Spring in Norfolk

Was quite pleased with this photo, taken this morning with my phone.

It has been a while since I have posted anything here. This is mainly due to the birth of my beautiful daughter. It means limited time for birding .. But when I do have some spare birding time, I make the most of it!

Today found a really nice drake Goosander while driving over a small bridge in N Norfolk. Scarce around here. A sprinkling of other migrants such as Little Terns, LRP, Nightingale. A Sparrowhawk hunting low over the shingle along Blakeney Point but very few migrants on the ground despite the E Winds...

Will be posting mainly on Twitter only for a while but will try and do a blog update from time to time

Eagle breakdown

I had a spare hour and although not holding much hope of seeing it I thought I would have a look for the White-tailed Eagle that has been in the area near Houghton Hall.

After passing Houghton Hall, with no other birders around, I stopped on roadside for a quick scan and then found the car would not start at all! I called the RAC and they said it would be a 2-3 hour wait.... I had given up all hope of seeing the Eagle and was by now just hoping it wasn't just flying around nearby with me stuck, unable to chase after it.

What happened next was unbelievable... A birder stopped next to me to announce that he had seen the Eagle fly in and land nearby. Of all the places it could have landed, it chose the nearest group of trees to stop.. amazing view of such an impressive bird. Other birders arrived then before I had a chance to study the bird while perched it flew up and was mobbed by some of the many Buzzards around. In flight you really get to see how big these birds really are.. They are huge!!

Thanks to all the people who offered to help with the car and to the birder who offered me some food too.....

The damage was £100 for a new battery (RAC prices!)... But I have never been as happy as this to breakdown before.

I have been fortunate too have seen many WT Eagles in Japan, even next to the even bigger Steller's Sea Eagles. However, I have not seen many in the UK and I missed one in Norfolk in 2011 by 15 minutes when it decided to leave the county and settle in Lincolnshire crossing over the Wash before I got to see it! A nice county tick for me.

January

Currently ill at home which has given me the chance to update my blog.

These are some of the highlights of the month so far:

Dramatic winter scenes with lots of snow and ice

Lots of birds in the garden including Nuthatches, Great Sp Woodpecker and this Brambling

The birding highlights of the year have been: Hen Harriers (Cley and Strumpshaw), Waxwings in Norwich (on way to work yesterday), Merlin hunting in Norwich City (again on way to work), Taiga Bean Geese at Buckenham and a few Snow Buntings at Cley

This 'leucistic' Brent Goose was seen at Cley. A recent article in British Birds magazine described the various plumage colours of birds and talked about 'brown' plumage rather than leucistic. Something I had not heard about before. I think 'brown' Brent Goose is therefore the correct term for this plumage variation

And finally. While waiting for the weather to warm up and Moths to start appearing again it was nice to find this Herald 'roosting' for the winter in a jacket.... They are often found wintering in old barns etc. This could be the herald of a good season for rare and scarce Moths in the gaden in 2013 .. I hope so!

2012 Highlights

There have been plenty of internet sites (like Birding Frontiers) posting their highlights of 2012. So I thought I would summarise my highs and lows of the year about to pass

I ended up seeing just two new birds in the UK. One pending acceptance (Les Canada Goose) and the other a long awaited 'tart tick' (Blyths Reed Warbler). Both of these were in the home county.

This is the lowest number of UK ticks ever for me. I could have added a few more like Sh B Dowitcher, Orphean Warbler and Parrot Crossbill if my twitching instincts had got the better of me!

I did also add a further 9 new 'world' birds on my one venture out of the country to St Lucia.

My personal highlights were the big October fall in North Norfolk. Although I only caught the tail end, the sight and sound of thousands of Thrushes dropping out of the sky, whilst being surrounded by Bramblings, Robins and other birds (including a lovely Red flanked Bluetail) will stay with me forever.

Quiet also on the finds front. However 22nd September on the Point with Ortolan Bunting at my feet and finding a Barred Warbler in the sueda was memorable.

Also seen in Norfolk were:

Coues Arctic Redpoll, GG Shrike, Bee-eater, Baird's and Pec Sand and a few Waxwing finds.

Bewick's Swan, Black Redstart and Reed Warbler were good additions to the garden list.

I also recorded record number of Micro moth species in the garden (185 plus) - Those highlights require their own page!

Now looking forward to 2013. With a new addition to our family in March to look forward to, birding will take a back seat (for a while). Although I'm sure I will be able to squeeze a few new birds in :)

Good luck to all and have a happy Christmas

More Goose thoughts

Ever since I posted the photos of the Richardson's / Cackling / Small Canada , whatever you would like to call it, on my blog, I have been wondering about its true origin.

I was surprised that nobody had initially reported this bird to any of the pagers, especially considering  the number of other 'Small Canada' Geese in the country.

I do have a vested interest in this bird being accepted as wild (I will not deny it) as I have dipped a few others in Norfolk in the past. I was hoping that by mentioning this bird, on my blog and on twitter, the news and debate on the origin may spread. ... and it has.

Mark Golley summed it up beautifully in the Rare Birds Alert weekly roundup this week. He shares some of the thoughts I was starting to have regarding its origin, especially considering the number of other birds that have been around recently. 

http://bit.ly/QHJ4f8

Why would it not choose to hang out with some of his bigger relatives! It probably has no idea how small he (or she) looks next to the 'bog standard' Canada Geese,

There were Brent Geese in the same flock and lots of Pink Feet nearby. After flying all that way with the Pink feet I too would be sick of their high pitched squabbles. Nice chilled out Canadas are the ones to hang out with any day

On the theme of wildfowl at least there was no doubt about the origin of the Bewick's Swan that flew over my garden this morning. I picked up the distant (unfamiliar) call and then saw the Swan heading high over and to the South. Presumably it was staying ahead of the snow and cold weather that appeared in the afternoon. A very welcome addition to my landlocked garden list!

Now what else will appear with the ice and snow??

Mild November Day

Morning walk around Kelling. Not really expecting to see much but there were a few birds on the move.
A flock of  c.150 Finches seemed to be wintering here. Mainly Greenfinches and Linnets.

A nice Short Eared Owl flew over being chased by a few of the resident Rooks and then headed back to the grassland area and landed.

This following Small Canada Goose was in amongst the other Canada Geese. It has apparently been in the area for at least a week (I would probably of overlooked it had it not been pointed out by one of the local birders)
It is a shame it has chosen Canada Geese rather than nearby Pink Feet to associate with. Small Canada Goose is still a bird I have not seen 'in the wild' having dipped a few in the past (in Norfolk) .
Even if it is of very dubious origin it was interesting to see how small Cackling (I presume this is the subspecies) are. It was almost the same size as a nearby Brent Goose

Apart from a Little Egret, 6 Bullfinch ... Nothing else of note was seen

Yesterday a flock of 6 Waxwing brightened up my walk into work as they flew over Cinema City / St Crispin in Norwich. The first birds I have seen this year, although many more to follow i'm sure

Surprise garden visitor - 4th November

After being away from home for a week I returned, looked out of the window and was greeted to a flash of black and white ... A small bird started catching flies around the windows and amazingly it was a male Black Redstart!

I rarely see this species in North Norfolk let alone in the garden


I managed to get a record shot as it stopped in a bush just in front of the sitting room window. Not a digi phone/bins shot .. just hand held phone to show how close it was.

My 80th species in the (new) house/garden, and one I was not expecting at all

Just goes to show - you can find unusual birds anywhere .. even when at home in the sitting room!!