwell

2007-10-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

13/10/07

Simeon got up early and did some ringing at Snettisham Coatal Park again, ringing a Fieldfare and several Redwing amongst the other usual birds. A Long-Tailed tit was nice in the hand. Other birds seen were several Brambling, Siskin, a couple of Redpoll, a Grey Wagtail and a passage of over 7000 Starlings. I picked him up and we went to Titchwell as nothing else had turned up on the coast. Several Little Stints were on the freshmarsh along with 6 Little Egrets around the reserve, a Goldeneye, and some Spotted Redshank. A Snow Bunting perched beautifully on some grass by the path! On the sea, there were 2 Great-Crested Grebes, 6 Eider, 5+ Razorbill, 30+ Common Scoter and I had a Skua sp. (probably pomarine), several Gannets and a late Sandwich Tern. A walk to Thornham Point provided another Grey Wagtail over, a Goldcrest sitting on the sand in the dunes (obviously a migrant), a pair of Stonechats and some more Thrushes. A tit flock near the visitor centre back at Titchwell contained 2 Chiffchaffs, and several things that were impossible to get onto! We tested out Viking Vistrons in the waning light (this is often a good time to do it because the conditions really test the binocular's performance). Both our binoculars currently have double vision, thanks to me! The Vistrons were very comfortable and nicely compact, though the 8x42 performed better than than the 10x42.

(James)

Holme NOA

2007-10-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

(06/10/07)

James and I set out at 12 noon after having 10 Bullfinches on a survey of the local area. The Subalpine Warbler had left the night before, the Lesser-Grey Shrike had gone on Thursday, so (having missed both) we decided to meet up with Connor to try and refind the Radde's Warbler at Holme NOA. On arrival at about 1:00am we quickly got onto the Ross's Goose on the marsh with Pinkfeet. 550+ Common Scoter were on the sea and a beautiful male Eider flew West, along with an adult Arctic Tern. A Shag was also on the sea. We got to the Observatory and soon picked up a Yellow-Browed Warbler in its usual favourite haunt - a sycamore! Another one was present near the Heligoland, but never went in. I then thought I had the Radde's in a large bush near the car park, but the views weren't good and it was very elusive, so I decided not to call it. On returning with other birders, loads of Goldcrests were present, but not the Radde's. We were about to leave when a Hume's Yellow-Browed Warbler came up on the pager at Well's Wood. We ran for it, but in the fading light only managed to get another two Yellow-Browed Warblers. It had been an good day with 4 Yellow-Browed Warblers in total, though somewhat annoying!

(Simeon)

Autumn!

2007-10-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

(Connor) In what has been an extremely good autumn so far, both for common migrants and scarcities, particular highlights from trips out in the last week or so include: Brief views of the Blyth's Reed Warbler at Salthouse 29/9/07, A Lesser Grey Shrike at Holkham 3/10/07 and 6 Yellow-browed Warblers (2+ at Holme NOA and 4 at Wells Wood) 6/10/07.

Raptors galore!

2007-09-11T11:43:00.006-07:00

9/9/07
I went to Whin Common for three hours this morning and there were loads of birds about. 11 Goldcrests were busy feeding before Winter, 2 Green Woodpeckers were in histerics. A flock of 13 Goldfinch flew over and I saw a raptor fly past quickly. A Hobby! I heard another one call to my right and on turning my head to see, I locked onto a Marsh Harrier! It soon dropped below the line of trees so I looked towards the area in which I had just heard a Hobby call from. 3 Hobbies were playing in the air together! 4 Hobbies and a Marsh Harrier - it was going well! The other highlights were; 6 Blackcap, 1 Great-Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Chiffchaff, 1 Whitethroat, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Stock Dove, 3 Bullfinch (2 males and a female), 1 Sparrowhawk, 11 Long-Tailed Tits, 1 Jay, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, and a Wood Warbler (by the A10)! 9 Meadow Pipits and a Swallow went over too. James went down afterwards and got 2 Common Buzzards! There were loads of raptors today!
(Simeon)

Flocks building up...

2007-09-11T11:43:00.005-07:00

8/9/07
I went to Denver Sluice today, but this time James accompanied me. 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 1 Snipe, 1 Common Buzzard. There were also three Brown Hawker Dragonflies. We picked up two tit flocks; the first one contained only 11 Long-Tailed Tits and 4 Blue Tits. The second one contained 17 Long-Tailed Tits, 7 Blue Tits, 4 Great Tits, 1 Coal Tit and 1 Goldcrest - much more exciting!
(Simeon)

Denver Sluice

2007-09-11T11:43:00.004-07:00

4/9/07
I went for a quiet walk at Denver Sluice, but it was too quiet. The only highlights were Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, a few House Martins and a Goldfinch flock of over 100! No Siskins though. Is Autumn here yet?
(Simeon)

Whin Common

2007-09-11T11:43:00.003-07:00

4/9/07
I went to Whin Common again this morning, but it was fairly quiet. The highlights were as follows; Goldcrest 4, Coal tit 4, Chiffchaff 10, Spotted Flycatcher 1, Nuthatch 1, Blackcap 4, Great-Spotted Woodpecker 1, Bullfinch 2 (adult female and young) and Whitethroat 1.
(Simeon)

Whin Common

2007-09-11T11:43:00.002-07:00

30/8/07
I finally got round to visiting my patch after being on holiday! Just over an hour and a half produced 1 Herring Gull, 5 Goldcrest, 1 Coal tit, 1 Great-Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Chiffchaff, 2 Bullfinch (adult male and young), 6 Blackcap, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Hobby, 1 Sparrowhawk and 11 Long-tailed tits.
(Simeon)

Weney WWT

2007-09-11T11:43:00.001-07:00

30/8/07
I went to Welney for about an hour and a half. Staying in the main observatory the whole time I managed to pick up 4 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Kingfisher (which showed brilliantly on a post in front of the hide) and a handful of Sand Martins.

Snettisham Water Mill

2007-09-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

28/8/07
I worked the old patch in just under 2 hours and managed to get 14 Coot, 3 Oystercatcher, 100+ Swallow, a finch flock (c.20 birds) containing Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet, 15 Grey Partridge (family group I expect), 2 Goldcrest, 1 Lapwing, 12 Moorhen, 2 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 2 Whitethroat and a tit flock containing 16 Long-tailed, 5 Great and 5 Blue, but nothing else.

Wales!

2007-08-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

This year I was kindly invited by the Grundy family to go on holiday with them to the small village of Llwyngwril in Gweynedd. The scenery was magical in that area and it was just a superb holiday. Here is a diary of what we saw.

Day 1

Sea-watching on our first morning produced the good total of 443 Manx Shearwaters, as well as 61 Gannets, 3 Sandwich Tern, a single Fulmar and a Skua sp. (prob Arctic) south.

A Peregrine flew along the beach during the afternoon.

Highlights in the moth trap included several interesting resident species such as Oak hook-tip, Toadflax Pug, Dusky Thorn and Magpie Moth. The only immigrants caught were 2 Silver Y's.

Day 2

With a strong south-westerly wind the next day we were all up early to sea-watch. Although the tally of just 82 Manx Shearwaters was poor, 2 Balearic Shearwaters close inshore south and a distant but fairly prolonged view of a European Storm Petrel made up for this, while a Kittiwake was also noteworthy.

