Red-breasted Flycatcher, East Runton, 14th September 2014

Having spent most of last week in Peterborough I was relieved to find, on our return this afternoon, that there were still a few drift migrants around in Norfolk. There also appeared to be a few things just arriving, including a Red-breasted Flycatcher, just down the road from us, at East Runton. I turned up at the spot and, unusually for me just lately, the bird was ‘on show’. Probably a young bird, lacking any trace of red in it’s throat – nice to see all the same.

Wryneck, East Bank – Cley NWT, 5th September 2014

Encouraged by recent reports from Blakeney Point, I decided to spend yesterday morning doing the walk. Early Wheatear activity around The Marrams gave reason to be optimistic but by the time I’d reached Halfway House I was beginning to worry. There was a small group of Whinchat, including a very pale individual, at The Hood and four Redstart, including a male, at Long Hills. On the Point itself there were single Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Reed, Garden and Willow Warblers more Whinchat and a couple of Chiffchaff  – though, sadly, nothing more exciting. Fortunately for me the Wryneck on East Bank, Cley NWT was still present in the afternoon.

Several Whinchat were at The Hood, including this rather pale looking adult

Male Redstart – one of a total of five

Willow warbler

Spotted Flycatcher at the Plantation

Pied Flycatcher

Meanwhile – back at Cley, a rather obliging Wryneck on the path at East Bank.

Eastern Common Tern (possible), Arnold’s Marsh, Cley NWT, 29th August 2014

Thanks to Steve and Richard at Cley I can now confirm that my possible possible is indeed a definite possible!

There’s been an odd Tern knocking about along the North Norfolk coast recently – thought to be a Common Tern of the race longipennis or Eastern Common Tern – ECT for short. It’s been regularly seen in the high-tide roost at Scolt Head island and previously but briefly at Cley.

Last Friday afternoon I went looking for a reported Black Tern on Arnold’s Marsh, Cley NWT. There were plenty of Sandwich Tern in the roost, with a few Common Tern but the Black Tern, I was informed by the assembled small group of birders, had just flown back out to sea. As I scanned the flock I became aware of a rather odd looking bird roosting on a small spit in the middle of the marsh. I was sufficiently intrigued by it to attempt to take a couple of digipics. The bird in question was being touted as a probable Arctic Tern but to my eye, although it did look short legged, it was too dark in it’s upper parts and the breast looked rather smokey – contrasting with it’s white cheeks and throat. The group dispersed and I decided to get a better look from the shingle ridge. I quickly relocated the bird but this time it was mostly side on and the detail of the breast was obscured. However, the all dark cap – lacking any white forehead, mid grey upper parts, all white tail stopping short of the primaries and – most intriguingly, an all black bill and dark legs were clearly visible. I managed a few grab shots before the bird took to the air and departed over the ridge to the sea. As it did so, however, it showed a clean upper wing with no signs of the characteristic primary wedge of regular Common Tern. Certain that it wasn’t an Arctic, I returned home without a new Tern tick for the year – oh well!

Over the weekend Steve Gantlett posted pictures of the possible ECT at Scolt Head on his blog and I became immediately suspicious that it was one and the same bird. I sent Steve and Richard Millington copies of my photos and I’m pleased to report that they quickly confirmed the id – my possible possible has become a definite possible!

More digipics showing, in the first shot (the bird just to the left of the samphire) the smokey breast contrasting with white cheeks and throat

and in the second, the plain mid-grey upper wing, lacking the usual primary wedge

Just got to wait now until they decide to split it!

Purple Sandpiper, Sheringham beach, 31st August 2014

Today was spent in the company of Bob & Sue, our long-time birding buddies, attempting to replicate our achievements over the bank holiday, when we amassed a total of 104 species in Norfolk in a single day. We got off to a reasonable start by seeing forty different birds in the Felbrigg estate before breakfast! Yesterday most of the scarce birding action was on the coast, at Winterton dunes – birds included Greenish Warbler, Wryneck, Red-backed Shrike, Pied Flycatcher and Redstart. Suffice it to say that this morning we managed to see none of the aforementioned! A short coffee break, back at base, and on to Cley NWT – from here on the birding got better and better. From Dauke’s hide we saw a good selection of waders including five Little Stint, adult moulting Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. Down at the beach, more Curlew Sandpipers, Wheatear, Spoonbill and, out at sea, Great and Arctic Skua, Guillemot and Black Tern – up to nine, including the four roosting on Arnold’s.

However, the best was still to come. A late afternoon return visit to the play-park at Weybourne to look for the reported Rose-coloured Starling was quickly rewarded when the adult ‘Pink Stink’ flew straight across the park and on to a nearby TV ariel! On to Sheringham for a final sea watch. With absolute 100% visibility and only a weak on-shore breeze the prospects were poor but the day ended in style with a rather unseasonal and very approachable Purple Sandpiper feeding unconcerned amongst the holiday makers!

Some photos:

Ninety odd birds, some of real quality, made for another great Norfolk birding day out.

