Breckland Produces - Again!

On Sunday, Dad took me out to the Brecks again, to try and pin down some of the specialities, and also some early spring migrants. We started off at Great Livermere Lake, where a scan around picked up an slightly unusual gull sitting on one of the bars. My initial thought was Caspian, and lots of people said Caspian, but I'm no expert on finding and identifying scarce gull species. Here it is...

Further scanning around the lake produced 2 Mediterranean Gull, a late Pink-footed Goose and a lone Barnacle Goose which were the highlights...

We then went to look in the pig fields north of the lake to try and find an Iceland Gull which was seen the previous day. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it, but there was still hundreds of gulls that were not searched. 

We moved on north to Santon Downham, to try and look for a hopeful Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. After a lot of searching, we couldn't nail it down, but we did get several Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, Brambling, Chiffchaff and Lesser Redpoll. The star of the visit had to be a cracking Firecrest however...

We then got a call from our good birding friend David to say that he had a pair of Wheatear and 4 Stone Curlew at Cavenham Heath, so that's where we headed next. After scanning around, we picked up one cracking male Wheatear, 8 Stone Curlews and a singing male Stonechat. I do love the brecks!!!

Happy Birding!

The One That Got Away!

Dad took me up to North Norfolk on Sunday to try and see one of my bogey birds, Pallas' Warbler. This was the first time we had twitched one, and we were hoping for the Holkham bird to put in an appearance, so that's where we started.

We arrived at Lady Annes Drive at about 11am. Loads of birders and dog walkers walking about, and a strong wind blowing too which weren't ideal conditions. A Pallas' Warbler had been seen at the west end, which was a long walk, so we decided to risk the Cley bird in the afternoon. However, we managed to find a Firecrest and a vocal (but hidden) Yellow-browed Warbler just west of the road, but apart from about 100 Goldcrests (!!!) not much else.

ALERT: It had just came in on the pager that a LONG-EARED OWL had been seen at Walsey Hills! OMG! This had been a target bird for Dad and I for years, and now a twitchable one turned up, wow!

On the way to Walsey Hills, we went to Eye Pool, Cley, and caught up with the Grey Phalarope. Very obliging bird, even in the gale force winds...

We then headed to Walsey Hills, but the car park and surrounding road was full of cars, so we had to park in the Cley Visitor Centre, and walk back! Anyway, as soon as we got into the bushes, we could see about 20 birders looking at the Long-eared Owl, but we couldn't see it at first. I scanned with my bins, and couldn't believe I was looking at my first ever LONG-EARED OWL!!!! What a bird. It was much larger than I expected. It was only about 12 yards away. INCREDIBLE!!! That's what you call a bird!

We then went to look for the Pallas' Warbler where we joined the throng of birders at the back of Snipes Marsh, and waited. There was a brief sighting while we were there, and I think Dad got a glimpse of it, but unfortunately I didn't see it :-(. Oh well, there is always a chance that another may come in, but hopefully a bit nearer home. Still though, a great days birding, plus probably one of the best birds of my life so far!

Happy Birding!

There Ticking Up!

The title is basically suggesting that my year list and life list are ticking up, with 214 this year, and 240 for my life. This is a fantastic year if you compare it, because I am only 26 species off my life list this year. That's incredible. My highest ever year count was last years 205, well, I have thrashed that this year, and were still in November!!!

Anyway, Dad and I went to Norfolk for a bit of birding on Friday. We started of at northern section of Yarmouth Cemetery. Our ambition was to track down the Yellow-browed warbler that was seen on Thursday, and to do this, we presumably had to find a tit flock. It wasn't long before my ears picked up the call of Long-tailed Tit's, and sure enough we found th flock. Of course, there were several Long-tailed Tits

And also 3 Chiffchaffs

Not great!

The, we spotted a tiny bird flitting about low in the ivy. Our hopes went up, but then down a little way, as it turned out to be a Firecrest. Still a cracking bird to see, as I haven't had good views of these birds for ages. The best I got was this shot...

We the headed to Caister to get the Rose-coloured Starling, a lifer for Dad and I.

It then cleared off onto the distant roof tops...

We then left for Winterton. Passing through the fields around the road, we saw thousands of Pink-footed Geese. It was incredible. The shots were taken while driving, so that's why they are so bad....

We didn't get much at Winterton Dunes, apart from some Gannets and Common Scoters. We didn't know where the Snow Buntings or Lapland Bunting were when we got there, and there were so many people here, so we didn't see them.

If you've got good eyes, you can see the scoters. Very distant.

Pretty Poor

We then finished off at the raptor roost at Stubb Mill, and got several Marsh Harriers, Pink-foots and 2 Crane. Not a bad day, but could have been better.

Happy Birding!

Summer has come early!

The first day of this spring that my Cousin, Dad and I went bird watching in Norfolk. I have already got 130 species of birds this year, and we're not even halfway through April. We first headed to Santon Downham in the Thetford area, looking for the elusive Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, where we parked by the side of a small track for a while. Unfortunately, it didn't show for us, but we did see Nuthatch and Coal Tits in this area. We then moved on to park at St Helen's picnic area further down the track. We walked around the church looking for Firecrest that we were told were more reliably seen here, but not today. My first Willow Warbler of the year was singing in a dense Hawthorn, and shew well on the top of it. The soft churring with a trill was being produced at the top of some bare trees, where Brambling's were feeding in small double figures (10-15).  We walked through the wood through to the river and alongside the trees. A nasally whistle of a pair of Mandarin Ducks flew over our heads and into the trees, lost from our view. As much as we used the 10 minutes to search for the pair of ducks, just a distant call indicated their disappearance. After hearing a drumming noise from the wood, we drove down the road in luck for the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. we didn't see that, but I then spotted a very early male Cuckoo, hopping from tree to tree, superb. We then drove to Lynford Arboreretum, still within the Thetford area. On arrival we walked around the accessible path around the Paddocks to the bridge. Many small flocks of Crossbill were flying over our heads, but sadly not showing perched. We then tweaked on to a pair of Lesser Redpoll over the bridge at a medium level, but soon disappeared. We then got told by a man that by the Folley area we may be lucky to view Hawfinch feeding on the ground bellow the feeder. He also shew us a picture that he took about 5 minutes ago from that point, so we headed straight there. Within reaching their, a flock of about 10 Crossbill were in the tops of trees, a majority of them were males. After taking a few looks and pictures, we moved on to the Hawfinch, where I first found a female in a short ivy-covered tree. We were then fortunate enough to see 2 females feeding where we were told. Brilliant. A fantastic day.

My cousins link is www.jimsbirdingblog.blogspot.com

TOTAL OF BIRDS FOR 2012 = 134