2 Days of Cracking Migrants!

On Wednesday, Dad took me up to Winterton Dunes, to see if we could connect with some Autumn migrants. We parked in the car park, and headed North. We were hoping to get the Wryneck which was up by the Totem Pole. We joined the throng of birders who were waiting for the Wryneck, but having no luck.

I had a walk around the scrub the Wryneck was favouring, and found a lovely little Redstart, which was a welcome year tick, but the sun was in the wrong place for a decent photo...

Things were looking promising early on, so we decided to head north to see the cracking male Red-backed Shrike. On the way, I was walking through some dunes on the western side, and came across a small row of low trees. I saw a bird fly out of the right hand side of the trees, and then back up again. The bird had something about it that made it feel different. I walked to the bushes, and found myself looking at my first ever PIED FLYCATCHER! I called over Dad, and we got decent views of a superb bird!

We carried on North with a LIFER and a year tick, and got to the Red-backed Shrike, where it showed fantastically in the scrub about 20 yards from the path....

We also got several Stonechat and Whinchat at this site with a few Whitethroat and Garden Warbler. We moved back South towards the beach car park, and went via where we saw the Pied Flycatcher. We reached the group of trees, and the bird was still in the trees. Great stuff!

We got back to the scrub near the Totem Pole, and a very kind man showed me the Wryneck through his scope. It was in a dark spot in some trees. How someone spotted in there was incredible. Well done to them!

We then went to see the Barred Warbler at Eccles, which was another LIFER for me. It was a tough place to find, but the chap that showed me the Wryneck in his scope led us to the venue. What a man! We then had to scan the brambles, and walked a bit further south and found the juv. Barred Warbler in the brambles, though it was elusive...

Thursday - Minsmere

I was volunteering at Minsmere on Thursday, and I was with the Waveney Bird Club doing the Ringing demonstration. We caught several birds, including Garden Warbler, but the highlight had to be a cracking Kingfisher...

I then wanted to go and see the Wryneck in North Bushes, as I had missed it being ringed in the morning, I was determined to see it, and I wasn't disappointed. It showed well from North Wall looking back towards the visitor centre. We also saw a Whinchat and a Wheatear.

 Spot the Wryneck???

Happy Birding!!

One of my Most WANTED Birds Ticked off! Also BIRD QUIZ - WEEK 18!!!

Last Sunday, Dad and I visited Winterton Dunes in the pouring rain to try and get to see one of my favourite birds for the first time - a Red-backed Shrike.

Driving up, it was chucking it down. We didn't have any waterproofs, jumpers, nothing. Just shorts and T-shirts. We parked up in the car park, and it was still raining. We waited in the car for about 30 minutes for the rain to clear, and then we got out.

We didn't really know where the bird was, we just knew it was by the highest dune. We kept looking for a really high dune, but didn't really succeed. We did see a lifer butterfly in the dunes though, and that was a Dark Green Fritillary!

Eventually, we found a high dune with really good habitat, so we gave it a scan. There were no other birders, so it was just us and our eyes....

Dad shouted out "there it is!" and within seconds I was looking out my first ever Red-backed Shrike. We started to get a bit closer, to try and get some decent pics, but it flew into cover. After another 5 minutes, it still hadn't reappeared,so we walked round the clump of brambles. We returned to the front side, and it was so close to us. What a bird...

Sorry about the quality - it was sooo windy!

It then disappeared again, so we moved on. We thought we would go and have a look at how the Little Tern's were doing, from a sensible distance of course. We got fantastic views of these delightful birds, where they flew feet above our heads. A great spectacle...

BIRD QUIZ - WEEK 18!!!

Last weeks mystery bird was indeed a Golden Eagle, which is the only one in England, which I saw at Haweswater Lake, Lake District several years ago.

Well done to Rob Stokes and Ellis Lucas for getting the correct answer. Unlucky to those who got it wrong but many thanks for having a go.

This week is a bit different. I'm going to test your butterfly skills. Here it is...

If you want to have a go, you can leave your answers in the comments, or you can DM me at Twitter to @MoysieBirder. 

Good Luck!

What A Birthday Treat!

For my Birthday, Mum and Dad decided to take me out birding on Sunday. We were initially going to go to Cley, and Holkham, but the weather forecast wasn't brilliant, so we decided to go to Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. As we were all going out, that meant that I had the little camera, so I could take videos. Yipeeeeeeeeeee! I left Mum and Dad to do the pictures, and me to do the videos. Splendid.

