B i r d w a t c h i n g i n N o r f o l k
A p r i l 2 0 0 9
A p r i l 2 0 0 9
1st April Norfolk Coast 1 day Guided Birdwatching tour
Today we visited Holme & Titchwell with a couple whom were up for a 3 day break, we concentrated on taking a careful look at shorebirds and birdsong.
We had nice scope views on the shore of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Knot, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin & were able to work through the differences of each shorebird. We also found 2 Wheatears feeding in the dunes area, 1-2 early Swallows and were also able to take in a range of passerines.
At Titchwell, we were able to take a good look at Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet,Snipe, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Brent Geese, Goldeneye, Little Grebe plus lovely views of Marsh Harrier.
We heard Bearded Tit & Cetti's Warbler but they decided to stay out of view in the reedbed!
4th April Norfolk Wildlife Trust Photography Workshop
This was an organised event in conjunction with Norfolk Wildlife Trust, we ran a 4 hour workshop for 16 people, concentrating on the basic principles of wildlife photography.
5th April Mid-Norfolk 1 day Guided Birdwatching tour
A mid-Norfolk customised tour for two regular clients with a broad interest in wildlife.
We first visited a piece of ancient woodland where we saw a fantastic shoal of Rudd, many Common toads & Smooth Newts along with some smaller invertebrates. We had an excellent mix of commoner woodland birds including Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, displaying Sparrowhawk & Marsh Harrier, plus a pair of Siskin nestbuilding.
We then moved on to an area in the Wensum valley, where we had a variety of birds, Reed Bunting, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, escaped Harris Hawk, Reed Bunting, 5 Snipe, displaying Lapwing & Little Egret. I was also able to show them fresh Otter scats & an Otter run.
Today we visited Holme & Titchwell with a couple whom were up for a 3 day break, we concentrated on taking a careful look at shorebirds and birdsong.
We had nice scope views on the shore of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Knot, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin & were able to work through the differences of each shorebird. We also found 2 Wheatears feeding in the dunes area, 1-2 early Swallows and were also able to take in a range of passerines.
At Titchwell, we were able to take a good look at Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet,Snipe, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Brent Geese, Goldeneye, Little Grebe plus lovely views of Marsh Harrier.
We heard Bearded Tit & Cetti's Warbler but they decided to stay out of view in the reedbed!
4th April Norfolk Wildlife Trust Photography Workshop
This was an organised event in conjunction with Norfolk Wildlife Trust, we ran a 4 hour workshop for 16 people, concentrating on the basic principles of wildlife photography.
5th April Mid-Norfolk 1 day Guided Birdwatching tour
A mid-Norfolk customised tour for two regular clients with a broad interest in wildlife.
We first visited a piece of ancient woodland where we saw a fantastic shoal of Rudd, many Common toads & Smooth Newts along with some smaller invertebrates. We had an excellent mix of commoner woodland birds including Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, displaying Sparrowhawk & Marsh Harrier, plus a pair of Siskin nestbuilding.
We then moved on to an area in the Wensum valley, where we had a variety of birds, Reed Bunting, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, escaped Harris Hawk, Reed Bunting, 5 Snipe, displaying Lapwing & Little Egret. I was also able to show them fresh Otter scats & an Otter run.
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6th April Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
Today we started the first of the advertised April tours - and I am pleased to say with a great deal of success!!
The tour starts in South Norfolk, and after seeing a single Hawfinch, we located 4 Hawfinch feeding in the tops of the trees - in a similar area we added Marsh Tit, Redwing, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Redpoll, Siskin, Goldcrest & 30+ commoner woodland species. Mid-morning we located 2 singing Firecrest & eventually had great views of a pair of Firecrest.
We moved on to our next site and arrived right on cue, with a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker showing extremely well, plus staying on view for around 40 minutes as it excavated a nest hole, the female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was also eventually seen. We also added a nice male Brambling to the growing list.
Our next stop continued with the vein of good luck - we had 2 singing WoodLark, many Siskin, several Redpoll and stunning views of a pair of Crossbill feeding on the ground just 15 metres away from us.
The afternoon was rounded off nicely with scope views of 3 Stone Curlew.
I met back up with John at 7PM & we headed off for an evening session, our two hour session produced good views of Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Little Owl, we also heard Woodcock & a migrant flock of Wigeon in the dark!
