An August Bank Holiday away in Norfolk beckoned and we
escaped northwards late morning on the 28th to avoid the Friday rush, except
that it had already started and after a hairy M11 journey and a brief stop to
see Su in Thetford we rejoined a stationary A11. An interesting route
then ensued with a fairly straight but countryfied route to Marsham (just south
of Aylsham) that managed to avoid Brandon, Dereham and Norwich but did take me
through Reepham where I discovered the Panther brewery. Bottles were purchased
and, as yet, remain unopened.
A quick unpack into the ‘Pod’ on Top Farm and then off up
the road to the coast. Just how 12 miles takes nearly forty minutes on main
roads I do not know but after a quick chat with Mike Sidwell, I headed down the
track at Kelling Water Meadows for a quick look for the juvenile Red-backed
Shrike.
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| Kelling Water Meadows - Shrike on far right bramble clump - if you squint |
I was seemingly quite lucky and saw it immediately but it
was never close and was actively hunting for insects from the top of the
bramble mounds. A Wood Sandpiper and 12 Ruff paddled around but it was
otherwise very quiet and so I ambled back in the sunshine. A scan of the pools at Cley produced very few
large gulls as it was not late enough but I did hear a couple more Wood
Sandpipers and find a Short-eared Owl out hawking the distant shingle ridge
while a female Merlin did the same but with somewhat more alacrity!
Back at Top Farm a short walk around the meadows gave lovely
views of a hunting ghostly Barn Owl and a Tawny Owl called from the trees.
Clive said that they have Nightjars on the common land heath adjacent so it
will certainly be worth another visit.
The local Rooks and Jackdaws headed off to roost on the woods and it was
perfectly still and calm as the last pinkness of sunset was absorbed and the
vivid glow of the full moon took over.
29th August :
Up fairly early for a trip up and along the coast. It was
another nice late summer day and my walk at RSPB Titchwell was populated by as
many holiday makers with kids, dogs, windbreaks, buckets and spades as those in
birding regalia...
A Wall Brown attracted my attention early on as it tried to
defend its chosen sun spot on a sign from an equally determined Common Darter.
Given the missing sections of wing I suspect that the dispute had come to
blows! A nice Eupeodes luniger and countless bumblebees fed on the pathside
Perennial Sow Thistle and there were a few Whites and Small Tortoiseshells
around.
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| Wall Brown |
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| Common Darter |
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| Eupeodes luniger |
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| Eupeodes luniger |
Thirteen Spoonbills dozed out on the marsh and among the
closer waders were eight cracking juvenile Little Stints with the Dunlin flock.
Such fresh, clean looking birds despite wading around in thick, gloopy mud.
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| Sleeping Spoonbills - what a surprise |
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| Little Stints and a Dunlin |
Blackwits, Avocets and many Ruff in all shapes and sizes
were seen and an adult Med Gull was asleep with the roosting Black-heads. Down
towards the sea there were the expected summer plumaged Sanderlings, Barwits
and Grey Plovers and offshore Sandwich and Common Terns and a single distant
Arctic Skua were seen.
Lunch in the carpark was spent with a fine Red Admiral
before we wended our way back east with a short stop for a walk at Burham
Norton which was very quiet although the local young Swallows did oblige and I
amused myself by studying Greenbottles and correctly identifying Neomyia cornicina (with
three pairs of postsutural dorsocentral bristles and a pair of presutural acrostichal
bristles!). Phil Collins (no not that one...) has a lot to answer for!
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| Red Admiral |
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| Swallow |
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| Getting Ready... |
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| Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill |
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| Neomyia cornicina |
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| Neomyia cornicina |
After dinner I returned to Cley for a spot
of Gulling and having deposited Andrea at the nice fresh beach to take some
photos, I headed back to the centre carpark for some scanning. I toyed with the
idea of going down to the hides but they looked full and to be honest most the
gulls were not near them and the added height gave me a better view. Anyway, I
put my scope straight onto a lovely second year Caspian Gull and then set about
checking through the ever increasing Lesser Black-backed Gulls for something
different. At least one adult Baltic Gull had been reported on previous
evenings and I was looking for a ‘small’ big gull with very long dark wings and
a black back to sound alarm bells. Both
graellsii and intermedius birds were present but none came close to the
black-backed bird that I soon found. It also seemed to lack any white primary
tips and had little white visible on the secondary edge or tertial step. It
will be interesting to see if anyone has photos of these birds. It stood out
like the proverbial sore thumb...
