North West Norfolk

On Wednesday, Dad and I took the long drive up to Titchwell area. We arrived at Titchwell, and went straight out onto the beach. We soon found the masses of Common Scoters, about 5,500 birds in total with about 15 Velvet Scoters.

The long line of scoters

Female Velvet

Young Male Velvet

Near Adult Male Velvet

We then went to look on the Freshmarsh, Saltmarsh and Volunteer Marsh. Here's what we saw...

A very theatrical Dog on the beach - very funny to watch

Brent Geese

Both Godwits

Distant Goldeneye offshore

Distant Goldeneye offshore 

Grey Plover

Knot

Ruff

Saltmarsh

Shoveler

Teal

Titchwell Beach

Mixed Birds 

We then went to Choseley Barns, to see if we could get any Corn Buntings. No sign of any as their favourite hedge has been taken out. There were though however c. 30 Yellowhammers and a Buzzard...

Buzzard

Wren

Yellowhammer

Final stop of the day was at Burnham Overy Dunes. We got a Merlin from the layby...

Other stuff we got were...

Burnham Beach

Gulls on Burnham Beach

Dusk Curlew

Golden Plover

Mixed Geese

Distant Marsh Harrier

Brents and Pink foots with a Curlew

Pink Foots

Reed Bunting

We then got a very pale Buzzard. When it flew, it didn't show the white barring on the tail for it to be the resident Rough-legged Buzzard.

We then got a great Short-eared Owl and a Barn Owl, but too brief to photograph.

On the way back to the car, I tried to climb over a gate, which I was successful on the way to the marshes, but I fell over it on the way back and landed on my right side. Very painful. Not hurt much, and the optics weren't damaged! When we got back to the car, people were still in the layby and it was almost dusk, but they had the actual Rough-legged Buzzard sitting on top of Gun Hill. They saw it fly in with the white barring on the tail, but I wouldn't of told you it was a Rough-legged Buzzard if I'd of just seen it in the tree!

Happy Birding!

Yare Valley Birdwatching!

Dad and I headed for Norfolk on Thursday to go Birdwatching with my cousin James. It was an early start, so getting up at 7am wasn't the easiest thing to do. We met  James near his patch, Surlingham, and after following him to his patch, we got off to a start. A great wader to start off with was a Green Sandpiper.

Green Sandpiper at Surlingham

Another interesting passerine to get, especially for Jim was a Marsh Tit.

Marsh Tit at Surlingham

A nice Peacock too, with several Common and Migrant Hawkers

Peacock Butterfly at Surlingham

We then moved on to Buckenham Marshes, not a million miles away from Surlingham. A Hobby flew over, and a very close Buzzard too - you can see these videos on the video page. We got to the Hide, and some distant views of about 4 Yellow Wagtails were feeding beneath the cattle, and another 4 Green Sandpipers were on the mud. Just a general sight of the Barnacles, and Egyptian Geese.

We then moved on to Cantley to try and get Wood Sandpiper. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way, but a lot of Ruff, a few Avocet and Yellow Wagtail, a group of about 7 Snipe, and a distant Water Rail.

Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits and an Avocet

Snipe on the edge of Reeds

The visit before Cantley was a brief one to Strumpshaw Fen, looking for the beautiful Willow Emerald Damselfly. After 10 minutes of searching, Dad spotted the first one, then I spotted a second, what a beauty!

Happy Birding!

Is It Us?

Dad and I visited RSPB Snettisham for the first time on Monday, looking for the adult White-rumped Sandpiper. As the title says, it had moved on from the reserve, so I was a bit annoyed, and then it was located at Cley the following day! Another scarce wader miss!

It was a long walk from the car park to get to the Rotary Hide, or The Wash itself. Along on the pits held plenty of Greylag Geese, and Black-headed Gulls. A lovely sight though was about 30 Golden Plovers flying over our heads, and we then located them on the mudflats on The Wash.....

Golden Plovers

Some more waders on the list included about 50 Sanderling, 80 Dunlin, and in the distance, the swirling flocks of about 400 Knot was a nice sight. Some careful searching amongst the Dunlin included a Curlew Sandpiper, the second bird in about a week! Plenty of Terns were about too, with Common, Arctic, Little and Sandwich all present.

We then took a detour to Titchwell Marsh, hearing that a Little Stint was on the Freshmarsh. Parking in the Car Park and, walking up to the visitor center, we noticed that the Little Stint was still about, so we headed straight out. Getting past the first bed of reeds was a great tactic, as a Bittern was flying straight towards us, then landed in the reeds. If I could have had my camera ready, I would have made the photography world headlines! Other interesting birds of note included Little Egret, Dunlin, Ruff, Avocet and Curlews. He are some videos......

Avocet

Ruff feeding

We got to the Island Hide, and plenty of the normal stuff were about on the Freshmarsh, including the Little Stint, which was incredibly distant, even in the scope it was just a dot moving about on the stones. To far away to get a pic, but the Black-tailed Godwits got a good view, with the Stint hopping around them. The Egyptian Geese were having good times, swimming around the Freshmarsh, accompanied by the Common Tern.

Egyptian Goose

Happy Birding!