Lazy summer day

As there have been a few Storm Petrels seen further north I was hoping for one past Cley today (having just missed one at Sherringham last year and still not having seen one in Norfolk!). However, the weather was not ideal for seawatching and all that passed were the following:
Gannet x 7
Arctic Tern - 1 Adult (my first of the year)
Kittiwake - 1 juv
Guillemot x 2 on sea

North Hide at Cley - 12 Spoonbill (13 reported on Birdguides, but there was a sleeping L Egret amongst them!)
c.100 Dunlin - A few more juvs appearing
Ruff - 1 juv amongst plenty of adults
Hobby - 1 hunting as usual
Knot - 1 ad

..... The only decent migrant recently is a Dark Sword Grass - a scarce immigrant moth and a new one for me. Trapped a few days ago at home

Yesterday the journey to work was livened up by a rather tatty Red Kite circling low over the road just outside of Reepham.
North

Moths

As it is generally quiet on the bird front in June and July here are a few moths I have trapped recently (gets me through the birdless summer months!):

Pine Hawkmoth

Poplar Hawkmoth

Red-necked Footman - Rare but increasing in Norfolk

The Womble like Drinker Moth

Pale Pinion - Huge palps!

And finally the massive Privet Hawkmoth

Seawatching season begins .. (almost)

Strong N and NW winds overnight gave me some hope that there may be some seabirds passing today and with a day off work I headed up to the Cley shelter.

At around 9am a few Gannets were passing. Mostly immature birds (sub adult) heading west. A close Bonxie and very distant Arctic Skua were my first of the year. Also new for year for me was a distant Manx Shearwater and another Skua in mid distance looked bulky but did not come close enough to be clinched as a Pom. A summer plum Bar T Godwit, Whimbrel and 70+ close Com Scoter were the only other birds of note in 30min Seawatch

It is always strange seawatching on your own rather than in the big groups such as those at Sherringham. You start to think 'What if an Albatross was to pass now' .. Would anyone believe it !? Would you start to imagine that you did not see it? .. Seeing as there was just about as much chance of winning the Euromillions lottery .. I did not have to worry too much about the consequences.

The highlight of the day was the number of returning waders seen from North Hide:
Stunning adult sum plum Curlew Sandpiper
juv Sanderling
juv LRPlover
many Dunlin - mostly adults (1 juv)

A Hobby flew away in distance, 1 YL Gull was picked out and 15 Spoonbill were gracing Simmond's scrape (again seen in distance from N Hide only)
This must be the largest number I have seen but staring to lose count of largest flocks.

All in all , a good taster of the autumn migrants that are just around the corner.

Collared Fly theory and Roller memories

I have put some comments and a link to two photos of the Collared Flycatchers that turned up on Fair Isle and the Holme bird this Spring. Both first summer birds, within three days of each other and both with remarkably similar plumage features... coincidence? I think not.

The finder of the Fair Isle bird had contacted me and also thinks they could be the same bird. Not sure it will be possible to prove. If anyone has photos of the Norfolk bird in flight it sounds like the tail pattern could be the proof. The F Isle bird did have quite distinctive outer tail feathers...Will be interesting to see if the rarity reports treat them as different birds.

Meanwhile, lots of birders getting excited about the Roller in Suffolk. Great birds. Dave and I watched at least 8 birds along one stretch of road on Spain recently, whilst reminiscing about one of the first twitches we ever went on from London to Devon back in 1989!

Will not venture into the unknown and out of Norfolk this time... But if it carries on north and over the border then I would be tempted!!

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=202813

Back to the search for the big rarity

Encouraged by the amazing find up in Cleveland today (The first twitchable W T Robin) I decided to do a quick seawatch and then a stroll up to the Point ... just in case there was a mega hiding out in Norfolk too!

The highlight of the seawatch was a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver heading close in going West .. not a plumage i've had the pleasure of seeing in Norfolk before.

Razorbills x3, Guillemot x1, Fulmar x2 and about 30 Gannets past ..... It appears the NW winds not quite as good as the recent NE winds were for passage seabirds.

The walk up to the Point was livened up by the usual Little Terns, Oystercatchers with chicks etc

At the Plantation:
Spotted Flycatcher (my first of the year)
Willow Warbler
Wheatear x 2 .. late birds?

No June mega but a pleasant walk despite some rain

Extremadura

Back from a great trip to Spain .. Not so 'Pointless Birding' with Dave Gandy, my friend who lives in Thailand

We cleaned up on all the target birds within the first few hours of the day

Spanish Imperial Eagle
Great Bustards .. Still displaying which was a real surprise!
Little Bustards
Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
.... not to mention the huge number of great common birds like Calandra, Thekla and Crested Larks. Rollers, Hoopoes etc etc

Mega rare Eagle .. Spanish Imperial

Great Bustard turning itself into popcorn!

R R Swallows

COLLARED FLYCATCHER

A fantastic weekend and a reminder of how great birding in May, in Norfolk, can be.

With the winds in a great direction decided to walk to the Point, despite the lack of rain on Saturday:

Sedge Warbler
Lesser Whitethroat
Whitethroat x5
A singing Grasshopper Warbler at the Hood
Little Terns
A few C Terns
Whimbrel x10
Yellow Wagtail
A few Wheatear
A male Hare was so busy chasing a female, with her 'boxing' him, that they both nearly ran into me.
One large raptor distantly flew over the Gull colony and over the marsh (Buzzard sp?)

After returning to the car had a quick look out of North Hide where the day was rescued with Spoonbills x2, Tem Stint, Greenshank x5 and LRP amongst the other waders there.

Real feeling that a bit of rain would produce something really good....... Which was revealed on Sunday..

SUN 8th:

Started morning by dipping the Citrine Wagtail found by Mark G the previous evening. Still, it was nice to be out with many more Hirundines and Swifts than the previous day passing over. Hobby near Holt on way.
Hides at Cley produced just Common Sand, LRP and a Stoat running around chasing birds and anything else in it's way.
It was also great to finally hear some Bearded Tits as the cold winter seems to have reduced numbers of them this year.

After returning home was not expecting any the message at 4.20pm. COLLARED FLYCATCHER Holme....

Rushed up there and by 5.15pm I was in amongst a crowd of 2-300 trying to see it high in the canopy.

Eventually saw it well with the bonus of a Wood Warbler there too.

Some photos of the crowd to follow...

Quote of the day from one birder struggling to see it:
Birder 1 - ' I have seen the White belly and black head, so I'm happy to tick it '
Birder 2 - ' Could have been a Pintail! ' haha

Finished the day with a Turtle Dove seen from the car near Haveringland. A rare sight these days!

What a great day. And my first new British bird in 2011.