12th August Salthouse & Cley area
A male Cetti's Warbler was singing near Walsey Hills, & an Adder was showing very well. Insects here included 1 Small Copper,
numerous Common Darter, several Red Admiral, 5 Painted Lady & 12+ Wall Brown.
A few warblers were in evidence with 2 Chiff-chaff, 1 Blackcap, lots of Long-tailed Tit 15+ & many cute juvs!
The pools west of Salthouse & towards Cley produced 6 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 60 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Snipe, 40 Dunlin, 1 Curlew & 30 Redshank. More of a surprise & most welcome was a juvenile Wheatear & a Whinchat along the fenceline.
Arnolds marsh held 6 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 100 Black-tailed Godwit & 2 Whimbrel.
14th - 16th August - Cley
A reunion weekend with birding friends from around the globe! Plus some good birding as well.
Cley 14th - 2ad & 1 juv Spotted Redshank, 230 Dunlin, 40 Ruff, 120 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Snipe, 3 ad Yellow-legged Gull, 6+ Marsh Harrier, 1 Greenshank, 1 juv Whinchat, 1 fresh juv Garganey, 40 Golden Plover, 1 Water Rail calling, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 3 Little ringed Plover.
Cley 15th - Similar mix of birds to yesterday, but 6 Bar-tailed Godwit were present
Bintree & Sennowe 16th - 2 Hobby, 3 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 1ad female Honey Buzzard showing very well, joined eventually by another adult, presumed male & then at distance joined by a 3rd bird, which we considered to be very probably a juvenile.
In the garden at home we were amazed over lunch to discover a pair of Small Red-eyed Damselflies hovering and landing over the garden pond, they hung around for about 40 minutes before flying off high to the east
Cley 16th- Another trip to Cley, this time in the lovely soft evening light. There was again a nice mix of waders, 4 Little ringed plover, 30 Ruff, 9 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, & 2 juv Mediterranean Gulls
18th - 20th August - 3 Day Norfolk Guided Birdwatching tour
18th August - Sculthorpe NR & Cley NR
We started the trip walking through a damp woodland reserve, we had nice views of many of the commoner species, highlights here were a Spotted Flycatcher, showing very well, several big mixed tit flocks, with Blue, Great, Long-tailed, Marsh & 1 Willow (heard) all being recorded. We had great views of a Treecreeper, plus at the feedstation lovely close ups of Reed Bunting. We also managed short views of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow warbler, Chiff-chaff & Blackcap.
We lunched at Cley & then birdwatched around the reserve in the afternoon. The highlights on the marshes were Curlew, 5 Green Sandpiper, Snipe, 3 Little ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper,40 Ruff, 40 Dunlin, 1 ad Little Stint, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Redshank, & several Little Egret.
We had an evening meal & then birdwatched along the east bank & down to Arnolds, a glorious warm sunny day ended in unbroken sunshine, with fantastic light on a whole host of waders - Arnolds marsh was heaving with birds & flights of waders & gulls continuously passed overhead, heading for their roosts.
Arnolds Marsh hosted around 400+ waders!! with 120 Dunlin, 40 Ruff, 6 Greenshank, 10+ Spotted Redshank, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Knot, 12 Curlew, 4 Whimbrel & 20 Avocet. The walk back along the east bank was lovely with great views of Bearded Tit including a full male, Sedge Warbler & Reed Warbler plus 7 Marsh Harrier circling over the reedbed, 3 Little Egret passed overhead.
19th August - 3 Day Norfolk Guided Birdwatching tour
Holkham - A good mxture of common woodland birds were recorded today, we added Nuthatch to the list, plus more views of all the warblers.
In the afternoon we visited Titchwell with more waders, ducks, geese & gulls, the best birds were. 3 Spotted Redshank, 120+ Dunlin, 40 Ruff, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Snipe, 6+ Marsh Harrier, 2 Greenshank,20+ Avocet, 2 ad Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Water Rail calling & 3 Little ringed Plover.
20th August - 3 Day Norfolk Guided Birdwatching tour
Today we started out early at 6am, & were rewarded with nice views of a perched Barn Owl & 2 birds hunting, we then moved quickly on to the high tide roost at Holme.
