Sunday 8th June - A MEGA DAY!!!

I WILL BE NOT UPDATING THE BLOG AS MUCH AT THE MOMENT DUE TO SCHOOL WORK. I HAVE 4 TESTS NEXT WEEK, 2 HOMEWORK PROJECTS AND 3 OTHER PIECES OF HOMEWORK. I HOPE YOU WILL AGREE WITH ME TO SAY THAT I AM BUSY!

With me trying really hard to get my first MEGA of my career this year, Dad and I couldn't resist not going up to Burnham Overy Staithe to see the Spectacled Warbler!!!

On the way we got a Barn Owl and Marsh Harrier at Fakenham Magna, which was nice to see.

When we arrived at Burnham Overy Staithe, and parked in the layby, you could see the hundreds of birders on Gun Hill from at least a mile away maybe more. We were on a bit of mission to get down there, and then wandering back to see what else we could see. On the way up though, we (intentionally) walked past the obliging Little Terns and a Spoonbill.

We got up to Gun Hill, and joined the throng of birders....

When we arrived in the group of birders on the left of the picture, the Spectacled Warbler was a bit distant, but very vocal, so pictures were hard to obtain. After watching its behavior from a distance, we joined the group of birders at the bottom right of the picture.

After a little while of sitting down getting sun burnt (LOL), the bird appeared quite close to us. We got amazing views of this MEGA bird, and to my relief, we got some decent photo's to look back on. Awesome little fella!

We then started to wonder back. We got great views of Sedge Warblers that tried to steal the show...

We also got the Spoonbill again, the obliging Little Terns, a Bittern and a several Whitethroats...

We then went looking for a Montagu's Harrier that had been seen earlier in the day but failed miserably! We then went to Salthouse to look for 3 reported Garganey off Iron Road, but we didn't know where Iron Road was so we left it there.

We finished the day at Holme where we got a Cuckoo.

A very good day to remember for when I get older, and hopefully this will be my first of many MEGA's to come????

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!