Great Skua (Bonxie), Salthouse, 29th August 2014

I was  just on my way over to Peterborough when the pager announced that there was a Great Skua on the sea pool at Salthouse. Although I’ve done the odd bit of sea watching this autumn I’d not yet caught up with this – the largest species of Skua in the Western Paleartic, so the minor detour seemed worth the gamble. As I drove down Beach Road I could see a couple of guys looking east through scopes. I parked up and scanned the pool – nothing. Then there it was, a rather pale and slightly dishevelled adult Bonxie, sat on the shingle ridge. This very approachable individual gave prolonged views before finally flying off towards Cley, chasing a gull. It was reported later in the morning flying over North Scrape.

A couple more shots of this interesting and approachable bird:

Migrant Wheatear, Gun Hill, Norfolk, 24th August, 2014

Yesterday Jake and I had a day out birding. As things have been a bit quiet of late on the Norfolk birding front, we decided to set ourselves the challenge of seeing a hundred different species during the day. We started at Titchwell, where the highlights were Spoonbill, Peregrine, Spotted Redshank, Arctic Skua, Whinchat, Common Swift and Eider. Next stop was Choseley Barns where we added Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer, then on to Gun Hill for a long flog round in search of migrants – nothing particularly special but we did see a couple of Wheatear, several Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and a Whimbrel.  A brief stop-off at Holkham Hall provided Nuthatch, Goldcrest and, rather surprisingly, Marsh Tit. Our final stop was Cley NWT, where we added Little Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Greenshank and Yellow Wagtail – making a grand total of 104. Not bad for a rather unpromising late summer birding Bank Holiday!

There were plenty of common waders along the coast, including Dunlin

This was my first autumn flock of Golden Plover for the year

Kestrel, feeding on a rabbit carcass, Gun Hill

One of several Lesser Whitethroat seen

Reed Warbler, in the legendary apple tree at Gun hill

As autumn draws ever closer here’s hoping for additional quality as well as quantity!

Following a busy weekend participating in the Three Peaks Challenge, which incidentally the guys managed to complete in 23 hours and 24 minutes despite the appalling weather, it was ‘business as usual’ for my ‘duty day’ at Cley NWT on Monday. Nothing particularly stunning, but eighteen species of wader on Simmonds Scrape during the morning was pretty good. Here are a couple of digiscope record shots, from the last couple of weeks, to make up for the lack of posts – partly due to continuing internet difficulties:

Grey Plover in near summer plumage

Juvenile Little Stint – Simmonds Scrape

Seen the previous week on Sea Pool – Curlew Sandpiper

Finally an odd looking Dunlin seen on Simmond’s Scrape this week, with noticeably (symmetrical) apricot-coloured flank patches. Couldn’t decide at first if this bird was stained in some way, had been colour-marked at some point or was just an aberrant individual – interesting all the same. Grateful for any comments.

Update: The bird was still present on 25th., although the flank coloration appears to be fading, presumably as it’s moult progresses

Hopefully, with working internet and autumn approaching, we should be back on track with more regular posts.

After ten days of no internet, we finally got our service restored at lunchtime today. How have we become so dependant on  something we understand so little about (I’m speaking for myself here of course) and have even less control over?? It’s a long story, which I won’t bore you with, but it was only when we demanded the code to change provider that TalkTalk finally got their act together, stopped blaming everyone else and fixed the problem – in two hours!

Anyway, enough of the whinging, here is a catch-up blog of birding stuff over the past week. On Friday we called in at Titchwell in the hope of ‘ticking up’ the Spotted Crake that had been there for several days and which was showing well, if only occasionally. It was the usual story, we arrived about ten minutes after it had been seen, I glimpsed the bird very briefly heading into the reeds and then it was two hours before the thing showed itself again! After a much appreciated late lunch we headed towards Cley/Salthouse, where a Purple Heron had been reported earlier in the day. We dropped into the NWT Centre to ask for an update and were told that it was last reported in a ditch, south of Arnold’s Marsh. We parked up and yomped down East Bank, where the couple of birders present said they hadn’t seen it. I turned and looked over towards the coast road to see a group of distant birders looking intently through their scopes at something in the vicinity of Pope’s Marsh! I’d just started yomping back towards the road again when the bird obligingly flew up, across the marsh, along the single bank and dropped down in the reed bed between North Scrape and Pat’s Pool. Brief, but very acceptable views of a quite rufous looking juvenile.

Spotted Crake, heads for cover

‘ Excuse me Ma’am, have you seen the Purple Heron?’ – ‘Yes, it’s behind you..!’

Young Corncrake, Nene Washes RSPB, 23rd July, 2014

Last Wednesday we were up early to get to the RSPB Nene Washes reserve for 8.00 – we’d been asked to join in the first of this years Corncrake trapping sessions, providing data on the ongoing reintroduction scheme there. After an initial briefing we set off in a line beating a 300m strip of wet meadow, deep in the heart of the reserve. It took us a couple of hours, slowly pushing the birds – at least that’s the idea, towards a line of nets and traps. We didn’t see anything during the drive, except I found an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar, until we got to the very end – then in the last 30m several birds hurled themselves into the traps. We caught five birds in all, two retraps, two un-rung juveniles and a chick. A pretty good catch!

The happy bunch of beaters

Getting to grips with the first ‘catch of the day’

‘

Processing begins

Re-trap, one of two dozen males on the reserve this year

Ringing one of this year’s juveniles

DNA swab

What a cute little black chick

The moment of freedom

and talking about ‘cute’ – the Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar