A U G U S T 2 0 0 8
August 9th - Holme & Titchwell 1/2 day Photography Workshop
We led a group of 3 people for 5 hours - working for 3 hours on basic bird photography principles, the use of light, exposure compensation, shutter speed & composition. Followed by a further 2 hours working on the basic principles of macro photography, all three clients got some reasonable pictures and all improved their understanding of their cameras and technique.
Cost for these workshops is currently £20 per head if you are interested - click here
At Redwell - 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 8 Common Snipe, 2+ Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Sand Martin, 1 juv Little Grebe & 3 Ringed Plover.
Holme Marsh area 12 Common Blue, 20 Meadow Brown, 3 Wall Brown, 5 Speckled Wood, 5 Large White, 1 Red Admiral & 1 Southern Hawker.
August 12th - Titchwell & Holme Guided tour for 5 people
A good days birdwatching at two of Norfolks premier birdwatching sites, the highlights being two majestic Spoonbills feeding alongside a nice mixture of freshwater waders, superb views of 4 juvenile Bearded Tits feeding along the muddy edges of the reedbed. Also very close up views, and just a few feet away of Dunlin, Ruff & Avocet, during the day we recorded a total of 19 species of wader.
Plus a Happy Birthday to Geoff!!!
1 Little Grebe Titchwell
2 Northern Gannet Holme
3 Great Cormorant Titchwell
4 Little Egret Titchwell
5 Grey Heron Titchwell
6 Eurasian Spoonbill lTitchwell
7 Mute Swan Titchwell
8 Greylag Goose Titchwell
9 Canada Goose Titchwell
10 Egyptian Goose Holme
11 Common Shelduck Titchwell
12 Gadwall Titchwell
13 Common Teal Titchwell
14 Mallard Titchwell
15 Garganey Titchwell
16 Northern Shoveler Titchwell
17 Common Pochard Titchwell
18 Common Scoter Holme
19 Ruddy Duck Titchwell
20 Marsh Harrier Holme
21 Common Kestrel Choseley
22 Red-legged Partridge Choseley
23 Grey Partridge Choseley
24 Common Pheasant Choseley
25 Moorhen Titchwell
26 Common Coot Titchwell
27 Oystercatcher Titchwell
28 Avocet Titchwell
29 Great Ringed Plover Titchwell
30 European Golden Plover Holme
31 Grey Plover Titchwell
32 Northern Lapwing Titchwell
33 Red Knot Holme
34 Sanderling Holme
35 Dunlin Titchwell
36 Ruff Titchwell
37 Common Snipe Titchwell
38 Black-tailed Godwit Titchwell
39 Bar-tailed Godwit Titchwell
40 Whimbrel Holme
41 Eurasian Curlew Titchwell
42 Spotted Redshank Titchwell
43 Common Redshank Titchwell
44 Green Sandpiper Holme
45 Common Sandpiper Holme
46 Turnstone Holme
47 Black-headed Gull Titchwell
48 Common Gull Choseley
49 Lesser Black-backed Gull Choseley
50 Herring Gull Choseley
51 Sandwich Tern Holme
52 Common Tern Holme
53 Woodpigeon Titchwell
54 Collared Dove Titchwell
55 Turtle Dove Holme
56 Common Swift Titchwell
57 Sand Martin Holme
58 Barn Swallow Titchwell
59 House Martin Holme
60 Meadow Pipit Holme
61 Yellow Wagtail Choseley
62 Pied Wagtail Titchwell
63 Wren Titchwell
64 Hedge Accentor Titchwell
65 Robin Titchwell
66 Blackbird Titchwell
67 Song Thrush Titchwell
68 Sedge Warbler Titchwell
69 Reed Warbler Titchwell
70 Blackcap Holme
71 Common Chiffchaff Holme
72 Goldcrest Holme
73 Bearded Tit Titchwell
74 Long-tailed Tit Holme
75 Blue Tit Titchwell
76 Great Tit Holme
77 Magpie Holme
78 Eurasian Jackdaw Choseley
79 Common Starling Titchwell
80 House Sparrow Choseley
81 Common Chaffinch Titchwell
82 Greenfinch Titchwell
83 Goldfinch Holme
84 Linnet Holme
85 Reed Bunting Titchwell
86 Corn Bunting Choseley
Butterflies
Red Admiral
Large White
Common Blue
41 Eurasian Curlew Titchwell
42 Spotted Redshank Titchwell
43 Common Redshank Titchwell
44 Green Sandpiper Holme
45 Common Sandpiper Holme
46 Turnstone Holme
47 Black-headed Gull Titchwell
48 Common Gull Choseley
49 Lesser Black-backed Gull Choseley
50 Herring Gull Choseley
51 Sandwich Tern Holme
52 Common Tern Holme
53 Woodpigeon Titchwell
54 Collared Dove Titchwell
55 Turtle Dove Holme
56 Common Swift Titchwell
57 Sand Martin Holme
58 Barn Swallow Titchwell
59 House Martin Holme
60 Meadow Pipit Holme
61 Yellow Wagtail Choseley
62 Pied Wagtail Titchwell
63 Wren Titchwell
64 Hedge Accentor Titchwell
65 Robin Titchwell
66 Blackbird Titchwell
67 Song Thrush Titchwell
68 Sedge Warbler Titchwell
69 Reed Warbler Titchwell
70 Blackcap Holme
71 Common Chiffchaff Holme
72 Goldcrest Holme
73 Bearded Tit Titchwell
74 Long-tailed Tit Holme
75 Blue Tit Titchwell
76 Great Tit Holme
77 Magpie Holme
78 Eurasian Jackdaw Choseley
79 Common Starling Titchwell
80 House Sparrow Choseley
81 Common Chaffinch Titchwell
82 Greenfinch Titchwell
83 Goldfinch Holme
84 Linnet Holme
85 Reed Bunting Titchwell
86 Corn Bunting Choseley
Butterflies
Red Admiral
Large White
Common Blue
August 22nd - 2 day tour
We led a single birdwatcher for a couple of days, during the two days we compiled an excellent array of waders with over 100+ species of bird recorded.
