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!

Steppe Grey Shrike and Yellow-browed Warbler

Last Sunday, Dad took me up to North Norfolk to see the Steppe Grey Shrike at Burnham Norton. It was very foggy when we arrived, and light was pretty poor. You could the call of thousands of Pink feet flying overhead, but you just couldn't see them unless they were like 10 ft above you! Anyway...

...the Shrike was sitting in a bush about 60 yards from the path, so with the light, it was poor to photograph it.

There were several people that had twitched the shrike. Well over 50 people there.

After about half an hour, the Shrike came a bit closer, and showed the tameness this particular race obviously carries.

We then moved on to Stiffkey, and as this happened, I ran out of credit on my phone! DOH! This meant I couldn't see what was about. We just had to wing it. I saw though that there were some YBW's at Stiffkey, so thats where we headed...

We arrived at the Campsite Car park, and walked through the wood. We joined a group, who were alos looking for the YBW. I found after some extensive searching flitting about high in the canopy. We managed some decent shots...

We then went to see if we could find our own rarities at Garden Drove, Warham Greens, one of my favourite places. After walking down the track, all we saw was a Blackcap, a tit flock which contained nothing interesting and a Great-spotted Woodpecker. We called it a day here and headed home.

Monday and Tuesday produced a hall of birds due to the easterlies and rain. I couldn't believe because on Sunday, we were looking in a tree down Garden Drove. The next day, people saw with joy a Red-flanked Bluetail perched in it. NO WAY!!! If the winds had been a couple of days earlier, we would have seen tonnes of rarities. Going out this Sunday, fingers crossed things will linger, but I doubt it.

GARDEN/PATCH MEGA!!!!

At 14:00 yesterday, Dad had a Short-eared Owl over our garden, WHILE I WAS AT SCHOOL!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! What a bird that would've been to see. This was obviously a passing bird, but it was flying low over the road behind our garden. Jammy git (I'll calm down in a minute!)

Happy Birding :-)

North Norfolk Coast - 21st September 2014

On Sunday 21st September Dad took me up to North Norfolk as I was eager to connect with the Olive-backed Pipit at Wells Woods and the several Red-breasted Flycatchers at Burnham Overy Dunes. We arrived at Wells Woods, and as I was getting my ticket, I noticed that Penny Clarke (see her fantastic blog here) was standing right behind me. We had a chat about her twitch to see the Masked Shrike in Spurn, and then made our way up to the Dell

We found the birders standing on the bank, and had great views of the cracking Olive-backed Pipit. The light was pretty poor however, so we done well to get the pictures we did. There is a video too, but the bird was on the move, so try and keep with it!

It then flew off so we left. We then went to Garden Drove, Warham with Penny and Eddie M. Found absolutely nothing apart from a few Robins. The strong wind had blown nearly all the migrants away, so all the Red-breasted Flys were gone which I was gutted about.

We then went to Salthouse, to see the Barred and Yellow-browed Warbler. Several people we watching the Barred Warbler at close range. We managed to get some pretty good shots of this and another video.

We then went to see if the Yellow-browed Warbler was showing. It hadn't been seen for an hour, so our hopes weren't up. We got there and no other birders in this area of bushes and it was feeding on the bushes! Incredible! It was only there briefly so I could only get a record shot on the little camera...

We then went to do a bit of sea-watching for the last part of the day at Cley Coastguards. Quite a few people were in there, so eyes were always on the lookout. I managed to see my first ever Sooty Shearwater (2), with several Manx Shearwaters and Gannets, 2 Arctic Skuas and 1 Bonxie. The chap next to me (Pete Snook I think his name was) spotted a "large Shearwater"flying east. We never really got good views of it, but we think it was a Cory's, but we weren't definite so I couldn't tick it as a lifer.

Still though another great days birding!

Happy Birding!

North Norfolk Lifer!

Dad and I decided we had to go to the North Norfolk Coast for a bit of October birding. We started off at Cley Spy, Glandford. We got there at about 10:20am, considering we left at about 8:30am, we got there in pretty good time. Dad wanted to get his digiscope camera fixed, and looked out for the Black Redstart that has been hanging around the car park. There was no chance in seeing it though. It was tipping it down with rain. After 10 minutes or so it stopped, and the Black Redstart came out on show.

We then headed to Garden Drove, Warham. After going down the wrong track - not funny - we finally found the concrete pad. We parked on here and walked down. The bushes were full of potential, but the best birds were about 2 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff and several Starlings and Redwings. It was incredible the numbers of these birds. 

Walking back up the track we met Penny (nice to meet you Penny), and a founder of the Red Flanked Bluetail at Warham. They had been to Wells. They had Ring Ouzel, but they missed the Parrot Crossbill that had been seen there that morning. We thought that we had to go there, so that is what we did. We got a text from our "undercover agent" - you know who you are with the injured foot (get well soon) - saying that there was Ring Ouzel, Yellow-browed Warbler, Parrot Crossbill, Shag and Slav. Grebe all around Wells. We got into the wood and found the crowd looking for the Yellow-browed Warbler. It was a tricky little fella, because unless you were in the perfect position, like I was eventually, you only really saw it in the sycamore. My Camera was not being nice to me today, but Dad's first day out new camera was on fire. Look at these 2 stinking shots he got...

Very Nice.

We then had a wonder around the woods. Got Brambling, and a Muntjac but not much else. We then started to head back when all of a sudden, the melodic chipping of a flock of 4 PARROT CROSSBILL flew over our heads going West-South-West. An incredible lifer!!!! Got some record shots....

Also got a Kestrel here. 

We then headed to Warham again to do a little bit of finding and raptor watching. We got 2 Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl, Merlin, Peregrine, Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk. Migrant wise, we got a possible Ring Ouzel, 4 Brambling, tonnes of Starling, 1 Fieldfare, and a few Redwing

Merlin

Brambling

Happy Birding!