like busses... another self found tick

Stunning (joke) pic of the Savi's (!!)

On 4th May two days prior to the Red Rumped Swallow find  I was conducting a waders and wildfowl survey at Strumpshaw, this involved a semi early visit to the fen. It was a fairly quiet day with not as much bird song from the reeds as expected in early May, although seemingly normal for this spring, still plenty of wildfowl to keep me occupied which was good. On exiting the Tower Hide I caught a very brief 1-2 second reeling from the fen, immediately I knew it was not a grasshopper Warbler but the song belonged to one of the top birds on my hit list- Savi's Warbler. I hung around for a further 20mins or so to see if it would call again but alas no joy, it didn't even perform at all that evening either. I was left being 99% sure that I had a new self found world tick but all too brief an identification! I would have to wait until the following Wednesday, 5 days later before I received a text saying it was singing from exactly the same position from TH, I dashed down to the hide and sure enough the deep buzz of a Savi's was gracing my ears at long last. In the following nights/weeks I have been back quite a few times and have been lucky enough to see the bird fairly well, all be it fairly distant.
What a cracking species though, all the better for the self find, its still present at the moment too 14 days later so it seems to find Strumpshaw to its liking!
That's two good self finds in three days, they say luck comes in threes so hopefully my Icterine Warbler will be a nice little self find at the end of the month, that is now my final 'easy' to get species!

Also managed a smart plumaged Pec Sand yesterday at Buckenham, another Mid-Yare tick.

1st self find tick since 'that' goose!

After quite a few weeks of being faithful to the Waxham area I finally scored a bit of luck this morning.

The past 4 visits have held quite a lot of the expected species of common migrants including good numbers of Lesser and common Whitethroats, a few Garden Warblers and a ring ouzel on each visit, (the Hoopoe too) which is not bad going. But given the track record of the area and the fact that it is only watched by a few people I always feel this is one of those places to find (good) stuff for yourself. I must admit as I walked back towards my car this morning I was feeling as though I had not got just reward from my efforts in recent weeks, when all of a sudden a Red Rumped Swallow appeared over the dunes about 10 metres inland of me! It flew by in an all to brief appearance but was close enough to see all necessary features, a cracker of a bird and just what I needed to boost my birding enthusiasm. I do love finding good birds and getting that rush of adrenalin, especially on days where the east wind is blowing with fronts coming up from the South, I didn't see another birder between 6.30 and 10.30 either, which surprised me given the conditions!

I have almost self found RRS before at Winterton, I received a text saying one was on its way south past Waxham while I was at Winterton (this very weekend) 3 years ago, sure enough Dad and I picked it up coming towards us, as I say not quite a self find. This one most certainly was a full self find (288) doesn't sound as if it was seen by anyone else further South either?

A great morning,often it is just 1 bird that can make the difference!

Micro moth book release date

Click here for the eagerly anticipated micro book illustrated by Lewington.
 http://www.britishwildlife.com/viewbook.asp?bookid=24


this page allows pre order plus additional info on the book, due for release at the end of May.


I will update my blog soon, been busy lately surveying and generally feeling shattered, but thought the above info would appeal to some viewers.

Norfolk tick

With the weather looking utterly awful for bank holiday Monday, Ruth and I decided that watching Gladiator until 1am would be a good idea. As a consequence we arose a bit late, it wasn't raining so we thought Winterton may be a good place to have a walk, during breakfast waxham turned up a Hoopoe and Serin so we headed that way instead.
As we got there the Hoopoe showed well, giving Ruth a UK tick (199) and me a Norfolk tick (302). Unfortunately after about 3 mins the bird flew into the bushes and then headed all around the small crowd giving good flight views before heading North (it did return later). We then headed North too where we watched the seals, had a brief look at the sea and then headed back once the rain started to set in. Behind the house on the camp site we found a female Black Redstart along with at least 2 White wagtails which were also new for the year.
Nice to get out to the coast today, I wasn't expecting a gap in the rain so good to get some bonus birds too.

two micros found me this week, one on my car window and one on the bathroom window, 1 reason to always have a pot handy!
I believe they are Calybites phasianipennella and Phyllonorycter rajella, anyone agree or disagree ??

