A day out birding in Norfolk tied in nicely with a first aid
course in Great Ryburgh the day before resulting in me staying with the Wards
in Bodham where a bbq and mothing ensued.
It was actually cool overnight and I caught very little with two
Elephant Hawkmoths, Oak Hook-tip and Yellowtail of note.
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| Yellowtail |
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| Elephant Hawkmoth |
It was a grey and drizzly start as the Bodhamites headed to Snettisham
passing Red Kites, Buzzards and Marsh Harriers over the farmland on the way and
we were greeted in the car park by ‘cowwwing’ Med Gulls. The walk down through the pits gave me my
first purring Turtle Dove in the UK for many years and he even sat up on top of
a Hawthorn and puffed himself up to sing until two more flew over and he felt
the urge to get up and display before circling back to the scrub. A real special moment for the group.
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| Turtle Dove |
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| Turtle Dove |
More Med Gulls streamed over and they were in fact the
commonest gull that we saw all morning. Once down at the Wash the tide was just
perfect, well on the way in and pushing the closest waders in towards us.
We spent an enjoyable spell scanning through big flocks of
breeding plumaged Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits and there was a large number of largely
black-bellied Dunlin and rufous Sanderlings.
Checking through them gave us a Redshanks, Black-tailed Godwits, Ringed
Plover, Turnstones, Curlew and single Little Stint and Grey Plover.
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| Gulls and Terns |
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| Dunlin and Sanderling |
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| Dunlin and Sanderling |
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| Dunlin and Sanderling |
Further out there were thousands of Oystercatchers and vast
swirling flocks of Knot and Barwits but we could not see a Peregrine. However we were surprised to find a pale
Arctic Skua chasing Terns high above us before it dropped back down to find
some other easier victim.
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| The light was poor but you get the idea! |
Hundreds of Med Gulls were on the mud with a few Black-heads
and amongst them we found a smattering of Sandwich and Common Terns both of
which contained juveniles and at least 60 energetic Little Terns which proved
popular although I could only see adults with these.
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| Little Terns |
A handful of Spoonbills had flown over in ones and twos and once
at the Rotary Hide we could see a mass of them on the bank further down and I
counted 51. How things change. Just behind
them was a splash of orange up the bank which comprised summer plumaged
Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.
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| Spoonbills |
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| Spoonbills and Blackwits (and some dodgy Geese and Little Egrets) |
Closer to us on one of the islands there was a silver and
red tight knit mass of Knot which as you moved left slowly changed to the black
and chestnut of Dunlins while behind them was a big group of vivid legged
Redshanks. Scattered towards the other
end there were almost white headed Turnstones and on the edges the errant
Little Stint that we had seen earlier.
It was a collage if wader colours.
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| mostly Knot |
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| Dunlin with Shelduck and Redshank behind |
Further down five Spotted Redshanks were sound asleep – one was
still sooty. It must be a favoured spot
as they were in the same place last autumn.
Marsh Harriers and Red Kites quartered the fields beyond and five Fallow
Deer were in an uncut wheat field – most with just the hands of their antlers
waving above the crop.
It had brightened up and we enjoyed our stroll back where
the highlight was undoubtedly the female Ringed Plover with three micro chicks
that could not have been more than a day or two old. She called them over and they all tried to
jam themselves up under her breast feathers to many ‘aaah’s.
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| Ringed Plover and chick |
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| The eight legged Ringed Plover |
The sun had not warmed things up enough for insect life and
a single roosting male Blue Emperor was the only Ode that we saw. Gatekeeper was the only Butterfly on the
wing.
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| I checked the Sea Spurge for funky caterpillars |
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| Caper Spurge |
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| Blue Emperor |
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| Phyllocnistis xenia |
It is amazing how the time flies by and it was already 1.30
so we headed to Titchwell and it facilities.
The car park was pretty full and after lunch we enjoyed a slow amble
down towards the Parrinder Hide where the lagoons gave us our first Ruff of the
day – all patchy moulting males.
There were a few Black-tailed Godwits and Avocet and a
couple of stripy Snipe probing around.
The muddy margins gave is Pied and Yellow Wagtails and Reed Buntings
flicked through the reed tops silently with beaks full of insects presumably
for a second brood. Like Snettisham there were several groups of loafing Sandwich Terns with chevronned juveniles and the Common Terns here still also had small chicks. Amongst them were at least four fresh juvenile Med Gulls - one of my favourite plumages - two were yellow Darvic ringed and it appears that they are from the nearby Scolt Head colony.
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| Nine species in this shot |
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| Great Egret |
It took and age to see a Marsh Harrier but the Great Egret
stood preening was slightly more obvious as we started our walk back pausing for three Turtle Doves flying around the trees before coffee,
cake and home after a fine late summer day on the Norfolk coast.
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