As the tide peaked we were treated to the wonderful spectacle of :- 7000 Red Knot, 120 Grey Plover, 90 Oystercatcher, 50 Sanderling, 16 Curlew, 4 Greenshank, 50 Sandwich tern, 50 Common Tern all roosting on the shingle spits just offshore. The Knot gave 3-4 wondeful fly-bys creating clouds of smoke as they whirled overhead.
Also noticeable was the passage of hirundines, & we estimated 250 Swallow, 50 House Martin & 20 Sand Martin moved west from 6.30 - 8am, many low over our heads providing the opportunity of studying them in detail.
21st, 22nd & 23rd British Birdwatching Fair
I spent the next 3 days at the British birdwatching Fair, where I help out on the Bird Observatories stand. This year we won 3rd best stand!
If you never been the it is well worthy of a visit. 20,000 like minded people raise over £250,000 pounds for conservation each year!
Click on the link below to find out more.
http://www.birdfair.org.uk/
24th August - One to One Photography Workshop
Today we undertook a one to one bird photography workshop - concentrating on basic principles & using our rural garden & hide to practice these principles, Martin was rewarded with several nice images. An example is shown below.
B i r d w a t c h i n g i n N o r f o l k
A u g u s t 2 0 0 9
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Welcome to Norfolk Birding
be inspired by wildlife !
2nd August Group Macro Photography workshop
Today we undertook a group macro photography workshop . We started with a "classroom" session for an hour and a half discussing the technique & principles involved with macro photography. We then struck out for a local area to shoot some insects, the day started slowly as it was warm and many of the insects were too active, but as we headed towards late afternoon we were able to get some lovely images of roosting butterflies.
A couple of client's examples from this workshop are shown below.
_________________________________
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
1st August - Walsey Hills & Kelling Water Meadows
I spent the most of the day working on the joint NOA & Norfolk Birding project, the restoration of Walsey Hills. At the site I had the privelege of seeing 1 Adder, 1 Holly Blue, 10 Peacock, 20 Painted lady & 1 Small Copper.
Around the small pond area there was also 2 Chiff-chaff, 2 Blackcap & lots of tits coming into the new feeders we have erected.
3rd August & 31st Flight Photography workshop
Today we undertook a flight photography workshop . We started with a "classroom" session for an hour and a half discussing the technique & principles involved with flight photography. We then struck out for a local area to shoot gulls, which provided lots of practice & fun!
A couple of client's examples from this workshop will be shown shortly.
5th August - Walsey Hills
We spent the day carrying more refurbishment works!
A few birds were evident, 2 Whitethroat, 3 Chiff Chaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Greenshank, 1000's of Ladybirds still present!
Other insects also noted were 15 Painted lady, 20+ Peacock, 1 Holly Blue, 2 Migrant Hawker, 1 Southern Hawker, plus Adder showing very well!
8th August - Walsey Hills & Salthouse Guided Walk
An afternoon walk around the area produced a nice mixture of waders & passage migrants
The highlights on the marshes were 5 Curlew, 8+ Green Sandpiper, Snipe, 4 Whimbrel, 10+ Greenshank, 7+ Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper,40 Ruff, 40 Dunlin, 1 ad Little Gull, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Redshank, several Little Egret. Also several family group of Bearded Tit with around 16 birds noted in total. Offshore there was 12 Common Scoter west, 18 Gannet, Fulmar, Turnstone, Sanderling & Knot all passing offshore.
9th August - One to One Photography Workshop
Today we undertook a one to one bird photography workshop - concentrating on basic principles & using our rural garden & hide to practice these principles, Vince was rewarded with several nice images. A couple of examples are shown below.
Great Spotted Woodpecker Vince Burton
Goldfinch Vince Burton
25th August - One to One Photography Workshop
Today we undertook a wildlife bird photography workshop bought as a gift voucher. We started with some macro photography,
& then Adrian had the opportunity of using a couple of my prime lenses on to his camera, resulting in some pleasing Lapwing images
in the early evening light. We worked hard on evaluating exposure, depth of field, shutter speeds & composition.
30th August - Flight Photography Workshop
Today we undertook a bird flight photography workshop in the early evening light. We started with a "classroom" session for an hour and a half discussing the technique & principles involved with flight photography. We then struck out for a local area to shoot some gulls, which gave us lots of opportunities for practicing technique, shutter speeds, evaluating exposure, depth of field & composition. Images from this workshop will be published, shortly.