A walk along the beach to several pools recently created near the sea-wall produced 1 Whimbrel in a flooded field, 1 Snipe, 10 Rock Pipits, a female Wheatear and a superb gathering of c. 800 Swallows.

Day 3

Little of note was seen during the morning sea-watch, although 257 Manx Shearwaters was a good count.

Cycling around Bird Rock in the afternoon produced several decent birds, including 3 male Redstarts, 2 female Pied Flycatchers, 2 Wheatears, 3 Ravens and a Red Kite.

The only resident species of note in the moth trap was a Dark Marbled Carpet, while ther only immigrant was a single Diamond-back Moth.

Day 4

Sea-watching was very poor in the morning with just 2 Manx Shearwaters. A Willow Warbler was a new arrival in the orchard.

Day 5

Sea-watching was better during the morning with 343 Manx Shearwaters logged, but the real highlight was the juvenile Arctic Skua close inshore south. 104 Sandwich Terns was a noteworthy count.

A Chough at Bird Rock was a super British tick for myself and this area was again a superb honey-pot of birds with 5 Wheatear, 3 Stonechats, 2 Ravens a Red Kite, a Willow Warbler and 3 Spotted Flycatchers noted.

Day 6

Not much sea-watching was undertaken on this day as everyone felt they needed a rest. In a brief sea-watch 32 Manx Shearwaters and a Fulmar were noted.

The 'hill behind the house' was visited during the afternoon with 4 Wheatears, 10 Stonechats, a Red Kite and 4 Ravens were notable, while a female Stonechat was present in the garden.

The moth trap was exceptionally poor, with Small Wainscot being the only moth of any real note.

Day 7

A sea-watch was undertaken of the point early morning and although it was slow going at times 514 Manx Sherwaters were logged, as well as a single Balearic.

A Wheatear, 5 Rock Pipits and a Cuckoo were also noted in this area, as was a female Gadwall. A Nuthatch was seen at the centre for alternative technology.

Moth trapping was again poor with 1 Orange Swift the only moth of any real note.

Day 8

Little sea-watching was undertaken during the day as the weather conditions were poor, with just two Manx Shearwaters and 5 Sandwich Terns noted in fifteen minutes.

Several bits and pieces were present at the hill including 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Red Kite, 1 Snipe, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Song Thrushes, 1 juv. Wheatear, 2 Stonechats, 2 Ravens and 3 Buzzards.

Day 9

Sea-watching was better today with 15 Manx Shearwaters, 10 Gannets and the real highlight was 2 Common Terns feeding offshore for c. 30 seconds early-afternoon.

Sand Martin, Mediterranean Gull and Peregrine were all noted during the day.

Day 10

A superb mornig se-watch of the point produced 263 Manx Shearwaters, 1 European Storm Petrel, 1 Fulmar and a juv. Long-tailed Skua north.

Later a visit to Dolgoch Falls and Nant Gwernol produced 2 Crossbills, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Goldcrests, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Treecreeper and 1 Nuthatch.

Day 11

Nothing of note was seen during the morning sea-watch as the wind had switched round to the east again.

A visit to Penmine Pool RSPB produced a Whinchat and a Great-spotted Woodpecker, while later Arthog Bog RSPB yielded a Spotted Flycatcher and a Nuthatch.

Day 12

A trip to Anglesey was undertaken on this day, largely to look for the Black Stork on the Alaw estuary, which sadly resulted in failure, despite a lengthy search. However, 5 Greenshanks, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Little Egrets, 6 Teal and 20 Knot were noted here.

The moth trap was much better with the highlights being 2 NORTHERN FOOTMAN (the Red data book form of Scarce Footman), Purple Bar, 2 Silver Y, 2 True Lover's Knot, Small Rufos, Dark Spectacle and a Toadflax Pug.

Day 13

A reasonable sea-watch in the morning by S.G produced 40 Manx Shearwaters and 2 Skua sp. chasing terns offshore.

Little else of not was seen during the day

Day 14

The last day! Sea-watching produced 150+ Manx Shearwaters, while a trip to the hill and viz. mig. from the garden produced 1 male Redstart, 2 Chough, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 5 Rock Pipits, 1 Redshank, 1 Raven and 2 Wheatears.

The moth trap produced the following of note: 4 Dingy Footman, 23(!) Brimstone, 9 Antler Moths, 2 Grey Chi, 1 Purple Bar, 1 Buff Footman, 1 Black Arches, 1 Lesser-swallow Prominent,a Flame Carpet, 1 Oak-tree Pug, 1 Iron Prominent, 1 prob. Crinean Ear, 1 Red Twin-spot Carpet, 1 Dark Marbled Carpet, 2 Sandy Carpets, 1 Narrow-winged Pug, 1 Chevron, 1 Small Rufos, 3 NORTHERN FOOTMAN and the best immigrant of the two weeks, a Rusty-Dot Pearl.

The best trap of the two-weeks was a fitting end to a great holiday and thanks once again to the Grundy family for inviting me.

Summer round-up

2007-08-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

(Connor) Well for what is supposed to be the quiet time of year the summer months were surprisingly productive in terms of interesting birds, with Little Bittern at Titchwell RSPB, Dark-eyed Junco at Langham and Alpine Swift at Hunstanton all being extremely noteworthy. As well as this by the beginning of autumn many return-passage waders were starting to appear, particularly Greenshanks and Whimbrel.

Roll on autumn...

Dersingham/Sandringham

2007-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

26/05/07, Leaders: James and Simeon
Stopped off in the Dersingham/Sandringham area for about 1 hour after picking Simeon up from ringing at Snettisham (where he had a Spoonbill fly over!) A Golden Pheasant called regularly from within the rhodedendrons, and Common Crossbills were heard calling occasionally. In short: 2 decent species, but we didn't see a thing!

The Fens

2007-05-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

7/5/07 The Fens Leaders: James and Simeon
We started off at Weeting Heath where we quickly picked up Woodlark and a Stone Curlew. There were also 4 Lapwing chicks! Then we went to Lakenheath and got 16 Hobbys, 1 Marsh Harrier, a pair of Stonechats, a Bearded tit and a fine drake Gargeney! The final stop was Welney where we got 1 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Little Egrets, another Marsh Harrier and 2 Yellow Wagtails. On the journey back to Denver we got a third Marsh Harrier, loads of Stock Doves and a Corn Bunting! Apparently, the Golden Orioles should start to arrive at Lakenheath in the next week so watch out.

D of E and afterwards...

2007-05-06T14:30:00.001-07:00

Near Peterborough, 4-5/5/07 Leaders; Simeon and Connor
Connor and I went on our Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition which statred at Ferry Meadows. Naturally, we were birding a lot of the time and saw 5 Arctic Terns and a Common Sandpiper at this site. We stayed overnight at Sacrawell Farm Campsite where we got Marsh Harrier, 2 Yellow Wagtails and a load of Peacocks that kept screaming and woke me up at 5:30am! On the next day we got 3 Buzzards and two Red Kites in Yarwell (wherever that is)! The first bird flew over us whilst we were lost in a game reserve near a caravan park! The expedition was supposed to be about 20 miles long, but it was more like 23 with the detours our group took!!!
When I got back on Saturday afternoon I went to Whin Commonm and got one of the Nightingales singing in the middle of the day. Then Connor phoned me to ask me if I wanted to go and get the phalarope at Grafham! Of course I accepted and 25 minutes later James, Connor, Billy and I were on the way to Grafham Water. The bird showed well (see gallery) on one of the scrapes. It always followed the ducks when they were feeding to pick up the insects they had disturbed from the surface of the water. We also got Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, Ruddy Duck, Little Grebe, Barnacle Goose, Hobby and several Common Terns.
It was a really good trip (we missed a day of school!) and we're doing the assessed expedition in pretty much the same place on 18th - 19th May! Any bets on what we'll get?

