Lowestoft Life - 1st - 9th November 2025

My parents came up to visit on Halloween and true to form the heavens opened as they arrived but I think that I managed to fool the weather gods into thinking that they had gone home that evening as the next day actually turned out cool but rather bright and pleasant and a poodle out into the Broads where Dad wanted some Cranes actually resulted in a short walk at St Benet’s Abbey where three were seen feeding in a distant field. 

Nine Cattle Egrets were with the cows but there were no wild swans or geese.  There were still a Mesembrina meridiana on the fence with his Calliphora buddies and two Common Darters also made it into November.  Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Kestrel were seen but there do not seem to be any Short-eared Owls in here yet. As we drove out a flight of about 40 Cranes came in low from the north and were obviously field hopping and gained very little height and although they had flown closer, they remained invisible once down.  A fine lunch at Vera’s and back home before a drop of rain graced the windscreen!

Sunday 2^nd saw us introduce M&D to the joys of the Lighthouse Café for breakfast and as is usual for being right down on the front there is always something to see.  This time it was eight Crossbills heading south gypping happily and a single Grey Wagtail doing circuits.

Catch up time at home and then on a bit of wild goose (celebrity) hunt up to the Norfolk coast on Wednesday afternoon.  It did not quite go as planned through the fault of no one but the art of making television but it was nice to be out and I spent some quiet time watching  stuff on North Point Pools and overlooking the reedbeds between Cley Sluice and the Windmill as the day came to a close.  Starlings swirled and Marsh Harriers hunted and somewhere off in the gloom I could hear the calls of the Pinkfeet deciding what to do for the night.

The Outlaws visited on Thursday and a new pub, the Blue Boar in Oulton was our lunchtime spot.  Fab food and very funky wallpaper.  I may have done some leaf mining in the car park and there were still a couple of Araneus diadematus in the Ivy which was dotted with the pupal cases of Harlequin Ladybirds.  

Redwings streamed over that night and I even caught a glimpse as they crossed the bright moon that was trying to force a way through the clouds.  The moth trap was on for the first time in weeks and I was pleased to find a few moths had paid me a visit in the unseasonably warm conditions.

I had 23 Light Brown Apple Moths, two Rusty Dot Pearl, two Double Striped Pug, two Common Plume, Diamondback, Turnip and a Streak which I had not actually heard of before. 

Light Brown Apple Moth

Rusty Dot Pearl

Double Striped Pug

The Streak

Turnip

The day started with a sea fret that soon lifted leaving the town bright but by the time we left to head down to Ilford for the day it had closed right in and drizzle and super low cloud spoilt the rest of the day.  The journey home was, as is the norm now, marred by road closures.

The after midnight return saw me in a fairly zombified state this morning but news of a Pallas’s Warbler in the Chop Shop Alley in town had be livened up.  I had to ask on our local group where it was and was directed to the High Street where three Sycamores have, over the years attracted more than their fair share of goodies.  This time Andrew had found Pallas’s, Yellow-browed and a Willow Warbler there!  I hastened off as to beat the shops opening and soon poked my head into a horrible toilet of an alley between the shops before walking round the other side for an outside view of the trees.  Within a few minutes I was with others watching the silky white belly of this little sprite flick and hover in the golden Sycamore leaves and almost black Ivy.  Both colours augmented the greens, and yellows of this energetic bird.  It was not alone and the rather tardy acredula Willow Warbler also reappeared along with several Goldcrests, Blue and Great Tits.  I only had 30 free minutes on the parking and left happy.

Quality twitch venue

'It's in these trees...'

Pallas’s Warbler - Andrew Easton

Pallas’s Warbler - Andrew Easton

Pallas’s Warbler - Andrew Easton

Pallas’s Warbler - Andrew Easton

On the way home I stopped at Kennsington Gardens which looked like it absolutely must have something rare!  I got out and immediately heard Tits and Crests but despite finding four species of the latter, I could locate any waifs.  There were even migrant Dunnocks dropping in and the park could not be any closer to the sea.  The boating lake and small wildlife pond did give me my first Moorhens away from Tom Crisp Way and just 400m away from my Pakefield Patch where I almost certainly will never see one of these!

Kennsington Gardens 

Breakfast and then some garden jobs.  A Redwing and Grey Wagtail flew over and I could hear Coal and Long-tailed Tits somewhere over the back.  As such I walked around to the back of the garage to check on the tree saplings and cut back some of the Bramble and was surprised to find that some of the Ivy was still flowering and scented and even had two Eristalis pertinax in attendance.

Eristalis pertinax

Lunch and then off to Pakefield Beach as I too wanted to get in on the rare warbler action but alas my entire circuit did not give me one Crest or Tit let alone a Warbler of any sort! The sea was flat calm had nowt but a couple of Cormorants on it. The Fatsia japonica was attracting late Honey Bees and a few Calliphora and a towering 12 foot tall Mahonia was already in flower and had grateful Buff-tailed Bumblebees nectaring.