We started at Great Yarmouth, looking for the Shorelarks. We parked about 1/2 mile north of the pier, and then walked south. There was one birder, who we met, and asked if he had seen them. He said that the Shorelarks couldn't be towards the pier because the amount of dog walkers and fisherman down there was unreal. He was right, but we still went down there to have a look. On the walk, we saw 2 Med Gulls flying around.

I then had a scan around on the beach about 300 yards north of the pier, and blow me down I could see 4 Shorelarks flitting and feeding around the shingle. AAARRRGGGHHH! We got down there, and we got within 15 feet of some these birds. It was an incredible Lifer that I have tried for humpteen times, but we finally connected.

We then met 3 birders. A man, a woman and their daughter Lucy who was a late teenager, and she was a person who was looking for young people who are interested in birds, like me. She is part of the BTO. We enjoyed the birds together, and then left them to it. 

We then went to Links Hill Beach, in search of any Snow Buntings. Once again, there were plenty of fisherman, so no chance in them, but we did get 2 self found Purple Sandpiper on the rocks with Turnstone. Also, there were 4 Med Gull in the car park.

We then decided to go and try for the Glaucous Gull at Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft. This again would be a lifer. When we got there, there were about 13 birders, but we went away from them, and closer to the gull, which was one of the easiest lifers I'll ever get. It was soooo close. 

Then we ambitiously thought to go to Winterton to get the massive flock of Snow Buntings. We got there, and the 3 people we met at Great Yarmouth were there. We were at the North Dunes at this point, and we had seen nothing. We asked them if they had seen anything, but they had seen nilch too. They had just been to Sea Palling, to see the Humpback Whale, but they had seen nothing. However, I just had a message in the Whale was seen 5 minutes ago. I told them, and they couldn't believe it. They ran back to the car park. We thought about doing that too, so we started to follow them. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a view of some small birds with white wings. I shouted to Mum and Dad "Snow Buntings," and we went back and got pics. There was about 40 birds present. The light was poor though.

We then started to head back to the car park, to go to Sea Palling. As we started to walk back, a further 60 flew over our heads really low. It was incredible. No picture though :( 

We then got to Sea Palling, and got to the crowd of people on the dunes. The viz was poor, and you could hardly tell the sky from the sea. We didn't see the whale, so we headed back and had a great lunch at The Countryman. The food was great. What a birthday treat.

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!

Norfolk Part 2!

Long time no post! Sorry, about the delay of this incredible part 2 of our Norfolk Trip. I've been back to school, and homework has been flying out of the roof. I shall get started anyway. On the Tuesday we headed to Winterton Dunes, to try and find Pied Flycatcher, and maybe a Skua or two. We got started with loads of Grayling, but not much else in and around the dunes.

Grayling and then one on Dad's sock!

Small Copper

Whitethroat

We then took to the sea. We saw a distant Little Tern, then a pair of Black Tern flew North, which was a long awaited lifer. I shouted "Mum" to come over to see, but I think she may have just missed them. Dad was looking around the Little Tern colony notice board, so he missed them too. Super! We then headed back to the car for lunch, and then we had one final sea watch. We got the scope out, and scanned the waves. For the briefest of seconds, I got a glimpse of a dark-morph Pomarine Skua heading south. I t was a long way a way, and with my excitement of showing Mum and Dad i lost it and couldn't re-find it.

The best day though was on the Wednesday. We headed for the Broads. We first went to Strumpshaw. Well, here's what we saw.

Black Swan

Black-tailed Skimmer or Scarce Chaser

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Hawker sp.

Holy Blue

Marsh Tit

Norfolk Hawker

Painted Lady

Peacock

Ruddy Darter

Ruff

Speckled Wood

Then the star of the show, my first ever Swallowtail Butterfly

Swallowtail

Treecreeper

Willow Emerald Damsel.

We the headed to Cantley to see the Red-necked Phalarope. Well, bingo.

Very Distant though

Other birds of note here were Yellow and Grey Wagtail, Green and Common Sand, Snipe, Ruff and Cuckoo. A cracking day and trip.

Just of note, our neighbour filmed this in his garden on Friday afternnon. Apparently it was in his garden for about half an hour.

Happy Birding!