Migrants at last!!!

2007-04-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

14/4/07 Snettisham CP Leaders; Simeon
I went to Snettisham to do some more ringing training and ringed 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Chaffinch and a Wren. I also managed to do a bit of birdwatching and got 4 Ring Ouzels (showing very well), many Willow Warblers and Chifchaffs, a Sedge Warbler, a Grasshopper Warbler, a male Cuckoo, 17+ House Martins, 10+ Swallows, 2 Redpolls and a Blackcap! All good good!

Not bad...

2007-04-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

2/4/07 Blakeney Point, Titchwell RSPB and Snettisham RSPB Leaders; Simeon, James and Matt.
We met up with Matt at Knights Hill roundabout and headed on to Blakeney. On arrival just before 9:00 we got at least 7 Shore Larks on the shingle. A Sandwich Tern flew over us at Halfway House followed by another 2 and a Stonechat. Stuff was definitely moving! The next good bird came at the visitor centre itself when a Hobby flew over terrorising pipits! Another early migrant. A Scandanavian Rock Pipit and a migrant Goldcrest were also nearby along with 2 Fieldfare, a male Wheatear and 3 Redwing around the plantation! The walk back only provided a Swallow which only James and Matt saw! A Red-Throated Diver flew past on the sea. After that we headed to Titchwell but couldn't find anything, not even a Med Gull a Little Gull or a Brambling! Instead of going for the Serin at Heacham, we went to Snettisham RSPB, but missed the Red-Breasted Geese! Nothing was of note there either except for the resident Scaup! All in all it was an ok day apart from dipping loads of stuff!

Handy!

2007-04-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

31/3/07 Snettisham RSPB Leaders; Simeon and Connor
I went down to Snettisham Coastal Park at 7:00am and did some ringing with a few others. Due to strong winds and sunlight we only caught a few birds. 2 Goldcrests and a female Bullfinch (see gallery) were nice though. Connor arrived after a while and when the ringing finished we went to the pits to see the Red-breasted Geese. Onthe way down we saw 4 Shorelarks and a male Wheatear. Then a large flock of Brents flew onto the mudflats fairly close to the first hide and we managed to pick out the Red-Breasteds. The light was realy poor, but then they flew over the pits again and landed in the fields. We quickly walked across the bridge and got good views of them in the flock of Brents. A Pale-Bellied Brent was also present in the flock. With a couple of hours left we went to the coastal park again and found another male Wheatear and a singing Willow Warbler! It had been a really good day with several year ticks.

A very nice surprise!

2007-03-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

3/3/07 Titchwell RSPB Leaders; Simeon and James
James and I arrived at Titchwell at about 10:30am and worked our way along the marshes. Not much at all except 49 Avocet, a few Little Egrets, a Marsh Harrier in a tree and a Cetti's Warbler near Fen Hide. The sea was dead with only one Red - Breasted Merganser, 1 Common Scoter and 3 Goldeneye. There were a few Barwits on the beach as well. Then we walked to Thornham Point and found about 10 Skylarks, 2 Meadow Pipits and a large flock of 38 Twite. We took some ok pics and some of the birds had coloured rings! They came about 20m away from us giving brilliant views! On returning through Titchwell 2 Black Brants were among a small flock of Brent Geese on the freshmarsh. It had been a pretty good day with several year ticks! Still waiting for the first summer migrants to arrive mind!

Getting better...

2007-02-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

25/2/07 Welney WWT Leaders; James and Simeon
The usual Sunday visit to Welney produced 2 Scaup, 400+ Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Dunlin, 10 Redshank, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Kestrel and six Tundra Bean Geese. Better than the last visit as more land has emerged and waders are starting to arrive!

Same old, same old!

2007-02-19T12:05:00.000-08:00

18/2/07 Welney WWT Leaders; Simeon
After doing some volunteer work at Welney I went and did some birding from the main observatory. The usual stuff was present; Scaup being the highlight, but I got some pics of Whooper and Mute Swans which I will upload as soon as I can. I counted an amazing 1597 Whooper Swans in total - that's how bored I was! A Kestrel and 22 Meadow Pipits were round the back of the centre and I missed the Bean Geese that were on the floods, but I got a lovely Little Owl on a barn roof for consolation; a year tick! Spring is almost hear though!

Rainham Marshes RSPB

2007-02-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

27/1/07 Leaders: Connor

A trip was made to Rainham Marshes to see the Penduline Tit at the RSPB's fairly new reserve. We had to wait for the reserve to open so we walked alongside the Thames. 5 Tundra Bean Geese flying over was a surprise and there were a couple of Water Pipits and Stonechats as well.

The reserve opened at 9:30 am and immediately on arrival at the reeds behind Averley Pools a female Penduline flew in and showed well if briefly. It continued to show more distantly for the next ten minutes.

On the way home a diversion was made to visit Elstow Clay Pits, Bedfordshire, where I finally saw a Fudge Duck, an embarrising gap in my Brit list filled. A juv Great Northern Diver was an added bonus.

Another diversion was made into Cambs for the drake American Wigeon at Needingworth. Having already dipped on this bird once it was a relief to see it this time.

It was a fabulous day all round with a lifer and several quality year-ticks.

The Lesser Yellowlegs has been showing very well recently at Thornham and two Waxwings were nice in the car-park at Holme NOA on 11/2/07. (For pictures of Lesser yellowlegs and Waxings, see the gallery).

Pot Luck!

2007-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

3/2/07 Holme NOA and Snettisham RSPB Leaders; Connor, James and Simeon.
I (Simeon) got up at 6:30am and set off for Dersingham. There, I picked up Connor and we went to Holme. On arrival we did an hours seawatch; 4 Long - Tailed Duck, 2 Fulmar, 3 Red - Throated Diver, 4 Great - Crested Grebe, 2 drake Goldeneye, a pair of Red - Breated Mergansers, 1 Razorbill, 1 Eider, 1 Kittiwake, 2 Grey Plover and an unidentified Auk! Not Bad! Then James mysteriously appeared and we spent the rest of the time flitting between Thornham and the observatory. Kingfisher, a very early Avocet, Sparrowhawk, Short - Eared Owl and a male Hen Harrier were of note! The Lesser Yellowlegs was showing amazingly well about 5 metres in front of all its twitching admirers! (see gallery for photo) We were in the observatory when Chris Mills shouted that a raptor was going over. It was identified as the Black - Eared Kite from Snettisham RSPB! A case of being at the right place at the right time!

Later we went to Snettisham RSPB where the Kite had been seen flying in a couple of hours ago. We unfortunately never saw it again, but we did get 2 Barn Owls, 1 Short - Eared Owl, 2 Marsh Harriers and another male Hen Harrier! It had been a brilliant day, but unfortunately James never saw the Kite.

FINALLY!!!