7th April Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
Today we headed for the coast, a combination of migrant hunting, studying some shorebirds & waders and trying to nail a few of John's target species.
The day started well with a clear arrival of new migrants - 2 Ring Ouzels, Wheatear, a single Sedge Warbler, 2-3 Blackcap, 5-6 Willow Warbler, 10+ Chiff-chaff & several Swallows west, along with a steady overhead passage of Siskin and 1-2 Redpoll.
On the shore we had nice scope views of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Knot, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin & were able to work through the differences of each shorebird.
A few miles on we stopped off for lunch & saw another Ring Ouzel, plus very close views of 12+ Yellowhammer and 5 Corn Bunting
At Cley, we were able to take a good look at Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Brent Geese, plus lovely views of several
Marsh Harrier.
Over the two days we recorded 106 species of bird & also recorded Brimstone, Small Tortoishell & Peacock butterflies
11th April Norfolk One day April Guided Birdwatching tour
A days birdwatching centred around Holme NWT & NOA reserves - we had a nice mixture of birds & recorded 60 species, the best birds were
3 Marsh harrier, 100+ Curlew, 5 Snipe, 5 Red-breasted Merganser offshore.
Moving west overhead we recorded 60 Swallow, 12 House Martin, 250+ Meadow Pipit, 10 Rook, 40 Siskin, 10 Redpoll & 1 Yellow Wagtail.
On the ground we recorded 10+ Chiff-chaff, 10 Willow warbler, 12 Blackcap, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Wheatear & watched a female Brambling being ringed & processed at the Observatory.
12th April - Sheringham Cliffs
An early morning walk produced just 4 Wheatear, 1 Blackcap & 1 Swallow west
17th April April Guided Birdwatching tour
The tour started at a mid Norfolk woodland, the highlights were 2 singing Willow Tit & 10+ Brambling - several of the males nearly having attained their beautiful black & orange breeding plumage. We then headed into North Norfolk where an 30 minute stop in the van produced 5+ Corn Bunting, 10 Yellowhammer showing down to 25'0.
We spent the afternoon at Titchwell, where we had a surprise drake Red-crested Pochard! More expected was 3 Ruff, 10 Grey Plover, 1 Little Gull, 20 Wigeon, 20 Teal, 100 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 5 Pochard, 12 Snipe, 1 Ruddy Duck & 1 Black-tailed Godwit. Two pairs of Marsh harriers gave wonderful close views, including some display. A single Sedge Warbler had arrived & was announcing it's presence vociferously from the reedbed.
We finished off at Holme, with more waders, shorebirds and wildfowl but also added a single male Wheatear.
18th April Guided Birdwatching tour
The second day started in South Norfolk, we located Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, Goldcrest & 30+ commoner woodland species.
Mid-morning we located 2 singing Firecrest & eventually had great views of a male Firecrest.
We moved on to our next site but could only hear Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but we did see Grey Wagtail & Nuthatch at a nest site.
Our next stop produced 2 singing WoodLark, 2 Siskin, 6 Redpoll and stunning views of a pair of Crossbill feeding on the ground just 15 metres away from us.
The afternoon was rounded off nicely with scope views of 2 Stone Curlew.
24th April One to One Photography Workshop
Today we ran a photography workshop for a photographers, following on from a 2 hour tutorial on basic principles, John was able to move on to using the hide at our feedstation, his favourite image of the day is below.
Today we started the first of the advertised April tours - and I am pleased to say with a great deal of success!!
The tour starts in South Norfolk, and after seeing a single Hawfinch, we located 4 Hawfinch feeding in the tops of the trees - in a similar area we added Marsh Tit, Redwing, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Redpoll, Siskin, Goldcrest & 30+ commoner woodland species. Mid-morning we located 2 singing Firecrest & eventually had great views of a pair of Firecrest.
We moved on to our next site and arrived right on cue, with a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker showing extremely well, plus staying on view for around 40 minutes as it excavated a nest hole, the female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was also eventually seen. We also added a nice male Brambling to the growing list.
Our next stop continued with the vein of good luck - we had 2 singing WoodLark, many Siskin, several Redpoll and stunning views of a pair of Crossbill feeding on the ground just 15 metres away from us.
The afternoon was rounded off nicely with scope views of 3 Stone Curlew.