We started in the North of the county with a nice selection of raptors - 6+ Marsh Harrier, 4 Montagu's Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 3+ Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2+ Common Kestrel, plus a single Yellow wagtail.
At Cley we were able to add a nice mix of waders, the best birds were 7 Wood Sandpiper - superb views of these all in one flock, 7 Green Sandpiper, 50 Ruff, 100 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpiper, 30 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 ad Curlew Sand piper, 1 Spotted Redshank, plus several early returning Wigeon. The waders were constantly shuffled by a hunting Sparrowhawk. There was 5 Yellow-legged Gulls amogst 60+ Lesser BB Gull. We also heard a vocal Cetti's Warbler as we left the hide.
August 23rd - 2nd day of tour Holme
At Holme we were able to see a nice mixture of warblers, a few seabirds and a few more waders.
Little Grebe was feeding young at Redwell marsh, and a Wood Sandpiper & 2 Spotted Redshank were showing extremely well from the hide, also 20+ Common Snipe, 2+ Green Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper were all seen from here.
On the sea we had Arctic Skua & Gannet, but the real highlight came as a female Merlin persistantly chased and eventually caught a wader (unfortuantely unidentified!), disappearing off inland with it's prize!
Other birds were Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2+ Chiff Chaff, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 2+ Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, juvenile Stonechat, 1 Yellow wagtail flew over, a Kingfisher flashed by, a single Turtle Dove was nice if brief. Unusual was a Treecreeper by the Observatory.
August 25th - Holme
Wood Sandpiper & Spotted Redshank still present, 3 Turtle Dove, & a juvenile Arctic Skua flew inland over the dunes
August 30th - Holme
Arrived slightly later than I had intended at 0815, a couple of visiting birders told me a Wryneck had been showing briefly at Gore Pt. I headed straight up there, but after an hour had failed to see it. Connor Rand & Ray arrived & we decided to have a wander around, 20 mins later I flushed the Wryneck from bare ground about 400m from it's original location, we had brief flight & perched views before it disappeared - it gave brief views to to others up until lunch when it then disappeared completely.
Around the reserve there was 5+ Little Egret, 15 Snipe, 1 Spotted Redshank. Passerine migrants on the ground were in better numbers - 2 Wheatear, 12+ Lesser Whitethroat, 15 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 5+ Chiff Chaff. Connor's early morning trawl of the paddocks added 20 Willow Warbler, 1 Redstart & 1 Spotted Flycatcher to the haul.
On the shoreline 100+ Common Tern were roosting with 30 Sandwich. A female Eider & a pale phase adult Arctic Skua was offshore.
Migration overhead was light - 120 Swallow west, 70 House martin west, 20 Sand Martin & 4 Swift west. 3 & 2 Whimbrel Greenshank flew over.
August 31st - 1/2 Day Wildlife photography workshop
This morning we took out a client whom wished to expand her knowledge on the principles of wildlife photography, we concentrated mainly on insect photography. We worked hard on the relationship of shutter speed, depth of field, and composition. The session lasted for 41/2 hours & Linda got some great shots of Common Blue butterfly, Speckled Wood butterfly, Migrant Hawker dragonfly & some nice close ups of a spider. Images will be posted shortly. By the end of the session Linda had gone from using the camera in auto to using aperture priority and controlling shutter speed, light, and exposure compensation.
Interested in attending a wildlife photography workshop? Click here to contact us for details