2007-01-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

13/1/07 Lynford Arboretum Leaders:Simeon and James
In the past we have always had very bad luck at finding Hawfinches at Lynford Arboretum! Last time we thought we had done it. 21 Hawfinches had been seen there two days before, but, alas, we only got one stupid finch flying over! This time, I am glad to say, was different! On arrival two birders showed us a few birds in the large Hornbeam trees. We found a few more bringing the mornings total up to 8! They showed really well and opccasionally dropped down to feed on the ground. I picked up on a finch flock flying in and as they landed, we identified them as Hawfinches as well! 18 were counted over all! We were so glad we had finally got decent views of these birds. Also present were 3 Nuthatches, about 4 Marsh Tits, a couple of Siskins and several Goldcrests. No Firecrest though! It had been a brilliant trip and about 80 people were there watching the Hawfinches when we left!

Winter Patchwatching...

2007-01-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

6/1/07 Denver Sluice Leaders: Simeon
I went to the Sluice, which is about all I can do at the moment, notched up my year list a little. Here's what I saw: 13 Goosanders (7male and 6 female), 3 Redshank, 4 Yellowhammer, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Great Crested Grebe! Pretty rubbish... COME ON SPRING!!!

Why!?!

2006-12-27T08:47:00.000-08:00

27/12/06 Lynford Arboretum :eaders: Simeon and James
We were very confident that we would get good views of Hawfinch today as there had been as many as 21 birds seen there on Saturday. But as it usually happens when we go there we only got one bird flying over about 200 yards away. We had to identify it by its call! The finch and tit flocks were fairly large and produced 5+ Marsh tit, 30+ Long - tailed tit, 2+ Goldcrests, 10+ Siskins and 30+ Goldfinches. It was all right I suppose...

Swan feed at Welney.

2006-12-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

26/12/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon and James
Hope everyone had a merry Christmas - have a happy new year - get those new year lists going... the usual! Anyway, a quick trip to Welney under the cover of darkness proved successful. I mainly went to get leg ring numbers. Whooper Swan leg rings I saw were, on the left legs of birds: 272, 6LX, VZZ, CTX, FZ6, 50U, X79 and UA9 and on the right legs of some of the birds: SP7 and 341. I was pleased with my finds!

Same as last time...almost!

2006-12-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

23/12/06 Denver Sluice Leaders; Simeon and James
The Sluice is my priority at the moment, trying to find that rare duck! Thought I had it today, but instead of a Ring - Necked it was just a wierd Tufted with a small ring on its bill! A summer plumaged Black - Headed Gull was strange, but nevertheless true! 1 Water Rail was calling and there were also 11 Goosander, 42 Tufted Duck, 16 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebes, 2 Whooper Swans, 2 Barn Owls, 10+ Yellowhammers, about 6 Great - Crested Grebes, 3 Dunlin, 7 Redshanks and 4 Canada Geese. An all right trip although I still can't wait for spring... Blakeney is primed!!!

2006-12-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

16/12/06 Welney WWT Leaders:Simeon
The others went to Kings Lynn, I got bored, so I went to Welney. Whilst eating lunch in the visitor centre a beautiful Short - Eared Owl flew over one of the ponds really close! Then it started hunting over the fields and landed a couple of times! Best views I've ever had! Then I went to the main observatory and managed to pick out one Scaup and a few Plastic Geese among the hundred of swans and ducks. I was getting bored by this time so I tried to go to the other hides, only the flooding didn't let me! I took a rather amusing photo (above) to share it with everyone else...! On returning back to the hide I noticed 300+ gulls except they were all sitting on the water so no-one can identify those Yellow - Legged Gulls amongst them! Then a Peregrine cheered me up by flying through my scope view and flying round over the hide spooking several hundred Wigeon/Mallard/Pochard. An all right day over all!

Winter's not so bad after all!

2006-12-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

9/12/06 Holme NOA and Tichwell RPSB Leaders: Simeon, Matthew, Connor, James (and Yaseen who is new to birding)
As it was Yaseen's first birding outing, we dropped him in at the deep end with a bit of seawatching (his favourite part of the day strangely) We started at Holme at 10:00 until 11:00, then 11:30 until 12:30; (time spent seawatching). The north - westerlies had pushed loads in and the result was good! 1 Great - Northern Diver, 1 Arctic Skua (chased gulls right over us above the dunes!), 2 drake Goosanders, 3 Red - Breasted Mergansers, 9 Red - Throated Divers of which Yaseen found one, 8 Little Gulls, 35+ Long - Tailed Ducks, 7 Razorbills, 1 Guillemot and other unidentified Auk species, 36 Common Scoters, 500+ Wigeon, a drake Scaup, 14 Eider, 22 Great - Crested Grebes, 5 Slavonian Grebes, 5 Fulmar, 6 Gannets and 2 unidentified Divers that were probably Black - Throated but were too far out to tell! A few goldcrests were in the pines and 1000+ pinkfeet were constantly being spooked from the marsh. Also of note were, 2 Skylarks over the marsh and a single Meadow pipit along the beach.
Then it was on to Titchwell. We failed to get the two Chiffchaffs that had been in the car park, but we did get a male Bullfinch there. The marshes provided a couple of hundred Golden plovers, 7 Avocets and 10 Spotted Redshanks. Then onto the beach. A few more scoters on the sea, but little else. Then we randomly decided to check Thornham Point! It was actually quite good considering the time of year! Birds we saw were; one continental Blackbird, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 1 Magpie, 2 Stonechats, 2 Rock pipits, 1 Pied Wagtail and 15 Meadow pipits. A great first day out for Yaseen and we all thoroughly enjoyed it! Oh yeah we also got a couple of Bearded Tits, Reed Buntings and Cetti's Warblers at Titchwell as well...

Winter's rubbish...

2006-12-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

3/12/06 Denver Sluice SG and JG
With little else to do on a boring day I made the big mistake of going birdwatching! At the Sluice it was just one of those days. Whilst freezing myself to the bitter limit I only managed to pick out one male Goosander, the odd G C Grebe, Grey Heron, some boring pied wags and Mipits and a few Winter thrushes... The thought of next weekend's seawatch put my brain into override and I just wanted spring migration to hurry up!!!

A short trip...

2006-12-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

2/12/06 Snettisham RSPB Leaders; Simeon and James
With only an hour and a quarter to spare, we popped in to Snett. Not much at all really, 2 Scaup, 8 Little Grebes, 4 Little Egrets from the first hide and on the sea, several hundred Mallard, Wigeon and all the other usual stuff! The spectacular of Knot cheered us up a little with several thousand birds present!

An all right trip!

2006-11-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

19/11/06 Welney WWT Leaders; Simeon and James.
I got dropped off at Welney just after lunch and went straight to the main observatory. Tonnes of Pochard, Whooper Swan and all the other usual stuff. The only highlights were a Redshank, a Merlin and a Marsh Harrier! Then I texted Dad to pick me up and James came with him. Just as we were driving past all of the Golden Plovers on Hilgay Fen, an owl flew over the road. It was a Long - Eared! Although it gave pretty poor views it was a lifer for James and a yearer for me. It had been a brilliant day with Denver Sluice being the highlight (see other trip report).

Woohoo! But sooo cold...

