September Catch Up

4th September and a good point to launch my catch up as it was my birthday and I was due out for an early morning's birding with Tom Bedford. Our chosen destination was Burnham Overy Dunes, one of my favourite walks and a site that Tom hadn't been to before.

One of the great things about Norfolk is the autumn return of wild geese - Ha not today, a trifle early yes but we were "treated" to some big flocks of Greylags and another feral monster The Egyptian Goose.

On reaching the dunes we did manage a Wheatear but the hoped for Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers didn't materialise.

A defensive Devil's Coach Horse tried to stop us walking past and gave me the headache of macro photography - I should have focussed on it's jaws.

and the day ended as pleasantly as it began with a crepe tasting evening at home with some friends and my birthday "crepe maker"

A few days later and I found myself once again on the Turnham Overy Staithe walk to the dunes this time in the company of Oliver Reville. Again no migrants but with westerly winds that was hardly surprising so we contented ourselves with some straggly Reed Buntings

and when at the dunes looked back inland to the main creek which was dotted with white blobs - a few Little Egrets and a Spoonbill seen here

Our return walk provided us with a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly resting on some blackberries.

another outing a few days later and this Devil's Coach Horse was getting stuck into something tasty

and back at home while there were still no Tree Sparrows on the feeders, high above the house 5 Buzzards were having a good talon grapple - miles high with huge heat haze but at least it captures a bit of the action.

News of a Hoopoe at Brancaster Golf Club had me whizzing over for a quick look. The bird was present on the 17th hole.

The bird had apparently been around for nearly ten days and was very confiding to golfers if not to birders.

 Slightly disappointed not to get some better pictures and a day later saw Oli and I on an early morning walk along the dunes, with a keen southerly breeze we were confident the Hoopoe, if still
present would be on the beach side of the golf course and allow for closer views (we'd also heard it was favouring that area in the mornings). Luckily it was and while the light was poor we did get much closer to it this time.

 a large caterpiller for breakfast

and readying themselves for the long trip south an adult and young Swallow

so my hope is that I maintain the enthusiasm to keep the blog going, if only as a diary reminder for myself. I often start off full of good intentions and then general life just gets in the way - but as birding is part of general life than I will try to make sure it's included.

As ever I am concerned about image quality issues and compression on these sites and blogs, this series of images have been uploaded at a small size in order to speed things up for my first return to blogging for ages. As more techniques become revealed I hope the quality will improve - I'll be asking lots of question from many .... So let's see what October brings.

Early morning

This is really a draft to look at picture quality - so no text - just a few pics

2016 a start

Following a deficit of birdwatching and photography since Oman in November I had a day out yesterday with Oli on a bright sunny but very cold day. In fact it was bitterly cold and the combination of high tides and wind had most of the coastal sites underwater, no creeks for any waders and hence no photographic chances.

We started off at Flitcham for the ever reliable 8.15am Pallid Harrier. By 9am it was a no show. Just a flock of Linnets and some very cold birders.
There were a couple of Twite in this flock of Linnets a few days ago but without a scope and with hardly any of the birds calling it was impossible to tell

We moved to Thornham Harbour to have a look for the Twite that had been seen recently, but only managed distant views of a handful of birds, probably Linnets and so far away that we didn't even have the chance of stringing them as Twite. A Little Egret stood by the car park as some consolation.

From our double dip we decided to try the area just east of Cley for some Water Pipits that had been frequenting a Sugar Beat pad. En route and given the high tide we drove along the quay at Wells and the long staying Shag was sat near the Quay, but by now the weather had turned and the light was impossibly grey and dismal. Still a Shag in Norfolk is always a rare event:



It felt cold enough for one of these !

Onto Cley for the Water Pipits then - again no luck. A combination of tidal breach and flooding had presumably changed their habits.... so far three dips

As ever though a Little Egret was present.


With poor conditions on the coast and few birds to see we called a halt to bird photography.... well sort of.... now where exactly could we go to see some birds ? that we could photograph, some nice birds like.... Bearded Tits






What a stroke of luck the Bearded Tits were showing, and more......Black-tailed Godwit


and Avocet


Yup Pensthorpe !

A final call in at Flitcham as the day ended to look for the Pallid Harrier that had never been reported there much after midday did of course provide us with another dip. Even the Little Owl which had been present half an hour previously had disappeared and we were left with some distant Thrushes as darkness fell.


Not a great day for birding or photography, but nice to be out with a whole day at my disposal. Made more enjoyable with Oli's company and lots of bird and photo chat all day.

Here's looking forward to the next sunny Norfolk day which coincided with a day off (hopefully before May !)

With a little more light this time....

Back to The Marsh to try and get some better wader photos with some sunlight which makes all the difference. Gadwall, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing and Little Ringed Plovers

Two hectic months at work...

With very little time to blog or even go out birding. So just some pictures of waders down at The Marsh. Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Egret and Redshank. Hoping for more consistent postings in the coming months:

and very little time to blog. So just some pictures of waders down at The Marsh. Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Egret and Redshank. Hoping for more consistent postings in the coming months:

Alan's garden Partie

Having had the excitement of the Tree Sparrows returning to the garden after a gut wrenching absence of four days it was nice to see Red-legged Partridges, just two, wandering about as though they owned the place.

I'd been been stuck in the garage for three days number crunching, it's the only place where I can spread out all my paperwork and not be disturbed, I was summoned to the kitchen window as Sam announced that the young Pied Wagtails had flown off but there was a Partridge in the garden again. I needed a break so emerged from the windowless garage to have a look at our local Frenchman....

But hang on a minute, that's no Frenchman, it's one of ours ! English or Grey Partridge and it's in our garden. I grabbed the camera, it was getting dark so shoved the iso through the roof and got some shots, through the window....

 So Alan Partridge in da house, or rather garden - nice !

A fruity twist

Working in the shop this morning and a chap came in to ask if we had any news of the Citrus Finch, I kid you not. Asking if it was a Citril Finch I was told yes probably and that it had been seen at Burnham Market. I extrapolated that to Burnham Overy Dunes as more likely than Burnham Market and made a few calls. Then hearing that Marcus Nash had found the bird it was clear a major rarity was nearby.

For the rest of the day various birders came into the shop to show me their pics of a fine male Citril Finch which was at the west end of Holkham Pines. This was the second ever British record and the first mainland record for Britain the first having been on Fair Isle. So at 5pm I was off to Lady Anne's Drive and the walk to the dunes. On arrival at the spot, at the west end of the dunes, the bird was showing a way off and the generosity of various people allowing me to use their scopes meant I had some great views.

Given the distance I only managed a few record shots

Back home and things were doing well, with our Tree Sparrows visiting the feeders and our new resident Red-legged Partridges present

 we have found how it gets in and out of the garden, under the watchful eye of our giraffes !