Sea Buckthorn

Mahonia

Fatsia japonica

Ivy berries

Nooooooooooooooooooooo! That's just wrong!

A Long-eared Owl had been found at Links Road so it would have been rude not to go and have a look despite the late hour.  A Yellow-browed Warbler called once from Warren House Wood as I walked down towards the mob of Carrion Crows who made sure we knew where the owl was but soon left the tree tops to go and annoy something else.  This LEO was in full vertical mode and my first local one since moving up here.  It was good to catch up with local faces and as I turned to go a Stonechat popped up on top and underneath it was a smart little Dartford Warbler along with a active little Wren.  The female Stonechat soon appeared to join her other half.

Long-eared Owl - Rob Wilton

It was a fine end to a surprisingly productive day.

A pleasant Sunday started with six moths of four species with two LBAM, two Rusty Dot Pearl and a couple of crackers with a Cypress Carpet and my very first garden December Moth. 

Cypress Carpet

December Moth

 The rest of the day was spent pottering around at home while the lads continued work indoors.  A Buzzard drifted over and single very chunky deep voiced Redpoll bounded through - Mealy in my books.  Oh and the Cosmopolitan that Antony caught yesterday.

Final packing now for South Africa tomorrow.  Time to pick up a Penguin.

Thirty Years Ago - October 1995

3^rd October:

The month did not start well with an overnight trip to Seaforth for a White-crowned Sparrow that had done a bunk.  We had to settle for a £1.95 fry up in Crosby before heading back home again.

A few days in the south-west with Steve Bacon

6^th October

We began our day at Porthgwarra sheltering from atrocious wind and rain and saw nothing bar some Crests and Chiffchaffs before doing all the usual valleys.  They were birdless and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth (my first since 1990) was the scant winged highlight.  We stayed the night in Cot Manor which would have been really nice if I had not been vomiting my guts up [Eds: I seem to recall consuming an overly pink sausage (stop sniggering) in the café in the Penzance harbour carpark that morning…].

7^th October:

It was even wetter and windier and I did not remember much of the day living as I was in a food poisoning haze but there was a Blackcap in Nanquidno and lots of Grey Wagtails.  I recall taking myself to bed at 5pm in our new B&B in St Just and coming too to watch Lethal Weapon III on the TV which was not really worth the effort.

8^th October:

I was feeling a lot better and after a light breakfast we headed into Cot Valley in search of anything vaguely avian.  We found more Goldcrests and a Firecrests and a strange pale coffee brown Phyllosc type with dark centred tertials across the valley in a Sycamore that repeatedly flicked its wings.  Could it have been a Booted Warbler?  We shall never know.

There was a life tick though to be had when a Monarch butterfly glided across the valley at close range showing the bright orange and black colouration.  We watched it glide around us before effortlessly flap-gliding up the other side of the valley and around the headland.  

We spent the rest of the day doing the other valleys such as St Leven where a Lapland Bunting was the best find followed by Nanquidno and Porthgwarra.  The Rose-coloured Starling in Penzance eluded us but we did see a Firecrest and smart Black-necked Grebe on Long Rock Pool and hear several Cetti’s Warblers. The day was finished up dipping Short-toed Lark and Dick’s Pipit at Sennen.

9^th October

Another fun night spent on the bog – yay before news of a Red-eyed Vireo at Trevilly reached us.  It was only a couple of miles away and we were soon looking for the bird around some small old farm out-houses and there it was!  What a corker and showy too.  It was crash about for five minutes or so in the nettles and then settle in the open and watch the world go by for a while.

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Content with out views we carried on down the footpath to Nanjizal where a Melodious Warbler was performing just as admirably.  It had been present for days but he good weather had at last tempted it to show for the first time since we got down here.  It was feasting in flies gathering around the Ivy flowers. [Eds: Nowadays I would tell you what they were!]

Melodious Warbler

Three Hummingbird Hawkmoths were seen on the way back out before we made our way back to Sennen for the Richard’s Pipit.  It was still there and also showed very well but it felt wrong and the dark lores amongst other things pointed towards it being a Tawny Pipit.  We left puzzled but sure that it was not a Dick’s and indeed before too long the messages came out to that effect.

Tawny Pipit

The Rose-coloured Starling spoilt our streak for the day before we began the long journey home via four Little Egrets on the Hayle and no Semi-P on the Kingsbridge.  Dusk at Prawle Point was a fine way to end a trying trip and added Cirl Buntings and Yellowhammers and 100s of pipits, wagtails and finches streaming over.

17^th October

Another wasted twitch with 450 or so people descending on Prawle Point for a non-existent Chestnut-sided Warbler. The Cirl Buntings, Firecrests and Ravens were little compensation.  News of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo on Scilly broke while about 30 of us were in a Happy Eater near Exeter and the word Happy was not at that point the best one to prefix the restaurant chain.  Back to work tomorrow to be laughed at for being stupid.