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| Cley from the car park at dusk.... there are a lot of gulls out there! |
Barn Owls hunted the marsh and the local
midges and mosquitoes made an absolute meal of my legs and arms. Vicious little
gits. I could not take any more and made a dash for the beach were I too was
able to take some fetching ‘sunset over Blakeney Point’ shots!
30th August:
With drizzle overnight and a hint of a
north-easterly I headed up to the North coast after breakfast with the intent
of finding myself something good. I
walked from Stiffkey campsite west to the wood at Warham and although it was
disappointingly quiet from a migrant point of view with just a few ‘throats and
Blackcaps for my troubles, it was incredibly peaceful and relaxing and I had
the place almost to myself.
The high tide was almost around my feet but there
was no wind and the sounds of Curlew, Whimbrel, Greenshank and Common Sandpiper
filtered through. Oystercatchers ‘kleeped’ further out and flocks of
black-bellied Golden Plover flew tight formations over the saltmarsh in
response to two female Merlins who were out terrorising the local Meadow Pipit
population. One perched up for a while
and afforded excellent views.
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| Rubbish? yes but it is a Merlin! |
Little Egrets and Grey Herons stalked the
shallow flooded marsh and hundreds of spooky Black-headed Gulls spun and
surface picked like a mass of oversized phalaropes. I saw a splash and a
Kingfisher appeared before winging east along the foreshore. Quite where it had
come from I do not know but it seemed quite at home there.
Behind me there were the ubiquitous Wrens,
Robins and Dunnocks in the Suaeda and small groups of Reed Buntings came up as
I walked as well as three explosive Pheasants. Yellowhammers were foraging
around the whirligig with Chaffinches and Greenfinches and the harvested wheat
field inland contained a nice covey of 12 Grey Partridges.
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Grey Partridge |
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| Robin's Pin Cushion |
There were plenty of Bombus pascuorum and lapidarius
and a few hovers most of which appeared to be Eritstalis tenax. A quick cup of
coffee then a short drive to Stiffkey Fen where my walk failed to produce the
24 Spoonbills but did result in my first Clouded Yellow of the year and more bramble
and stinging nettle attacks to add to my already sore blood-sucked legs!
The coast was now teaming with people and
so I decided to cut my losses and head back to camp before heading out in the
other direction to Winterton Dunes where after some serious guesswork I managed
to locate the correct Natterjack pool and within a very short while the
attendant smart male Bluethroat which performed nicely around the boggy
margins. Always surprised just how chunky this species is. Two lemony Willow
Warblers were keeping it company and singles of Whinchat, Stonechat and
Wheatear were seen on the way back. So a nice bird in the end today but with a
strengthening wind and imminent rain what would the following day hold?
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| A Bluethroat - by me |
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| A better Bluethroat by Neil Hughes |
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| An even better Bluethroat by Neil Hughes |
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| Posing Wheatear |
31st August:
Woke up to rain... good news... We had
tickets for the Aylsham show and as it was just a short way up the road at
Blickling Hall we arrived just before eight when the doors opened to save all
that ghastly queuing. The grass was a
little slippy by the Cadets guided us in safely and parked us in the first row
as the rain started to increase in intensity. Mmmm... on with the Muckboots and
out with the brolly.
The next two and a bit hours can safely be
described as deeply unpleasant with some of the livestock exhibitors still
arriving and unloading already wet and smelly sheep and such like. Their trucks
soon turned the walkways into a quagmire of slick mud and grass and the gradients
were not helping. Tea and cake in the art marquee and then a quick venture into
the food court where Moongazer and Woodfordes alcoholic tipples found their way
into my bag before waving at the bedraggled Heavy Horses and deciding to cut my
losses and leave. Seldom have I been so relieved to leave a place. As soon as I
reversed up I knew that our exit was going to be interesting on the wet grass. There
was no purchase and little headway was made. At least I was going vaguely
downhill and after negotiating a gateway I felt like I was going to make it out
just as those queuing to get in were losing traction and sliding hither and
dither all over the place. I almost spoke too soon and if not for three Cadets
leaping to my rescue for a final push, I would have not have made it onto the
gravel road out. That in itself was
similarly testing with some spots being under water already and nice muddy
slides down slopes but the proper road was eventually reached and we
practically swan the rest of the way back to the Pod. I dread to think what it became like later
on as from then on the weather never really improved and the wind rose to join
in the fun. I would imagine that they were still digging people and exhibitors
out of there on Tuesday morning.
