In search of winter birds, Day 2 - Norfolk 2015

After the now traditional hearty breakfast we planned our day and prepared to head off. There were a few bits and pieces on the feeders in the garden but nothing of much note, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Coal Tit were probably the most notable. 

Wolferton

We started the day at Wolferton in search of the elusive Golden Pheasant. We have tried for this species in previous years but without success, but this year Paul's local knowledge gave us hope. We headed for the northern road that forms the Wolverton triangle and slowly  searched the area. Our first circuit was without success, but on our second circuit we flushed a stunning male bird, who was feeding right on the edge on a clearing. This was our second new species for our annual Norfolk trip and one we were very pleased to get.

Hunstanton

Our next destination was Hunstanton and the coach park opposite Tesco's. Two Waxwing had been visiting trees in the car park all week, but not today. We searched the area for a while but failed miserably. Our next stop was the cliffs at Hunstanton; this would give us a view of the sea in search of ducks and also views of Northern Fulmars. The sea was very quiet and other than a couple of flocks of Sanderling passing by there was nothing of note. We did get some cracking views of Fulmars though as the hung in the stiff breeze.

Fulmar - Hunstanton

Holme Beach

We are fortunate in that when we stay in Norfolk we stay in the home of a birder and are able too enjoy his choice of artwork. One of my favourite artists at the moment is Darren Woodhead (http://www.darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk/) and it was a very pleasant surprise to see one of his pictures hanging on the wall in the cottage. The painting is of a flock of Fieldfares, and a lone Waxwing, feeding in a clump of Sea Buckthorn. 

Darren Woodhead Painting of Fieldfares on Sea Buckthorn 

Our next stop of the day was Holme Beach and here the image on the wall came to life as we were greeted with a flock of Fieldfare, minus the Waxwing, feeding in a clump of Sea Buckthorn. As we enjoyed the birds we could just imagine Darren sat with us painting the scene.

Fieldfare - Holme Beach

Fieldfare - Holme Beach

Our main reason for going to Holme was to look for the flock of Snow Buntings that were known to be present. After spending a few minutes with the Fieldfares we headed on in search of our quarry. We first stubbled across a few Knot that were feeding in the nearby pools, they were extremely approachable, the individual below was the tamest.

Knot - Holme Beach

There were good numbers of Skylark feeding in the sand dunes and as we homed in on the Snow Buntings we stubbled across some pretty of approachable individuals.

Skylark - Holme Beach

There were about 20 Snow Buntings present but they were constantly moving back and forth along the beach. We eventually pinned them down and were able to get some cracking views before they took flight. 

Snow Buntings - Holme Beach

Snow Bunting - Holme Beach

Thornham

Thornham Point has been a regular site for Twite and Rock Pipit over the last few years, except last year that is. After Holme we headed there and were quickly on to a few Rock Pipits. A handful of wader species were present, mostly Redshank but also Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Curlew. 

Redshank - Thornham

Curlew - Thornham

We eventually picked up the Twite flock, about 30 birds were feeding on vegetation on the salt-marsh. Typically they come to the gutter of the nearby building to drink, but that was not to be the case today.

Titchwell

Our next stop was the RSPB's Titchwell reserve, this is usually a great place for a variety of wader and duck species but also a good place to look out to sea for divers and sea duck. We arrived at Titchwell and headed straight out along the footpath to the beach. The scrape on the north had the best to offer with several Ruff, Snipe, Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits present. At the back of the scrape there were several pipits, including two Water Pipits, four Rock Pipits and a couple of Meadow Pipits, a Bearded Tit joined them for a while and gave good but distant views.

We continued along the footpath adding a few more species to our trip total and then picked up an Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit, both of which had colour rings. As regular readers will know I am constantly on the lookout for colour-ringed birds, so will endeavour to find out where these were from.

Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit - Titchwell

A quick check on the sea was disappointing, with only Common Scoter and Goldeneye recorded. It has been suggested that the storms of last years have changed the dynamics of the seabed and therefore there are no sea duck present, hopefully things will be back to normal next year.

A149 at Burham Overy Staithe
We intended to finish the day Lady Anne's Drive, but on the way we headed past Burham Overy Staithe on the A149. As we headed towards the lay-by there were a group of birders appearing to be watching something, so we pulled in to have a look. As it turns out they weren't watching anything but we stayed for a while. It was a good choice as we soon picked up a Short-eared Owl, several Marsh Harriers, three Common Buzzards, including a very pale individual similar to others I had seen on the continent, a Barn Owl and a Rough-legged Buzzard.

