Norfolk Autumn Migration Tour for Oriole Birding - 4th October 2024

A beautiful autumnal sunrise greeted the day with the lack of wind allowing the calls of Pinkfeet to drift across the landscape.  I could hear Red Kites whinnying and two headed off inland on the same line as several Marsh Harriers and a few Meadow Pipits seeped overhead.

After breakfast we headed all the way down to Breydon Water to try and catch the tide before it came full in but although we were an hour early, all the mud was already covered and the waders were up roosting.

However we had a good little session down there and found several Knot, Greenshank and two Spotted Redshanks amongst the hordes of Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits and several; other wader species.  A female Sparrowhawk shuffled things up a bit but the three Spoonbills barely twitched but somehow all moved with the incoming waters without us noticing!

Little Egrets were actively feeding on the saltmarsh and Redshank and a few Curlew came to join them and Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings were disturbed.  Three Bearded Tits noisily called as they bounded over our heads! Small White and Red Admiral fluttered by and a Wall Brown was a great find as it nectared on the Sea Aster. I looked for Colletes but could not see any.

Curlew

Onwards to Hickling where lunch was taken to the sound of our first Cranes and many Pinkfeet and a Tawny Owl gave a long tremulous hoot from somewhere towards the Broad.  I spent some time checking for moth leaf mines around the car park and also fund some funky Sawfly larva on some of the Sallows.

Sawfly larva

Guelder Rose

Our walk down to Stubb Mill was delightful in warm sunshine.  Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters were present in still very large numbers and I was pleased to find a single Willow Emerald too.  There were a few Hoverflies and Hornets and a good spread of Butterflies with all three Whites, Peacock, Red Admiral, Wall Brown, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood while a large pale Caddisfly species was emerging in some numbers and fluttering over the reed beds.  Long-winged Coneheads were still singing and I found one female in the grass which was alive with tiny Wolf Spiders, many of which were starting to climb up stems in preparation of a mass ballooning session.

Common Darter

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawker

Willow Emerald 

Helophilus pendulus

The gall on Creeping Thistle of the fly Urophora cardui 

Dock Bug

A small bee - possibly a Lasioglossum

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

A small Oak Eggar cat

The Common Cranes put on a grand show with two groups of four and one of three before we even got to the mill and eclipsed once at the platform with 19 in a snaky line that circled the marsh a couple of times before landing.  Who knows if this was a different group or not? All the while the magical bugling drifted across the marshes with the underlying susurration of the light breeze through the reeds and as usual was the highlight of my day.

Common Cranes

Great White Egrets were lumbering around and I reckon six were seen and a vast flock of about 1000 Pink-feet were disturbed from way off near Martham Broad before passing overhead and the air was so still at that time that their wings thrummed and hummed and could be aurally felt through the cacophony of yipping.  It was an afternoon of special moments.

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Pink-feet 

Sound up - Simon Millin

Also down at the Mill we found two very smart but tardy Whinchats flycatching from the same bramble and two male Yellowhammers calling jauntily from one of the Hawthorns.  We walked back to the sound of more Geese and Cranes and the three Koniks making the most of the sunshine while a Hobby became our surprise third this week.  Marsh Harriers and Buzzards were omnipresent and I counted 13 Med Gulls up hawking with kettling Black-headeds.

A final coffee back at the centre and then the journey back across the county for one last slap up meal at Briarfields.

Norfolk Autumn Migration Tour for Oriole Birding - 3rd October 2024

A real sunrise poked through the curtains this morning! It was still and calm and outside I could hear Redwings, Robins, Dunnocks, Meadow Pipits and the winking of Pinkies. We made our east again after breakfast (passing seven Great White Egrets around Holkham on the way) and by 9.40 were at Kelling for a walk down to the water meadows.  The cloud kept bubbling up but it was quite warm and the double hedge was full of insect life with many Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters, Red Admirals and a few Hoverflies and Bees and Comma and Peacock were both new additions along with a late Southern Hawker too.

Common Darter on natural solar panel - Julie Taylor

Southern Hawker - Julie Taylor

Migrant Hawker - Julie Taylor

Peacock- Joyce Cather

A large tit flock gave excellent views but contained no waifs and a little further down we heard Chiffchaff and Goldcrest and found a male Blackcap while a winter male Brambling briefly sat up for us.  There were lots of Robins calling and a few Song Thrushes but although it felt like there should be something else lurking we certainly did not dig it out.

