Norfolk

Extract from my 'other' blog, The Not Very Big Year...

Hunstanton Cliffs - home to Fulmars and Feral Pigeons

Sometimes, when it's cold, grey and miserable, I wonder why it is I bother to go birdwatching. Wednesday was a good [bad] example. Crap weather and no birds.

I think the setting must make all the difference, because today Norfolk was cold, grey and miserable - the sun never came out - but there were some great birds to be seen and I wasn't quite as grumpy as normal.

We hadn't even reached our first planned stop when long skeins of Pink-footed Geese began crossing the skies above us. Birds going from their night-time roost sites to their daytime beet-field feeding hang-outs. It's a Norfolk birding cliche, but always an awesome sight, not to be sniffed at.

On a cold January Friday morning, it was quiet on Hunstanton seafront and Turnstones scuttled around in the gutter, in the manner of Starlings, while Herring Gulls lurked in gardens and car-parks.

Herring Gull - king of the British seaside resort

But they weren't our 'sunny-Hunny' target birds. No, we wanted Fulmars, and we got them, as they glided stiffly around the cliffs on their mini-albatross wings.

Below, family parties of Brent Geese indulged in a little breakfast-time surfing and pecked at the seaweed which encrusted the boulders below the cliffs. More Turnstones, Oystercatchers and Redshanks there, but sadly no Purple Sandpipers.

Oystercatcher hammers mussel while Redshank can only watch

Time to look out to sea. Well, into The Wash, anyway. With no wind, seawatching conditions weren't exactly ideal, but it made it a lot more comfortable.

It wasn't too long before one Red-throated and one Great Northern Diver came into view. Not close by normal birding standards, but good for seawatching. Much closer was a Guillemot, to Darren's great delight. They don't get many in Bedfordshire so he hadn't seen one before.

Darren's first Guillemot

I think that means he owes me a pint.

RSPB Titchwell meeter-and-greeter

Darren is quite derogatory about 'Titchwell Zoo', as he calls it, but I reckon you can't knock it too much. Wander down the track to the beach and there are Spotted Redshanks feeding, unperturbed, virtually within spitting distance.

Spotted Redshank

On the sea, a slick of Common Scoters was forming. Trails of birds from further offshore made up a flock of around 3,000 birds - another impressive sight which included about eight Velvet Scoters. Slightly closer, a couple of smart, piebald Slavonian Grebes (another lifer for DO-M, and it wasn't even lunchtime) pootled about, and a small group of Red-breasted Mergansers bobbed around on the waves.

The scoter flock off Titchwell beach

A drive up to Choseley found a flock of around 400 Corn Buntings and some very pleasant, canary-yellow Yellowhammers. Titchwell drew us back again, with news of a Bean Goose with a flock of Pinkfeet on fields by the entrance. More than an hour's scrutiny of the flock, in terrible light, failed to nail the bird conclusively... Still, it's not a British breeding species so we don't need it for our list anyway.

Species added today:
Pink-footed Goose
79. Herring Gull
Turnstone
80. Oystercatcher
Brent Goose
81. Fulmar
Bar-tailed Godwit
82. Guillemot
83. Red-throated Diver
Great Northern Diver
Sanderling
84. Shelduck
85. Curlew
86. Little Egret
87. Cetti's Warbler
88. Egyptian Goose
Spotted Redshank
89. Black-tailed Godwit
90. Ringed Plover
91. Dunlin
Knot
Grey Plover
92. Common Scoter
Velvet Scoter
93. Slavonian Grebe
94. Red-breasted Merganser
95. Avocet
96. Corn Bunting
97. Grey Partridge
98. Merlin
99. Barn Owl

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Texture

photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Tame Robin

The audacity of some of the Robins at Bluebell Wood is quite amazing. There are a couple of 'feeding stations' in the wood, where food is placed regularly - attracting a constant stream of birds - Chaffinches, Blue, Great Long-tailed and Marsh Tits, Nuthatches and, of course, Robins.

You can stand at a respectable distance to watch the birds going about their business, and suddenly hear a burst of song from somewhere near your ear lobe. Very often, a Robin will have seen you standing there and will come to perch in the hedge just beside your shoulder.

The food attracts a large number of birds into a small space and territorial arguments are quite frequent, with birds chasing each other around and engaging in breast-to-breast sing-offs.

Presumably, the Robins must learn quickly that people bring food with them, and can be persuaded to dispense it if 'cute' behaviour is exhibited. They become expert beggars and seem to spend most of their time asking old ladies for breadcrumbs and birdseed.

photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Brrr

Holly




Cow parsley?


Male Bullfinch

It's still literally freezing here. There hasn't been enough sunlight to melt the snow off the trees, so everything is still snowy-white. Life must be hard for small birds, especially.

Finally caught up with the Hawfinches at Ferry Meadows. At least two birds were present, including a male which showed particularly well in the trees above our heads. A procession of dog-walkers and joggers kept flushing the finches from their food source (presumably some seeds on the ground somewhere) and into view.

It was useful to hear the birds' call again, which reminded me of Grey Wagtail, for some reason...

digiscoped photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

'sno fun when it's this cold

Male Bullfinch


Female Bullfinch


Water Rail! (not bad for an action shot?)


Railtrack

There's no disguising the fact that there was next to no light at all today... Some more snow overnight had made everything look very pretty, but taking photos was hard work. Hence the poor standard of the images above.

The Bullfinches seemed unusually confiding. They allowed quite a close approach as they fed on seeds close to the ground. The Water Rail was good fun. It fed busily in some waterside vegetation before legging it through the snow across the footpath - which led to the photo of two of its footprints...


Snowy teasels


Snowy umbellifer

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

A sprinkling of snow...

rosehips


leaves


berries


twigs


nettles


sycamore leaves


lichen

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Dullness

Teal


Black-headed Gull

Walked all around Ferry Meadows in hope of finding some redpolls to sift through, but didn't even manage a Siskin or a Bullfinch. Pretty poor stuff...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Remember when it was warm and sunny?

I hate it when it says '100% cloud' on the Metcheck weather forecast. So here's a look back at some of this year's insect photos.


Marsh Fritillary, Andalucia, Spain, 22 May


Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Andalucia, Spain, 23 May


Four-spotted Chaser, Woodwalton Fen NNR, 30 May *


Large Red Damselfly, RSPB The Lodge, 23 June


Six-spot Burnet moth, Summer Leys LNR, 17 July


Musk Beetle, Woodwalton Fen NNR, 28 July


Hoverfly sp, RSPB The Lodge, 9 August


Banded Demoiselle, River Nene, 28 August *


Small Copper, RSPB The Lodge, 12 September


Comma, RSPB Minsmere, 20 September

digiscoped photos* taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Sunday morning fishing on the River Nene

'Think there might be something tasty in here...'


'I'll take a closer look...'


'This is my river!'


'Now, where was I?'


'Success at last!'

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Putting the decorations up

The spiders have their Christmas decorations up already...


Needles


Catkins


Brambles


Bracken

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995