Annual spring Brecks visit

On Saturday morning I awoke earlier than usual so decided to have a trip to the Brecks, it was not entirely successful species wise but I had a very enjoyable morning.
My target birds were the usual Breck species ie lesser spots willow tits and goshawks. I did not want to go to the hotspot for LSW as it just annoys me nowdays, I was not in the mood to get annoyed with poor behaviour. Unfortunately as a result I did not see said woodpecker!
I had a good look and listen for Willow tit but I had no luck unfortunately, quite a shame as I really love this species, especially at this time of the year when they are singing and calling regularly. At Strumpshaw the Marsh Tits have adopted their 'spring' calls/songs which are different to their winter calls, so Willow tits get reported a lot as the Marshies sound so different at the moment. I will see a willow tit one day at Strumpshaw!
On the way back to my car from the above location I had a male Goshawk flyover, this is the first one I have seen without trying in the Brecks, a fairly short but undoubted view.
I moved on to the Gos hotspot to get proper views. About 20 mins after I arrived I picked up a male Gos flying distantly over the tree tops, eventually it came closer displaying as it went. After it disappeared I started scanning again and latched onto a large female on top of a tree, it was way off but quite unmistakably a huge accipiter, well that was to everyone but two people who swore blind (and argued the fact that it was a woodpigeon). Eventually it flew from its perch, what a bird! It flew around the clearing in bright sunlight for about 10-15 mins circling closer and closer, scope views were the best I have had and the bird could easily be aged as a juvenile female (Gos that is, not woopigeon!). The female was eventually joined by a male and both spiralled together in their typically bouncy way. I do love Goshawks, they are so powerful and imposing when you get a good look, a true master of the skies.
Of course the other great thing about the Brecks is that all the above took place while listening to Woodlarks singing away, having Crossbills chipping overhead, the near constant flight calls of Repolls and Siskins as well as the occasional creak of a Brambling, its good to get away from the Broads for occasions like this, its only my second outing away from the broads this year!

Bird totals so far this year;
2012: 128
Mid-Yare Valley:111
Norfolk: 128

+2 for Mid Yare Bird List

The past week has seen me add two new species to my Mid-Yare bird list.
These were the fantastic 4 Glossy Ibis's at Cantley much easier here than wandering countless miles around Berney, (glad I waited) this species was also a Norfolk tick.

The second bird, probably the rarer of the two (for Strumpshaw) was Red Breasted Merganser, a female has been hanging around Tower Hide at Strumpy for about 3-4 weeks now, however it seemed to avoid being there when I was present, until today. I managed to see it after tinkering with the sluice to the sound of Chiffchaffs all along the river bank as well as up to 12 dancing harriers.


I had the moth trap on near the office on Tuesday night, it was quite chilly but still. The trap held just over 200 moths, mainly small quakers, however lead coloured drab, red chestnut and engrailed were the highlights in a quaker/drab filled trap..
EDIT: The Lead Coloured Drab was a new moth species for me, the first addition of 2012

Given the weather for this week, I'm sure there will be quite a few migrants about this weekend, I actually have a day off this weekend too!

Photo catch up

A quick post to catch up on the past few weeks in photos.