I met back up with John at 7PM & we headed off for an evening session, our two hour session produced good views of Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Little Owl, we also heard Woodcock & a migrant flock of Wigeon in the dark!
7th April Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
Today we headed for the coast, a combination of migrant hunting, studying some shorebirds & waders and trying to nail a few of John's target species.
The day started well with a clear arrival of new migrants - 2 Ring Ouzels, Wheatear, a single Sedge Warbler, 2-3 Blackcap, 5-6 Willow Warbler, 10+ Chiff-chaff & several Swallows west, along with a steady overhead passage of Siskin and 1-2 Redpoll.
On the shore we had nice scope views of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Knot, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin & were able to work through the differences of each shorebird.
A few miles on we stopped off for lunch & saw another Ring Ouzel, plus very close views of 12+ Yellowhammer and 5 Corn Bunting
At Cley, we were able to take a good look at Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Brent Geese, plus lovely views of several
Marsh Harrier.
Over the two days we recorded 106 species of bird & also recorded Brimstone, Small Tortoishell & Peacock butterflies
11th April Norfolk One day April Guided Birdwatching tour
A days birdwatching centred around Holme NWT & NOA reserves - we had a nice mixture of birds & recorded 60 species, the best birds were
3 Marsh harrier, 100+ Curlew, 5 Snipe, 5 Red-breasted Merganser offshore.
Moving west overhead we recorded 60 Swallow, 12 House Martin, 250+ Meadow Pipit, 10 Rook, 40 Siskin, 10 Redpoll & 1 Yellow Wagtail.
On the ground we recorded 10+ Chiff-chaff, 10 Willow warbler, 12 Blackcap, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Wheatear & watched a female Brambling being ringed & processed at the Observatory.
12th April - Sheringham Cliffs
An early morning walk produced just 4 Wheatear, 1 Blackcap & 1 Swallow west
17th April April Guided Birdwatching tour
The tour started at a mid Norfolk woodland, the highlights were 2 singing Willow Tit & 10+ Brambling - several of the males nearly having attained their beautiful black & orange breeding plumage. We then headed into North Norfolk where an 30 minute stop in the van produced 5+ Corn Bunting, 10 Yellowhammer showing down to 25'0.
We spent the afternoon at Titchwell, where we had a surprise drake Red-crested Pochard! More expected was 3 Ruff, 10 Grey Plover, 1 Little Gull, 20 Wigeon, 20 Teal, 100 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 5 Pochard, 12 Snipe, 1 Ruddy Duck & 1 Black-tailed Godwit. Two pairs of Marsh harriers gave wonderful close views, including some display. A single Sedge Warbler had arrived & was announcing it's presence vociferously from the reedbed.
We finished off at Holme, with more waders, shorebirds and wildfowl but also added a single male Wheatear.
18th April Guided Birdwatching tour
The second day started in South Norfolk, we located Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, Goldcrest & 30+ commoner woodland species.
Mid-morning we located 2 singing Firecrest & eventually had great views of a male Firecrest.
We moved on to our next site but could only hear Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but we did see Grey Wagtail & Nuthatch at a nest site.
Our next stop produced 2 singing WoodLark, 2 Siskin, 6 Redpoll and stunning views of a pair of Crossbill feeding on the ground just 15 metres away from us.
The afternoon was rounded off nicely with scope views of 2 Stone Curlew.
24th April One to One Photography Workshop
Today we ran a photography workshop for a photographers, following on from a 2 hour tutorial on basic principles, John was able to move on to using the hide at our feedstation, his favourite image of the day is below.
25th & 26th April - Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
Another 2 day tour with lots of great birds !!
The tour started in Mid-Norfolk, where we started with nice views of a Little Owl followed by fantastic close views of a pair of Marsh Harriers, with the male crossing the road just in front of us. We then headed south, I located 4 singing male Firecrests, although all of them were proving difficult to see, everyone agreed to persevere - & after about an hour & half we eventually secured reasonable views of a singing male Firecrest
We also had good views of Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Siskin & mixture of the more regular woodland birds. We also spent some time on learning the calls & songs of the birds we were seeing.
Late morning was rounded off nicely with scope views of 3 Stone Curlew.
We moved on to our next site where we had 1 singing WoodLark.