2006-11-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

Denver Sluice, 19/11/06
James and Simeon

Got up early to bike to the Sluice and see if any more than the 10 already reported goosanders had arrived, but regretted it upon contracting frostbite... what happened to the mild autumn of two days ago? We saw all the goosanders (3 males and 7 females), but no more arrivals. A count of 7 grey herons was exceptionally high, and other highlights included the resident kingfisher, 2 little grebes and a grey wagtail which kept flying around our heads. Many thrushes were present including fieldfare, mistle and song thrush, and 50+ redwing, but there were very few blackbirds. However, the undisputed highlight of the day was just as we were about to leave. Low over our heads and then giving a final fly-by across the river, was a magnificent bittern - a cracking first for all of our patches! We walked quickly to the small area of reeds where it landed, but it did not cooperate for a photograph and we didn't see it again. We were amazed to hear from the Sluice manager that he had seen bittern there several times, so fingers crossed...

Snett and Titchwell

2006-11-12T02:31:00.000-08:00

11/11/06 Titchwell and Snettisham RSPB Leaders Simeon James and Matt
Started off at Snett. Scaup and one really nice Little Auk on pits, 7 Snow Buntings landed in public carpark and started drinking from a puddle a couple of metres away! Then flew over shingle bank and relocated on the beach.
Titchwell was drained of birds on the marshes with a Spotted Redshank and 1st Winter Med Gull being the only rewards. Sea was ok with a couple of Red - Throated Divers and loads of Common Scoters. Managed to pick out one velvet.

Patchwatching

2006-10-29T05:47:00.000-08:00

29/10/06 Whin Common, Denver Leaders: Simeon
Down the patch at 7:30 again this morning. Autumn's still not over, watch out for those last migrants going and coming! Vis. mig. was clear this morning with 4 Skylarks, 3 Pied Wagtails and 4 Whooper Swans over the common. 7 more Redwings arrived, but several of them had left since I was last there. 5 Bullfinches, 15+ Long - Tailed Tits, 5 Goldcrests, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, Green and Great - Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Mistle Thrush, 1 Song Thrush and several continental Blackbirds were also of note. 5 Redwings and a Pied Wagtail flew over the house afterwards. Not a bad line up.

Simeon's Birthday Bluetail

2006-10-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

21/10/2006, Thorpeness, Leaders: Simeon, Connor, James, Matthew

As it is Simeon's birthday on 24th October he decided to go for a twitch for his birthday treat (an idea heartily endorsed by myself!). There was only one possible venue - Thorpeness, for the red-flanked bluetail. We left at 10:30 with Matthew and Connor after dad had had a much needed lie-in. He had no idea how long the journey would be and got quite a shock upon learning it was 2 hours each way! The journey was enjoyable (for all except perhaps dad), but I started to worry when Connor's updates decreased from "showing well" to "brief views", followed shortly by a signpost saying "hidden dip"! The excitement heightened when we entered the village, and we all leapt out of the car. Dad went off to buy some breakfast and we went on ahead, guided by texts from Billy (Connor's dad) who was already viewing the bird, and leaving arrows for Dad to follow as we went. We were greeted by Billy, which was lucky as people were spread all over the area and we would have had a job finding him! We immediately set about finding the elusive beauty, fully prepared to wait hours, but after only a few minutes Billy called us as he was watching it with a small group of people. We followed swiftly and were soon stood gawking at a little brown bird with red flanks and a blue tail, flitting obligingly about in front of us. WOW! Matt almost managed to get a picture but the rest of us didn't even attempt it. Dad arrived just after it left, so we spent the rest of the time trying to get him to see it. We eventually tracked it down and Dad got a cracking view! The day's mission was accomplished....

Lots of Twitching!

2006-10-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

14/10/06 Stiffkey, Blakeney, Cley, Salthouse, Titchwell Leaders: Simeon, James, Connor
We started very early and left the house at 6:30am for Stiffkey. Connor quickly managed to find the Yellow - Browed Warbler in the campsite woods and it gave excellent views about 8 yards away on the outside of a bush! A cracking bird! Other birds we got there were; a couple of Bramblings, two Chiffchaffs, a few Redwings and some Goldcrests. The next bird was a lot rarer but didn't give nearly as good views! It was the Cattle Egret at Friary Hills on Blakeney Freshmarsh. It was easy to pick out amongst the cattle, but it was very distant. Other birds we got there included several Redwings, a single Fieldfare, some more Bramblings and another possible Yellow - Browed Warbler! Then it was off to Cley. On the seawatch we got a really close Red - Throated Diver, three Eider and about 27 Razorbill. We then walked to the North Hide and picked up several Dunlin, Little Stint and a White - Rumped Sandpiper although it was giving poor views and hard to identify in the light conditions. After that we went to Salthouse. Here we got a few more Razorbill on the sea and a lovely Shore Lark East of Gramborough Hill. Then we went to Titchwell and got stunning views of the Whiskered Tern from Parrinder Hide and from the path when it flew up to 10m away! Then an adult white - morph Snow goose came up on the pager between Brancaster and Docking in fields with Pinkfeet! We rushed there to find no Pinkfeet at all! Then we took a minor road and saw some birdwatchers on a hill. We got out of the car and saw several thousand Pinkfeet all in one field! Someone had seen the Snow Goose fly over the hedge into another field so I rushed along the road to the top of the hill. The goose was just over the brow of the hill out of site. This was a little annoying, but suddenly they all flew up and the Snow Goose gave excellent views flying right past us! I ran down the road again and saw it landed in the field amongst the Pinkfeet. This was another cracking bird! There were also two Barnacle Geese present and someone said that the Snow Goose had been tracked all the way down the West coast! With nothing else to do, we returned to Titchwell and James got some shots of the Whiskered Tern (see gallery) and I managed to get the Pectoral Sandpiper and Jack Snipe from Parrinder Hide at the end! It had been a brilliant day and we were really tired by the end of it!

Around the coast

2006-10-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

Holkam, Titcwell and Stiffkey Leaders:Simeon, Matthew and James
We started the day off at Holkam. Unfortunately the Firecrest had not been seen that morning and the Snow Goose was seen to fly south with Pinkfeet at 7:15 am. We arrived at 10:30 and there was basically nothing there! Then we heard of a Red - Backed Shrike at Stiifkey and rushed off to get it. It gave superb views perching on a bush at about 4 metres distance. At one stage it flew and landed on the bank we were standing on about a metre away from us. We got some ace shots of it (see gallery). We then finished the outing with a couple of hours at Titchwell. The sea was the highlight providing 300+ Common Scoter, 2 Arctic Skuas and a Shearwater sp. There was little else of note, but it had been a pretty good day.

No sign of...

2006-10-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

Whin Common and Bates Wood, Denver. Leaders: Simeon and James
We returned at about 7:45am to try and relocate the Yellow - Browed Warbler. Sadly there was no sign of the bird, but migration was nevertheless still visible with 2+ Mistle Thrush, 25+ Redwing, 4+ Song Thrush, 20+ Long - Tailed Tit, 15+ Blue Tit, 10+ Great Tit, 2+ Coal Tit, 2 Great - Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 11+ Goldcrests, 2 Bullfinch, 4 Chiffchaff, 14 House Martins and 1 Meadow Pipit. Also of note were two Cormorants over. Mostly the same stuff as yesterday, but still pretty good! Still waiting for the first Fieldfares mind!