Lady Anne's Drive
We eventually arrived at Lady Anne's Drive and had another couple of Barn Owls and four Woodcocks, which was in fact our target bird.

We ended the day on 85 species bringing our total for the trip to 101.

Waders at Southsea Castle

This afternoon I took advantage of the fantastic weather and headed down to Southsea Castle to look and hopefully photograph the wintering Purple Sandpipers, and anything else that might be there. I arrived at around 1:30pm which was about an hour after high tide, so at least some of the sea defence where the birds usually are found was exposed. 

Sanderling

The first two birds I saw when I arrived were a couple of Sanderling, one adult and one first winter, the adult bird was also colour-ringed. They were feeding at the eastern end of the sea defence, picking through the seaweed and were extremely confiding. The top two images are of the juvenile bird and it is possible to see the retained brownish juvenile tertials and other wing feathers. The third and fourth images are of the adult bird, the uniform plumage of the upper parts, and blackish, and less pointed primary tips are evident.

There are various colour-ringing schemes being carried out in different countries on Sanderling, the colour of the flag should give an indication as to which country the bird was ringed in. I could not find a blue flag mentioned and so have emailed to organiser, but it may be that this bird is one of those that was ringed at Sandy Point on Hayling Island a few years back.

Knot

The second species that I recorded was a Knot. A single bird had been reported earlier in the week and I had hoped it might still be around. This bird was feeding in the middle section of the sea defences, and again was very confiding, although it did take flight when a large dog came skidding along towards it. This bird was also a first winter with the contrast between the adult and juvenile feathers very evident. The juvenile feathers are the grey brownish ones with a dark subterminal band.

Purple Sandpiper

There were at least 11 Purple Sandpipers feeding in the central and western parts of the sea defences. Initially the were quite close in, but as the tide receded they mover further out. Photographing them was tricky as I was having to shoot into the sun most of the time, and it was not possible get really close to them as the ground was too slippery. 

Rock Pipit

There was only one Rock Pipit present and this bird was picking amongst the cracks . This bird also appeared to be a first winter bird; this was based on the fact that the two outermost greater coverts appear to be more broadly fringed, buff coloured and longer. The juvenile feathers appear shorter and fringed whitish.

In Search of Winter Birds - Norfolk 2013 Day 2

Our day began with a re-calculation of last nights species total, from the lowly 63 species that we thought we had recorded, to the dizzy heights of 68. There is no reason for the miscalculation other than over indulgence in ale from the nearby pub followed by a couple of healthy drams of Talisker before bed....not the wisest thing to do when you have a full day's birding ahead of you!

After a hearty home cooked breakfast we ventured out into the crisp morning air. Overnight  light snow was still lying on the ground so we knew it was going to be cold, but the brisk north-westerly wind was unexpected. 

Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra

We began our day with a trip to Choseley Barns, a former site for tree sparrow, but sadly no more. Nonetheless, there are still good birds to be seen in this area and today was no exception. Yellowhammer, brambling, chaffinch, linnet, and the now very difficult corn bunting were present in the hedges whilst grey partridges were unusually present in good numbers in the fields.

Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra

In Hampshire, species such as corn bunting and yellowhammer have disappeared from many of the their former haunts, which makes these trips to Norfolk even more enjoyable; not only do you get to see the range of species, but in good numbers too.

Brambling Fringilla montifringilla and Chaffinch's F. coelebs

The farm has recently entered a High Level Stewardship scheme and it seems to be paying dividends, since the number and diversity of species was great, and this in turn attracted interesting predators, the most noteworthy being a hunting merlin which headed low over the fields in search of food.

Brambling and Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella

Our next stop was the RSPB reserve at Titchwell, a great place for wintering ducks and waders and for looking out to sea for sea ducks and divers. We arrived in glorious sun but before long a very ominous dark cloud appeared on the horizon. The pasture to the west of the reserve was excellent, golden plover, curlew, lapwing, black-tailed godwit and ruff were all present, a great start to our visit.

Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata, one drake and two ducks 

In contrast to the pasture, the scrapes were much quieter. The usual species were present, shoveler, shelduck, mallard, gadwall and teal, with a single female red-crested pochard putting in a surprise appearance. Wading birds were relatively thin on the ground, with pied avocet and a single spotted redshank the most noteworthy.

