Back to the Point...

It has been a long wait .. But as we rush into Spring I could not resist a walk to the Point.
Last year, on almost exactly the same date, I saw a few Wheatear and a Brambling.

This year the sun was shining and it felt like Summer.. Except for the birds, which were more in line with an October day!
1 Goldcrest (at the Hood), 2 Merlin along the shingle, 2 Fieldfare, a few Blackbirds and a youn male Eider close to shore..
There were plenty of Sandwich Terns (calling and a few seen distantly), which were my first for the year.

Sunny March days

Around Kelling today the Reed Buntings were singing. Not too long before they are having to compete for airspace with Sedge Warblers.

Stonechat, Gannet, 40+ Common Scoters were the only birds worth noting down

Cley held Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff, Dunlins and good aerial displays from a hunting Peregrine

...... I feel a walk up to the Point is due soon

1st March

Well, what a difference two weeks can make to the English weather! Take a look at the photo of today and a reminder of how cold it was a few weeks ago ....

A walk along the sunny beach at Wells through to Holkham produced the following birds:
1 bright 'yellow faced' Shore Lark (three seen by other birders earlier)
10+ Rock Pipits and a few Meadow Pipits
10+ G C Grebes and a Razorbill offshore
2-3 Marsh Harriers
2 Grey Partridge
2 Crossbills flew over heading West along the Pines

Yesterday at Strumpshaw and Buckenham - a female Hen Harrier was the only year tick of note.

Not long before the first Spring migrants start arriving

January 26th - Late update

A reasonably mild but rainy day saw myself and Pete Chapman venture out to look for some birds around Strumpshaw and Buckenham. Pete is fairly new to birding, so he was hoping for a few ticks (Les White-front for example)
Although we could not locate the Goose, which had moved to Cantley for the day, we had a great day with plenty of good 'padders' for the year

Started at Strumpshaw and one of the first birds I saw was a female Red C Pochard ... a great find I thought, until it started diving and showing off a big yellow plastic ring on its left leg! There seems to be a large number of escaped/released diving duck in this area. I have heard rumours of a shooting lake in Suffolk that releases large numbers of ducks, including Ferruginous and Marbled Ducks!
Things got better in fen hide when we scored a Bittern in flight and the usual Chinese Water Deer. A Kingfisher back in front of the reception screen was also a nice addition (especially as I only saw one last year in December!). A 'chattering' flock of 30+ Siskin was also nice

On to Buckenham and here we saw: 40+ Taiga Bean Geese, 100+ White fronts, Ruff, Peregrine, singing Cetti's etc etc
There were workmen on the railway line which may explain why all the geese moved on to Cantley, including the Les W Front ! which we did not catch up with.

The final stop was at Ludham where right on queue a pair of Whooper Swans flew straight over us and into a nearby field giving fantastic views. This is never a numerous bird in this area and it was surprising to see Whooper with not one Bewick's Swan around.

A great finish to a good morning's birding

Now just waiting to see what this cold spell brings to the county ... I am hoping to find an Iceland Gull in the next few weeks at least!

Geese, Shrike and Redpolls

First day out of proper birding in 2012:
Started by dipping the Great Grey Shrike near the Fakenham Morrisons roundabout, although it did turn up about 10 minutes after I left! The only compensation here was a flyover Branbling and lots of Grey Partrige.
Titchwell in glorious sunshine:
Coue's Arctic Redpoll, Mealy Redpoll, 4 Female Long T Ducks on the sea, Spot Redshank and lots of other year ticks..
Burnham A140 lay-by
1 Ross's Goose (found)
1 Black Brant (found)
2 plus White fronts.. And lots of Brents and Pink foots.
A brief stop at Holkham and just in time to see the 2nd Ross's that is in the area amongst 000's of Pink feet. There are probably 3 birds in the area including a dodgier than most bird, one that wanders around Cley area with some feral Barnacles. Last year it was in amongst a group of Barnacles that included a hybrid offspring.

On the way home a brief stop at Fakenham and the Shrike was showing well, sitting on top of a tree looking around and preening. Great finish to a successful morning out.. Now I really must see the Western Sand in 2012 before it moves on!

2011 birding year

As we move quickly into 2012 I am just looking back on the highlights of 2011.

Few new British ticks but one of the highest number of 'found' species for a few years, despite not finding any BBRC description species!

The new species were Collared Flycatcher, Sandhill Crane and an armchair tick in the form of Siberian Stonechat.
The Flycatcher was a bird that I always wanted to see after having friends (thanks Shaun!) winding me up for years of the ones they saw, Pagham and Scotland birds. One in Norfolk was a real result.
The Crane was something I never thought I would catch up with in the UK. The past birds in Scotland and Northern Isles seemed like they would become proper blockers.

There were some other very rare birds like my second ever Little Bittern and Western Sand both in Norfolk.

My rarest find was the Siberian Chiff on Blakeney Point with other scarce birds like Waxwings, Pec Sand and Rough leg Buzzard...but the Autumn was frustrating in Norfolk with a real lack of migrants from the East.

Foreign highlights being a great trip to Spain with Dave Gandy. Will never forget the Bustards and huge number of raptors. Cheers Dave. A few nice birds in Florida too on a non birding trip.

Now looking forward to the rest of 2012. I am determined to find at least one proper rarity on the Point this year.

Good luck everyone and happy birding in 2012.

Western Sandpiper

I have had to wait until the weekend to catch up with the latest First for Norfolk
On arrival early in the morning the hides were not as packed as I thought they would be, I even got a seat!
The bird was already on show, distantly at first but it then became the closest bird from Dawkes hide.
This little 'peep' was controversial at first. Having seen it now I can see it looks spot on for Western rather than Semip.
Structure - like a miniature Dunlin rather than like a small Stint. Which is what the Brownsea bird also reminded me of. When the bird was running around feeding it appeared to be flat backed with a square head rather than rounded stance and round headed like a Semip.
Bill - distinctive and although Semip can be long billed im sure this would be a very extreme bird ( like the Felixstowe Stint )
Rufous tones to crown and scaps still slightly visible despite the bird being in an advanced winter plumage

On the whole an instructive bird!

Past Cley coastguards were: Little Auk (a close bird), a few Kittiwakes, Goldeneye, Merganser, a few Scoter, Razorbill and Guillemot. The Little Auk is the first I have seen for a while.