I then took the group to one of our favourite areas, which enables very close views of birds bathing, here we had, Siskin, Redpoll a female Crossbill, Yellowhammer, Blackcap, Chiff-chaff & Willow Warbler feeding on the ground just 15 metres away from us.
26th April - Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
The second day of the tour was centred on Central & North Norfolk. We started in an area of coastal dunes & scrub - there was a clear arrival of new migrants, with lots of warblers - 7 Common Whitethroats, with several display flighting, plus 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiff-chaff & 4 Sedge Warbler, plus a reeling Grasshopper Warbler. Amongst all of these was some other nice migrants - 1 Cuckoo, 1 Wheatear, & 2 Turtle Dove. A few aeriel migrants passed west - 3 Sand Martin, 2 House Martin & a handful of Swallow. We also added a few late wintering birds in the form of Teal & Snipe, & this combined with nice close views of Avocet & Lapwing proved to be a great start to the day!
A short drive inland & we stopped off to search a tilled weedy field that has proven successful for buntings, sure enough there was still 20 Corn Bunting, 15 Yellowhammer, plus 4 migrant Wheatear & 2 Grey Partridge. Another couple of stops proved that Wheatears were clearly passing through today in good numbers with another 5 noted at two other localities.
Moving on - we headed off to look speculatively for one of the rarest breeding birds in Britain - Montagu's Harrier.
Amazingly, within 5 minutes of arrival we were rewarded with fantastic views of both the male & female Montagu's Harriers displaying about 400m away. The birds started low over the fields, before gracing the skies above our heads - certainly one of the best experiences we have had with this species!
We then eventually reached Titchwell and rounded the day off nicely with 4 summer plumage Spotted Redshank, 1 Ruff, 2 Bearded Tits, including close scope views of male Bearded Tit carrying nesting material. We heard Bittern booming, & also noted a pair of Ruddy Duck
29th & 30th April - Norfolk 2 day April Guided Birdwatching tour
29th April
The first day of the tour was centred on Central & North Norfolk. We started in an area of coastal dunes & scrub - there was plenty of warblers - 7 Common Whitethroats, with several display flighting, plus 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiff-chaff & 4 Sedge Warbler.
Also 1 Cuckoo & 4 Turtle Dove, with the latter showing very well perching on the wires above our heads.
Overhead passing west - 2 Yellow Wagtails & 2 Tree Pipits were noted on flight calls.
Over the marsh we watched 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk & 2 Kestrel.
A short drive inland & there was still 2 Corn Bunting & 6 Yellowhammer.
Moving on - we headed off to again look for the rare Harrires, this time we had to wait a lot longer, an hour passed by with no sign of either bird, it's always amazing how things can vary inside just a few days. Another 15 minutes passed by when I located a distant harrier that looked very promising , eventually the bird came closer and sure enough we were rewrded with distant but reasonable views of a female Montagu's Harrier.
We carried scanning & were rewarded with 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 Buzzard, several Sparrowhawk & kestrel. There was no further sign of the Montagu's but were soon compensated with great prolonged scope views of a Red Kite interacting with a male Marsh harrier. Additionally, in the nearby fields a Wheatear - with very warm underparts & upperparts, was probably a Greenland Wheatear.
We headed off very satisfied with our haul of raptors! We eventually reached Titchwell & had a great afternoon, with lovely views of Marsh harriers dispalying,
On the scrapes we noted 6 Little Gull, 2 Ruff, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper & 1 Yellow Wagtail.
We then headed to the shore where we studied and worked through a host of shorebirds - Sanderling, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Turnstone & Knot.
Also picking out Sandwich & Little tern passing offshore.
30th April The Brecks
A very successful day - starting with 4 singing Firecrest, with reasonable views of male singing, followed by a female carrying nesting material, also in this rea a nice selction of woodland birds including Treecreeper, Nuthtatch, Marsh tit, Sparrowhawk & Goldcrest - which was nice to compare the song with the Firecrest.
We then moved on to another area where we managed to see a single Stone Curlew, the afternoon was spent in heath and brecks woodland - here we located 1 Woodlark, 1 Crossbill, 6 Redpoll, 5 Siskin, 1 Garden Warbler, sevWhitethroat, 1 Hobby, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 male Cuckoo & Yellowhammer.
An evening session resulted in 3 Woodcock, 2-3 Tawny Owl & an extremely early churring Nightjar.