Sanderling Calidris alba

Our timing was not great because before we reached the second hide the storm arrived, and with it a deluge of hail and sleet and an increase in wind speed. After it had passed we headed out to look at the sea, the strong wind and rough sea made viewing difficult, but we still managed common scoter, only four though, loads of goldeneye, great-crested grebe and red-throated diver. Thousands of gulls were roosting on the beach whilst sanderling, redshank and bar-tailed godwit fed amongst them.

Snow Buntings Plectrophenax nivalis

Whilst at Titchwell, we were told of a flock of snow buntings that were frequenting the dunes at Holme, so you can guess where our next stop was. We parked in the car park, walked out across the golf course and before long we were watching a flock of around 80 birds, which had joined with even more goldfinch's and skylarks. It doesn't matter how often you see them snow buntings are spectacular, and when you have a flock of 80, you can see where the phrase a 'blizzard' of snow buntings comes from.

Dunlin Calidris alpina (left) Knot Calidris canutus (right)

Holme was also great for waders and the dunlin and knot were extremely approachable, giving the ideal opportunity for photography. The image above provides an excellent change to compare two species that can be easily confused by the inexperienced birder.

Knots in flight

After Holme we headed to Wells harbour, where a common seal had hauled out on the sand, before heading to our final destination of Holkham Park.

Common Seal Phoca vitulina

There was not much to report from Holkham, and with no large flocks of geese to see dropping in at Lady Anne's Drive, we headed back to our lodgings and some freshly caught mussels.

In Search of Winter Birds - Norfolk 2012 (Day 2)

Another bitterly cold day in north Norfolk, but undeterred we headed out for a full days birding. Our first port of call was to be Cley Marsh in search of the long staying Western Sandpiper, but we made a brief stop just west of Holkham to view a field full of geese. A flock of about 200 birds were present, including White-fronted, Barnacle, Pink-footed and Greylag. After a brief stop, we carried on to Cley deciding to walk down the east bank rather than go into the reserve, since all the pools were frozen. A fair selection of waders were present including Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Grey and Ringed Plover, Knot and a good number of Dunlin.

Black-tailed Godwit - Cley Marshes

Duck species included Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon and of course Mallard and a single Little Egret was also present.

Dunlin - Cley Marshes 

After a little perseverance we eventually managed a couple of brief views of Bearded Tit, but the surprise sighting was a lone Woodcock, which we are thinking may have just arrived from the continent in an attempt to escape the cold weather.

Knot - Cley Marshes

Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts, we were unable to locate the Western Sand so we headed up the beach to look out to sea. Loads of Red-throated Divers were either sitting on the sea or flying by, along with the occasional Guillemots and three drake Eider. Satisfied that there was nothing else to find at Cley we headed off to Holkham. We parked at Lady Anne's Drive and scanned the fields; several hundred Pink-footed and Dark Bellied-brent Geese were present and two Egyptian Geese flew in, one of which was very confiding. 

Egyptian Goose - Lady Anne's Drive, Holkham

A brief view of a Rough-legged Buzzard kept us scanning for a while, before heading out to Holkham Gap in search of Shore Lark and Snow Buntings. We were fortunate that other birders were watching the Shore Larks, so we were quickly onto them.

Shore Lark - Holkham Gap

Sometimes they can be extremely unapproachable, but this group of four were very confiding, and quite inquisitive, for that matter, often standing tall as I stalked closer to watch them. Two of the birds were very well marked so I presume that they were males, since in the breeding season males have brighter plumage, and longer horns.

Shore Lark - Holkham Gap

A flock of at least 25 Snow Buntings were also present on the beach, we did see them briefly and very distantly, before they flew even further away and with the light fading fast we didn't pursue them. Our next stop was Burham Overy Staithe in search of Lapland Buntings and a better view of the Rough-legged. We found a couple of Lappy's straight away and so headed down the track towards the fresh marsh. A mixed flock of geese included 200 Dark-bellied Brent and a handful of Greylags, with a couple of surprises in the form of a Black Brant and a Tundra Bean Goose.

Tundra Bean Goose - Burham Overy Staithe

It was bitterly cold on the sea wall so we didn't stay long, but just long enough to see the Rough-legged fly up and perch on a distant tree. Our final stop of the day was to Wells harbour where we added Little Grebe and Turnstone to our tally, and then it was back home for a warming cup of tea.

So after two days birding we have seen 108 species, which is not a bad total given how quiet it seems to be up here, not sure how many more we will add tomorrow as it is snowing very heavily outside at present.