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| Chunky Boys |
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| Norfolk Horn - pure demon Ram..... |
After drying off a bit we made lunch and
headed back towards Winterton in the hope that the weather would break and I
could get out there and find the ground littered knee deep in redstarts, Pied
Flys and Wrynecks... the National Trust
no longer have the car park at Horsey Corner so I opted for the free verge at
Waxham Barns but after lunch in the car I stuck on my Drizabone and hat
and headed out.
Well for about 15 minutes during which time
I heard a Blue Tit and saw some Pied Wagtails on the deserted Bank Holiday
Beach with a mixed party of Sanderlings and Turnstones while the sea whipped up
white horses and smashed them into the breakwaters.
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| Lunchtime view - thanks Mum for the M&S bisuits |
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| Waxham Beach... | |
Grumpy, fed up and wet again I called it a
day... and spent the rest of it hiding in the shed....
1st September:
The rain eventually seemed to let up at
about ten-ish the previous evening and with blue skies and skudding clouds on ‘going
home day’, I was hopeful of getting out there and finding something in the
aftermath. Winterton was my choice of site and I gave the dune system there a
good searching for a couple of hours during which time I saw 11 species of
bird. It was dead with not one warbler
or flycatcher and only one chat – a solitary Whinchat. Just where had all the fall
migrants that we would have associated with such a weather system have
deposited all those autumnal goodies? A quick check of the pager and it was no
surprise to find that they were all on Wanstead Flats.... (only jealous, guys!).
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| Ling - got a bit confused on my heathers |
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| Cross-leaved Heather - mmm.. probably |
Grayling butterflies were on the wing but
very tatty but the Small Heaths and Common Blues looked pristine.
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| Grayling |
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| Common Blue |
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| Common Blue |
There were
plenty of bumblebees around and I had half joked with Annie that if I went
there I would look for the fabled mega-fly that is Tachina grossa. It seemed a
little late in the season and with the appalling weather I thought the chance
of one hanging on to be slim but then suddenly there it was in front of me, bimbling
past my nose like some oversized spherical flying back pincushion. I pursued
this plump lady as she bounced around the heather and I eventually managed a
shaky shot. It was all quite exciting to be honest and after several good views
of those oddly spaced eyes, golden Elizabethan ruff and medieval mace-like
spikes adorning the shiny black body, she took to the air once more and
thrummed off into the distance.
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| Tachina - it makes me happy :O) |
After a big fat cream tea it was time to move south...
The rest of the journey home contained:
- Great Yarmouth AND Lowestoft Traffic System Rage (sorry I did not call in, Antony)
- Dunwich Fish ‘n’ Chip Rage (‘You want £9.95 for cod and chips... EACH??!!’)
- Thorpeness
Anti-Wryneck Torrential Rain Rage
- Momentary Aldeburgh Fish ‘n’ Chips Pleasure
- and Abberton ‘oh it just flew off ‘ Osprey Rage....
Admittedly Abberton was actually quite
pleasant in the rain with a nice Great White Egret on the basin wall and at
least 700 or so Sand Martin out over the water hawking with a few Swallows. They
would frequently land in the willow bed just offshore with Pied and Yellow Wagtails
for company. A fine Grey Heron fished the shallows but to be honest was pants
at his job and a juvenile Common Tern was faring better at catching fry just a
few yards away.
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| Great White Egret chatting up a post... |
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| Sand Martins |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
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| Grey Heron in the rain |
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Sometimes you just have to realise that
things are not going to go your way and so the final push for home was made
with the only saving grace being not getting stuck on the QEII Bridge at 5pm!
Oh well...
Excellent write-up H, enjoyed the read and piccies :-)
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