A good sign of migration!

2006-10-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

30/9/06 Bates Wood and Whin Common, Denver Leaders: Simeon
Early morning at the patch was really worth it. Vis. Mig. from the style gave me 2 Mistle Thrush, 20+ Redwing, 4+ Song Thrush, 10 Swallow, 5 House Martin, 1 Sand Martin, 4 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails. Migration was picking up now so I decided to go to the corner of the Common to check out the numerous tit flocks. This resulted in 3 Goldcrests, a Yellow - Browed Warbler, 35+ Long - Tailed Tit, 20+ Blue Tit, 15+ Great Tit, 3+ Coal Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Treecreeper, 3 Bullfinch, 4 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Great - Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Green Woodpecker! It had been a great morning! I was definately coming back tomorrow!

A quick outing!

2006-09-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

23/9/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon, Matthew, Connor, James
Despite the latest report of the Pec. Sand was on Thursday and we only had about two hours, we all went to Welney. From the main observatory we got three Little Stint and 10+ Yellow Wagtails! We didn't get the Pec. Sand, but other highlights included; 2 Marsh Harrier, 250+ Teal, 3 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 1 Common Sandpiper, 9 Whooper Swans (the residents), 5 Kestrel, 4 Meadow Pipits, 50+ Pied Wagtail and 500+ Lapwing! All in all a pretty good day, especially the Little Stints!

Rarities! Everywhere! EXCEPT HOLME!

2006-09-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

16/9/06 Holme NOA Leaders: James, Simeon and Connor
We got up at 5:00 to get to Holme and at first it looked good with i fall of Dunnocks and Robins overnight. Then we got Redstart, Willow Warbler Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail and ringed two Garden Warblers, Robin, Chaffinch, Pied Flycatcher and Whitethroat. It was going pretty well until we got news of four Red - Breasted Flycatchers, four Wrynecks, a Yellow - Browed Warbler, Great - Grey Shrike and Red - Backed Shrike all in Norfolk that day. We were watching a Spotted Flycatcher and someone told us of a Yellow - Browed Warbler in the dunes at Holme. We stretched our time to try and find it, but no-one else had seen it. Oh well! We then found out that we had missed a Wryneck that had been ringed at Snettisham Coastal Park! We had missed a lot, but we had seen quite a few common migrants as well!

Not sure what to do!

2006-09-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

9/9/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon, Matthew, James
We went down to Welney at about 3pm, but due to the WWT installing a "Swan Tube" on the main lagoon there was basically nothing about. The only things of note were a few House Martins! But when James and Matt checked the small scrapes behind the visitor centre they had six Pied Wag. one White Wag and a Pectoral Sandpiper. I went back to look for it. I failed to see it, but i did get 3 White Wags. It had been a pretty good day and we were returning home at 5:30 when a small crake crossed the road! I later identified it as a Spotted Crake! At the beginning of the trip I hadn't been sure whether to do a trip report for the day, but the Pec. Sand and Spotted Crake quickly made up my mind!

Early Patchwatching!

2006-09-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

5/9/06 Whin Common and Bates Wood, Leaders: Simeon
I woke up at 6:30 and got down to the patch as quickly as I could. During the first 20 minutes I only managed to pick up Great - Spotted Woodpecker. But I got more and more as the morning progressed. By the end of the morning I had seen; 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great - Spotted Woodpecker, 6+ Long - Tailed Tit, large numbers of both Robins and Wrens, 2 Jay, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Mistle Thrush, 25+ Swallow and 10+ Redwings. The Redwings were at the far end of Bates Wood at about 8:00 and they were probably the earliest ones I have ever seen! It had been a good trip and I was very pleased with the Redwings I spotted!

Simeon's Diary for Wales and Shetland holidays!

2006-09-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

This is my diary for the time we spent on holiday in Wales and Shetland. For those who get bored easily (I know I'm one!), I have highlighted and underlined the the interesting birds and interesting numbers of commoner birds!

Monday 14th Aug.
(Medium Westerly wind, cloudy)
It took us several hours to drive to our destination, but the journey had provided 24 Buzzards! We stopped off at Lake Vyrnwy RSPB and got information for a future visit. There's a 50 - 50 chance of getting Dipper there and they have four Ring Ouzels present. When we finally arrived I went up to the attic and started seawatching. Only Cormorant, Herring gull, Jackdaw, Carrion crow and Grey Heron were seen - pretty rubish! At 8:00pm I went for a walk along the bottom of the cliffs. Slightly more productive with three Rock Pipits and a Peregrine.

Tuesday 15th Aug.
(Light South - Westerly winds, cloudy)
I woke up and immediately looked to the top of the hill behind the house. 3 Buzzards, still no Red Kites. Then it was to seawatching. I could instantly tell it was going to be better than yesterday because of the wind direction. I was right. 30+ Gannets and a single Manx Shearwater. On the beach there was a Curlew, Lesser and Greater Black - Backed gulls in the usual stream of gulls from there roosts along with Cormorants. We have a pair of House Martins nesting under the eves. They're about the only hurindines here! A few doors down there is a feeding station providing good numbers of House Sparrows, Jackdaws, Greenfing and Chaffinch. Looking in the dense bushes gives you Robin, Dunnock, Wren and this morning I found a Lesser Whitethroat skulking in the brambles. Late afternoon seawatching provided another Manx Shearwater, Curlew and 11 Sandwich Terns. A Buzzard showed well on a post on the hill behind the house. 10+ Mistle Thrushes were also seen. We've put out the moth trap despite the weather. Who Knows what we'll get? (See moths and butterflies page for results on all of the four traps we did)

Wednesday 16th Aug.
(Light Westerly wind, cloudy and raining)
After the moth trap we went to the hill behind the house. When we returned six hours later we were completely drenched, but we had seen 2 Buzzards, 4 Whitethroats, 3 Wheatears, 4 Chiffchaff, 12 Mistle Thrush, a Willow Warbler, 20+ Stonechats, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Tree Pipit and plenty of Meadow Pipits. Seawatching in the afternoon provided several Sandwich Terns and two Gannets. When we were on the beach we witnessed a passage of 3000+ Swallows. The strange thing was, they were going North! If anyone has a solution as to why they were doing that please leave us a comment.

Thursday 17th Aug.
(Medium westerly winds, cloudy)
A brilliant day! Seawatching in the morning provided 30+ Gannets, 6 Guillemots and a few Sandwich Terns. We then failed to get Dipper on the Torent walk (we got Nuthatch though), and then returned home. Seawatching picked up again with more Gannets and Sandwich Terns. Then I saw five small dark birds over the water! I called James and we identified them as four Storm Petrels and one Leach's Petrel! We decided to leave it as that as we were quite tired.

Friday 18th Aug.
(No wind, raining)
I got up late so I missed the best seawatching! James had seen loads of Gannets and 20+ Manx Shearwaters. I tried for something, got nothing and meanwhile James had seen another 6 Manx Shearwaters! A great day for James, but not for me!

Saturday 19th Aug.
(Medium/strong South - westerly winds, rainy cloudy and misty)
Just what I'd been waiting for. No, seriously, I woke up and Manx Shearwaters were streaming past. Over all I got 30 Manx and one Balearic! There were 25+ Gannets and 10+ Sandwich Terns as well! It was great! Then we went on the precepice walk which provided 3 Ravens but no Grouse. We returned home to find that the sea was dead. There weren't even any Sandwich Terns or Gannets. In the end it became misty so we gave up. I was pleased with the earlier seawatch though.