Once down by the open fields we found a flock of over 100 Linnets moving between stubble and Bramble hedge where Stonechats kept an eye on proceeding and made occasional sallies after flies.

The pools them selves were in the process of having a sedgy haircut and only had a couple of Coot and Moorhen and literally dozens more dragonflies – many of which were in tandem and egg laying.

Down at the sea some Brent Geese flew west in front of the gas line platform just off shore but were, once again the only birds were saw over the sea. It had really warmed up and we retraced our steps back to the Old Reading Rooms where tea and ginger cake awaited.  The overhanging Fig tree has at last been discovered by Choeurutis nemorana – the pesky Fig Leaf Skeltoniser moth.

Revitalised with scrummyness we moved on to Salthouse for a pointless look for ditch dwelling Bluethroat before heading to Stiffkey campsite car park for lunch followed by a walk along the inside of the whole length of the wonderful wood with its wind sculptured Oaks, Beeches and Sycamores. We found a few parties of Tits and Goldcrests but the only Warbler was a confiding Chiffchaff although it was actually the first we had seen properly all week!

A Great Spotted Woodpecker bounded through and there were plenty of Robins but no funny ones with blue tails while a quietly singing Mistle Thrush posed on a sunlit branch and I took some nice shots although in fact I never did…

We came back on the seaward lower path and I quickly found a couple of Colletes halophilus in attendance at the Sea Aster before being distracted by a great shimmering flock of spangly Golden Plovers who got spooked by a Kestrel – cue more clicking.

Another scan and suddenly there was a Pallid Harrier out on the edge of the saltmarsh. I shouted at the crew and quickly got everyone onto her as she cruised back and forth before veering straight at us and even stooped and dropped onto the recently re-landed Golden Plover flock.  I switched to video and it said – ‘no card’ agggghhhhhh – I had spent all day taking pics with no memory card in. Muppet.  A frantic insertion of the spare from my wallet and I began taking a few pics of her as she carried on hunting to the east.

Pallid Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Pallid Harrier

I shall leave the ‘is it the same bird as Sunday’ debate open.  A Red Kite also put on a lovely performance over the saltings.

Pallid Harrier Sunday above and today below

Colletes halophilus

Feeling very pleased to have seen her so well and early in the afternoon meant that the plan could change once again and after finding some more bees to snap we packed up and headed off to Wells Wood for the chance of some scarce Warbler action. It was gloriously sunny and autumnally warm and we spent a happy time in the Dell where fortuitous entry point put us in the right spot at the right moment for the elusive and silent Greenish Warbler to appear in front of me.  We had kept the high ground and this served us well as we were all able to watch it feeding at mid height and upwards in the Birches without craning our necks.  It was a delightful little bird with silky underparts, a good supercilium and visible wing bar.  With patience everyone got good views and the Wood Warbler appeared in the same tree a couple of times too which was good.  A Yellow-browed Warbler called a couple of times and Chiffchaff and Blackcap made it a positive warbler fest after the paucity of our earlier efforts.  

There was a good Tit and Crest flock too and an immature Redstart put on a good show and some of the group had very close views of her on the ground sunbathing at one point.  A snoozing but seemingly unharmed young Hedgehog was moved off the track side and out of the way of stray feet and roaming hounds.

Redstart 

Hedgehog 

Redwings and four Brambling came out of the Birches too and Siskins called above us while Robins continued in their quest to tempt me into rash calls of scarcer cousins.  We ambled back hearing invisible Bullfinches and then decided to head back to North Point for the chance of a Barn Owl as it was a lovely evening. It was not meant to be but it was lovely standing their in the cooling air with the smell of distant saltmarsh and the dry warmth of the dusty stubble fields filling our senses.  The duck on the pools were getting restless and four Little Egrets and a couple of Snipe dropped in while the Greylags were getting restless and mobile and I do not know where they go to inland of here. 

Greylags - Julie Taylor

The odd small group of Pink-feet drifted over and Marsh Harriers started to gravitate to the area along with a couple of Buzzards and Red Kites but with no Barn Owls and dinner beckoning we left as two Chinese Water Deer waded out into the lagoon and Brown Hares limbered up for the evening in the fields.

I had everyone on Barn Owl alert still and thankfully I spied one out over Holkham as we headed along the coast road and turned back into Landy Ann’s in time to watch it hunting the fields with ghostly white precision.

A fine end to any day in the field.