28^th October

A male Pine Bunting on the Suffolk – Norfolk border at Hopton was just too much pf a temptation and so Ian and I headed up at about 1.30 not even thinking about the available daylight now that they clocks had gone back.  Despite horrendous traffic we eventually made it but the bird had not been seen for two hours by then.  We stood around chatting and scanning the hedges when suddenly some people scampered through a gap and we promptly followed and there he was in all his immaculate adult male glory.  Five minutes of pre-roost preening and ten he dropped down the other side out of view [Eds: and in doing so got itself onto both the Norfolk and Suffolk lists as the hedge was the boundary]. It was now 4.35 and we walked back to the car, put the lights on and came home in high spirits.  Pure unadulterated twitching.  Six hours in the car and twenty minutes out.  Tick and run as they say.

Pine Bunting

[Eds: As a footnote for October that year I wrote this: Thank God October is over.  It was one of the best years on record for the variety and quantity of birds – in particular Nearctic ones but will also be remembered as the most frustratingly annoying year any of us could remember.  Four weeks of my usual crew threatening to give it all up, sell optics and even worse was enough to drive even me mad.  Sure enough it is a bummer to dip out or not be able to go for something but it’s only a hobby after all… Isn’t it?]

Norfolk for Oriole Birding - 30th October 2025

At last a glorious morning and after a swift breakfast we had checked out of Briarfields and had worked our way along the coast to Lady Anne’s Drive for what became a very pleasant stroll through the autumn colours.  Admittedly it was slightly difficult to hear anything whatsoever as the F35s were back and tearing the sky apart with some frankly astonishing moves and the Hercules was once again performing low circuits but soon they were gone and we could hear Crests, Tits and Treecreepers in the pines and with some effort everyone got good views of even the common birds.  A Mistle Thrush perched up for us and a few Fieldfare flew over towards the fresh marsh where Geese could be heard.  Pinkfeet drifted overhead and I will always love that sound as a backdrop to autumn and winter up here.

Pinkfeet

Blue Tit

Mistle Thrush

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Great Spotted Woodpeckers played chase and Green Woodpeckers were heard once again and a sudden bout of alarming from the Long-tailed Tits alerted us to a female Sparrowhawk barrelling through the Pines.   Red Kites, Buzzards and Kestrels patrolled the woodland edge as usual but we did not see the Ravens this time.

There were more duck on the lake this time and the Wigeon and Gadwall were following the pair of Mute Swans much in the same way that the Phalarope was shadowing the Shovelers yesterday.

The Mumpers

The Washington Hide gave us both Great and Cattle Egrets and plenty of Marsh Harrier action and a Cetti’s Warbler even showed in the Brambles below us while a Water Rail squealed from the reeds.  I found two Common Darters and a single Mesembrina meridiana on the warming fence and down at the beach a pristine Wall Brown was found but the sea was quiet with just five Scoter and our first Great Crested Grebe.

Great Egret

Great Egret

Wall Brown

The slow walk back added no birds but as usual gave me the chance to introduce the crew to some leaf mining as well as some late flowering and fun fruiting plants. 

Privet

Common Centaury

Spindle

Ectoedemia heringella & Acrocercops brongniardella

Carline Thistle

Waxcap sp

Peltigera sp

Polypody

Honeysuckle

Old Man's Beard

Bramble

Cow Parsley I think - and Spider

Lucilia sp

Pine Ladybird

LAD was no heaving and the challenge that I set them of counting over 100 dogs was achieved with some ease. I opted for lunch at Titchwell before a final walk which actually became the other way round on arrival.  We stuck to the Fen Trail in search of the Yellow-browed Warbler and when we got down to the viewing screen overlooking the pool I pointed out our first Tufted Duck as a Bittern flew through my bins.  Thankfully it went through Stephen’s too and onto the list. 

We stood there for some time watching the gulls come and go and a Great Egret majestically feeding in the margins.  Red Kites, Marsh Harriers and Buzzards patrolled and a group of Redwings popped out of the Blackthorn where more Cetti’s shouted at us.

Great Egret 

Red Kite

The paddock gave us great scope views of more Redwings and Blackbirds and a chance glance up added a silent Raven heading inland. There were more late flowers to add to the lengthening list and as we approached the end of the trail two Water Rails started kipping at each other.   Golden Plovers moved towards Choseley and joined over a thousand birds in a tight ellipse which predictably became a series of lengthy Vs.

Raven

Golden Plovers

Ragwort

Wild Carrot

Sloes

Sphaerophoria sp

Helophilus pendulus

Down on the scrapes I picked up a tardy Curlew Sandpiper and a Dunlin and a Greenshank repeatedly called but remained out of view but at least everyone heard it.  Lunch drew us back and a final look from the screen was perfectly timed with the Bittern clambering up to the top of the reeds and sitting there like some glorious golden lemon for all to see.  Walk away views were had.

Bittern

It was a very happy late lunch but there were still more birds to add even at this late stage with a male Blackcap, hawking Swallow and at long last two Collared Doves!  With more coastal travel problems at Heacham, we opted to head inland through Docking and around the trouble to get us to Kings Lynn station in time after most excellent final day.