Sunday 20th Aug.
(Sunny and still)
Despite the fact that we didn't do much birdwatching we managed to get a Raven, two Buzzards and a female Hen Harrier behind the house! The sea was dead all day! Five Choughs were at Bird Rock though and a few more Buzzards nearby!

Monday 21st Aug.
(Sunny and still)
Unfortunately absolutely nothing of note bird - wise.

Tuesday 22nd Aug.
(Sunny with a very small north - westerly)
Definately a day to remember! I woke up at 6:10 and started seawatching. I spotted a few black birds fairly far out. I woke James and we identified them as Manx Shearwaters. We both witnessed an extraordinary flypast of over 2500 Manx Shearwaters!!! We also had about 30 Gannets. Then it was off to Lake Vyrnwy to try for Dippers. It took us three hours, but in the end I spotted one as it rocketed past us and landed on some rocks! After three years we had finally got one! At last! Also on that trip we got Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, Siskin, Buzzard, Peregrine and Redstart! It had been a brilliant day!

Wednesday 23rd Aug.
(Cloudy, foggy and still)
Seawatching only provided 5 Gannets as it was very foggy. I got some nice photos of Cormorants and Herring gulls. Later I found a Melodious Warbler in the brambles with a Whitethroat! In an attempt to find it James got three Lesser Whitethroats and we both had a Merlin! (We unfortunately failed in relocating it!) In the evening we went for a walk on the hill which provivded us with Blackcap and three Peregrines. Another pretty good day!

Thursday 24th Aug.
(Clear with a light westerly wind)
The day started early with some seawatching at the point providing 3 Balearic Shearwaters among hundreds of Manx. Also on the beach there were five Rock Pipits and a Grey Heron. On the hill behind the house we had 4 Raven, 1 Chough, 2 Wheatear, 1 Red Kite and a possible worn adult Black Kite! It will probably remain unidentified though. There was also a Tree Pipit. It had been a really good day!

Friday 25th Aug.
(Clear and still)
Nothing was seen in Wales, but after the four and a half hour drive we saw several Curlews, 1 Whimbrel, Lapwing and a Grey Heron at Morecambe Bay near Lancaster.

Saturday 26th Aug.
(Clear and still)
Today we went to Leighton Moss RSPB which provided, 5 Greenshank, Grey Heron, Greater Black - Backed Gull, Marsh tit, Little Grebe, Great - Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and five Red Deer. A pretty good trip.

Sunday 27th Aug.
(Mixed)
After a five hour drive we were tired and had only managed to pick up a Buzzard on the journey! But the ferry trip provided Leach's Petrel, Manx Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Gannet, Kittiwake, Puffin, Fulmar, Guillemot, Eider and Red - Throated Diver! We're getting up early for the last part of the ride to try for Skuas.

Monday 28th Aug.
(Mixed)
We woke early and went up on deck. By the time we landed we had several Great Skuas, Black Guillemots (one of our target birds!),Eider and loads of gulls. We missed a Citrine Wagtail later that day at Strand, but we did get two beautiful Red - Throated Divers on a Loch. We also had Hooded Crow (another one of our target birds!), more Black Guillemots, Eider and Great Skuas plus a couple of Arctic Skuas and Shags! A pretty good first day!

Tuesday 29th Aug.
(Light westerly winds with sun and rain)
We got up early and tried to find some of our own rarities. Unfortunately, we didn't get any as the wind was wrong, but we still had 3 Chiffchaff, Great Skua, Black Guillemot, Razorbill, Eider, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit and Hobby! Then we found an Otter at Clickimin Loch! It was really nice to see one in the wild! Then we went to Hoswick and I noticed a few pipits about the place. I got my scope out and scanned them. 10+ Meadow Pipits and a Richards Pipit perched briefly on a barn roof! I was really pleased and was packing up when a Swallow flew past me. There were about 6 in the area, but this one had a pale rump. It was the Red - Rumped Swallow that had been seen there the day before! I was really pleased now!!! Two vagrants (and lifers) in about five minutes! It had been a great day!

Wednesday 30th Aug.
(Strong westerly winds, mostly cloudy)
Although the conditions were rubbish we spent the day at Sumburgh. There had been a minor fall of migrants overnight. We unfortunately missed a Marsh Warbler, but we got 30+ Wheatear and two dead ones, 20 Wigeon that we saw arriving from Iceland, 15 Twite, 2 Whimbrel, 20+ Rock Dove, 200+ Starling, a few Hooded Crows, Great and Arctic Skuas, Arctic and Common Terns, 1 Whooper Swan on Clickimin Loch and 2 Rock Pipits on the beach. A pretty good day.

Thursday 31st Aug.
(Mixed)
We got Whooper Swan and Grey Heron at Clickimin Loch, several Seals around including a really close one at a place called Meal Beach. We also got a few Wheatears and on the ferry we got Razorbill, Guillemot, Black Guillemot, Gannet, Fulmar and Great Skua.

Friday 1st September
(Mixed)
We docked in Aberdeen harbour after having the usual habour species and then had a final bonus of an adult winter Med. gull!

Summary
James and I have both had an amazing holiday! James got 5-6 lifers and I got 6-7! It had also been a wonderful experience and we really recommend it!

Not quite as good as yesterday!

2006-08-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

11/8/06 Holme NOA Leaders: Simeon Connor, Matthew, James
We returned to Holme this morning to see if we could get anything during a short seawatch. That was all we had time for so we dedicated the whole two hours to it. We managed to pick up several Fulmars, a Manx Shearwater, a possible Sooty Shearwater, five Arctic Skuas, a Pomarine Skua, 5+ Arctic Terns, 40+ Sandwich Terns, a few Common Terns, 20+ Grey Plovers, Bar and Black - Tailed Godwits and small numbers of Common Scoters. James and I are brushing up on our seawatching skills ready for Shetland (28th - 31st August) and a bit for Wales (13th - 26th)!!! Watch out for two BIG trip reports coming soon!

Stupid Computer!

2006-08-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

(Connor) Unfortunately due to problems with my computer I have not been able to do anything on the website recently apart from a trip report on my day sea-watching at Holme NOA, which I did on a friends computer.

Good birds that I have seen recently include: Long Billed Dowitcher and Woodchat Shrike, Lincolnshire (see earlier trip report), Pectoral Sandpiper and Red Necked Phalarope at Titchwell RSPB and all the various Shearwaters, Skuas and other seabirds at Holme NOA. As well as this I was fortunate enough to find a singing Spotted Crake at Welney with Simeon!

A decent seawatch...at last!