23 Blackbirds in the garden, a record count so far

Water rail feeding on ice along entrance rd to Strumpshaw

Purple Sand Waxham

Wood Mouse-from office window yesterday

Nuthatch from office window yesterday, one of a pair that have appeared

My view from a successful HH survey

Grey Seal in river at Strumpshaw

White winged Black headed gull

Leucistic BH wing pattern

Bountiful Buckenham

A morning of taking water conductivities at Strumpshaw followed by a survey at Buckenham and Cantley allowed me to put my bins round my neck and have a look around.
The highlights were certainly the numbers of waders present at Buckenham frantically feeding in the soft mud and many pools that have developed since the thaw. The first good wader was found by counting the Ruff, one looked quite a bit smaller and turned out to be a Dunlin. I wondered if it was James' bird relocating from Whitlingham, however I scanned to the right and had another 7 feeding by it. The total count of Dunlin for the site was 18, which is certainly my record count for the Mid-Yare. As I walked towards the hide it was evident that there were a good number of Black Tailed Godwits too, these were also feeding furiously making counting difficult, I got to 147 noting a couple of ringed birds in the flock, which I will send the info off,  nice to see that they have returned again this year, they stayed right up to our first breeding birds count last year. The final wader movement was noted when 31 Curlew flew in from the East, not such an unusual bird in the Mid Yare, but this is not a bad count, certainly the biggest flock so far this year.
So waders aside there were also 67 Bean Geese, 172 White Fronts, 1 Lesser Whitefront as well as 2600+ Wigeon.
At Strumpshaw in the morning I had my first  Merlin of the year fly almost over my head at sandy wall, 1 Bittern also seen well, on the snipe front it was a little disappointing with just 1 common and 1 Jack. I suspect the snipe have moved off since the ground was frozen, hopefully they will be back before the end of winter.

Green surprise

A quick update from a day on the Surlingham side of the river. I had to do a couple of short WeBS counts as well as take the water salinity across the site today, a good excuse to get out there and see whats about.

The highlights of the day included;
-7 Goosander (2 Drakes) at Rockland Broad
-2 Barn Owls- Rockland
-1 Green Sandpiper near Coldham Hall Pub. A slight surprise as it took off from a few metres from my feet, it must be the wintering individual that has been seen a couple of times since November in the area.
-70+ Redpoll, at the East end of surlingham Village- Not easy to be sure but it looked like there were a couple of Mealy's in with the flock, certainly a few pale looking birds, but light was not good....must return with scope and pick out that Arctic(!)
-2 Woodcock 1 at SCM and 1 at Rockland

Unfortunately failed to see any Brass band Bullfinches on my travels but I'm sure the trumpeter will still be around somewhere nor were there any Smew on Rockland Broad.

Other recent bits include LWFG again yesterday at Buckenham and a Jack Snipe also at Buckenham.

A check of salinities at Strumpshaw tomorrow should enable me to have a bit of a count up of Jack/Snipe and Water Pipits, with a bit of luck they will oblige.

Will dust off the moth trap by the end of the week if the temperatures continue to climb

Cold Weather Movements

I have been working on the sluices at Strumpshaw for the past 2 days, which has the added bonus of being by the river all day. On Weds I managed to see 14 Goosander fly up river in 3 small flocks, at least 25 Whooper Swans flew South. Most interestingly/annoyingly, while quading along the river bank transporting materials I noticed a what looked like a male  tufted duck on the river, on closer inspection it had a nice grey back, certainly not black, I lifted my bins once I'd stopped and it was gone. So a brief unbinoculared view, but it was close enough to be sure it was a male Scaup- new Mid-Yare bird for me.
Thursday again was spent sorting the sluice out, the number of wildfowl using the river was far fewer than on weds, maybe I was working harder! But we did manage to see a redhead Smew fly up river, another new one for the reserve for me, there were also a few Goosander flying down river (4) and a single bird was settled on the river feeding on the way back to the office.

So despite the fact that the reserve has very little/no water on it the river seems to be the place to search out the moving birds, I suspect they are all heading up to Whitlingham, their certainly heading that way. When I think of cold weather movement it usually means Smew, Scaup, Goosander and wild swans so I'm quite happy to have had all these while working, although obviously I'd be happy to get some of the rarer wanders too, this weekend....maybe?