2006-08-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

10/8/06 Holme NOA Leaders:Simeon, James, Matthew, Connor
James, Matthew and I got dropped off at Holme and met Connor there. Seawatching had been good that morning, with a Manx Shearwater, several Arctic Skuas, plenty of Terns (including a few Arctic) and 40+ Gannets. We were slightly irritated that it had died down a lot! Nevertheless, we got to the watchpoint and within five minutes we had had one Arctic Tern, several Common Scoters and plenty of Sandwich with a few Common Terns. Then Connor joined us and by the time he had left we had seen; four Arctic Skuas, 20+ Gannets and a single Manx Shearwater. Things certainly hadn't died down! When he left we were certainly on the ball, seeing another Arctic Skua, several more Arctic Terns, a few Little Terns, 50+ Common Scoter and another Manx Shearwater. Then something happened. I was following one of the Manx Shearwaters when I spotted two dark Terns (probably Arctic). They flew below the surf and whilst I was trying to relocate them I saw another dark Tern. 'Black Tern' I said, but Matthew couldn't get onto it. It was a lifer for me! Meanwhile James had found a different dark Tern. It was a White - Winged Black Tern! None of us got onto it, but James was sure of it because of the plumage. James spotted one more Manx Shearwater and then things completely stopped with a strong Westerly wind. It had been a brilliant seawatch and we were all pleased with what we had seen.

Oh well...

2006-08-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

8/8/06 Welney WWT Leaders:Simeon and James
We returned to Welney to try and positively ID the strange Snipe we had seen the day before. At Buxton Hide we counted 48 Common Snipe and the strange one. In the end we came to the conclusion that it was just a dodgy Snipe (excuse the phrase!), because it had a small amount of white on the underside that we hadn't seen the day before. Sorry for the false alarm and I apologise for any inconvenience. I know have a better knowledge of Snipes so I will not jump to any conclusions next time! Anyway, other birds we saw were 50 Common Snipe (including the dodgy one and one from the main observatory), two Green Sandpipers, 1 Common Sandpiper, 600+ Lapwing, 30+ Golden Plover, 15+ Ruff, Grey Heron (see gallery), 4 Little - Ringed Plover, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel and Hobby. It had been a good day with the positive ID of the Common Snipe! Sorry again for any inconvenience!

A big shock!

2006-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

7/8/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon and James
We returned to Welney to try and refind the Spotted Crake that Connor and I had found two days earlier. At the main observatory we got two Yellow Wagtails, a Kestrel and a single Common Sandpiper. Things seemed a bit quiet so we moved on to the Buxton Hide. There was a strange wader that turned out to be a young Ruff. Other birds were five Yellow Wagtails, three Green Sandpiper, two Little Ringed Plover, 10+ Sand Martins, a Kestrel, a Bewick's Swan and some Whoopers, a few Wigeon and twenty - five Common Snipe. Whilst counting the Snipe, I noticed a larger bird! After doing lots of research I thought it could be a Great Snipe! The key features were; the bill was shorter than the Common Snipes, the underparts were more heavily barred with next to no white, the underside of the wings were dark with no white at all, the bird had white coverts, it was noticeably larger and it had a lot of white on the tail. I don't know whether to count it or not. All of the features pointed towards Great Snipe, but the only problem is, it's a bit early! It had been a really good day though!

An early start!

2006-08-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

6/8/06 Gibraltar Point Leaders: Simeon, Connor, James
We got up at 6:00 to twitch the Long - Billed Dowitcher. On arrival at 8:30 we rushed to the hide and within five minutes James found it in front of some Black - Tailed Godwits! A wonderful bird! Unfortunately the Lesser Yellowlegs had left yesterday morning. On returning home we got reasonable pictures of the Woodchat Shrike at Friskney (see gallery). It had been a brilliant morning!

Finding our own birds!

2006-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

5/8/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon and Connor
Connor and I went to Welney to see if we could find any of our own birds. We found a Turtle Dove on the aproach road - a nice start! Some good numbers of butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies had been seen (see butterflies and moths page), and a Green Sandpiper was wandering around somewhere on the reserve. So we spent a bit of time in the main observatory at first and managed to pick up, several Common Snipe, Teal, Common Sandpiper, Marsh Harrier and Stock Dove. Then we went on to the Buxton Hide after finding a Red Underwing Moth on a signpost. Here we got, Green Sandpiper, 14 Ruff, 300+ Lapwing, 7 Common Snipe and 7+ Redshank. After lunch we walked along the Summer Walk and heard something in the reeds. It was a Spotted Crake! It was calling in the reeds by the river but was unfortunately never seen. It was a lifer for me (Simeon) and a yearer for Connor. We had found a scarce bird at last! It had been a really good day.

Super Stuff Seawatching!

2006-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

3/8/06 Holme NOA Leaders: Connor
As I walked down the path towards the seawatching hide at Holme NOA I was extremely excited as the wind was a near gale force north westerly! I was soon in the hide with the assistant warden and the amount of Gannets was clearly evident with 120+ in an hour. Kittiwakes and Fulmars were also regular as were Sandwich and Common Terns. Common Scoters numbered about 60+. At about 8:20 am I picked up a Sooty Shearwater flying west at about three quaters distance. This was followed by another 10 minutes later. While watching the second bird a Skua flew through my scope. It was extremely thin winged, very grey and barred, much more so than the 15+ Arctic Skuas or so I had been watching. I followed it and was delighted to discover it was a Long Tailed Skua! More Arctic Skuas followed before retreating to the obs for breakfast.

Next the moth trap was emptied and although several interesting species were recorded it was rather uninspering and I was anxious to watch the sea again. On returning to the seawatching hide I was extremely annoyed to find out that I had missed two adult Long Tailed Skuas, a Manx Shearwater and two Sooty Shearwaters, as well as hearing the warden had seen two juvenile Long Tailed Skuas from the dunes!

Two Great Skuas were quickly located and a Manx Shearwater delighted me by putting in a brief appearance. Arctic Skuas were still on the move and the final tally at the end of the day was 33 but the seabird movement was clearly slowing with 5 Arctic Skuas, 12 Gannets, 2 Kittiwakes, 3 Fulmars, 6 Grey Plovers, 2 Greenshanks and a Whimbrel in the next hour.

Other birds seen during the day included 2 more Whimbrel and another Greenshank. Common Tern, 3 Grey Plovers and 12 Sandwiches Terns were on Redwell Marsh and this concluded a super day!

Three in a day! Twice!

2006-07-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

29/7/06 Titchwell RSPB Leaders; James and Simeon
We grabbed the easy opportunity to go to Titchwell as this is one of my favourite places to find good birds. We looked at the record book and decided to spend most of our six hours at the sea. But first we stopped off at the fresh marsh and saw two Spoonbills (see gallery), then we stopped off at the tidal lagoon and saw a juvenile Arctic Skua (see gallery) that we got some record shots of. Finally we got to the beach. Nothing. Except a few Sandwich Terns and Common Scoters, but apart from that...nothing! We were still pleased with the Skua and Spoonbills. We decided to go back to the visitor centre, have lunch and work our way, hide to hide, back up to the beach again. We did this with some success (bird wise) picking up Wood Sandpiper (see gallery), Water Rail, Yellow Wagtail, Marsh Harrier, four Common Sandpiper and two beautiful Common Snipes (see gallery) from Island Hide and some record shots of the Spoonbills from Parinder Hide. At last we got to the beach again with our hopes raised for the seawatch. It was a lot more productive with a few Eider, Common Terns, Little Terns and two more Arctic Skuas mobbing Sandwich Terns. One of them was a dark morph Arctic which can be told from Great Skua because the white patch on the wings on Great Skuas are very prominent. On dark morph Arctic they are barely visible. Another way to tell them is that Great Skuas have a much heavier and slower flight. All in all it had been a very pleasing day! The title is so because I got three Arctic Skuas in a day and three yearers in a day.