F e b r u a r y 2 0 10
1st February - Mid Norfolk
I was distracted from the tediumof admin & bank duties by a call telling me of a Black-throated Diver at Swanton Morley GP'S as the bird was just 4 miles down the road I nipped out & spend a few hours watching the bird. It was fantastic to scope this species up close, when normally I would be watching it a long way out on the sea, bobbing in & out of view. It even did a complete flight around the lake at one stage! The light was fairly tricky so I didn't really get any great images - but a couple below show the head shape, flank patch & structure well.
Double click to edit
2nd February South Norfolk
Whilst carrying out survey work I came across a redhead Smew & Peregrine, also in the area 200 Bewick's Swan & 5 Whooper Swan
3rd February Norfolk One to One Photography Workshop
Today was spent visiting an array of photography sites with a visiting photographer, the focus was on locating a particular array of species & getting close enough to photograph them. Two of his favourite images are below.
15th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - North Norfolk
Today's three day tour got off to a great start with fantastic views of 40 Snow Bunting showing down to a few feet, also showing extremely well were 3 Barn Owls.
At Cley we found a 3 Pale-bellied Brent Goose amongst 500+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese, also present was a juvenile Whooper Swan
Elsehwere on the reserve we located 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Ruff, 2 Marsh Harrier, 25 Dunlin, 40 Avocet & were rewarded with great views of a Water Rail walking around in the open.
We headed off east & stopped off briefly to look through a mass of wildfowl, amongst the many Wigeon & Teal we also found 15 Pintail.
A late lunch stop produced nice views of Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin, as well as Goldeneye &
Red-breasted Merganser.
During the day we saw a further 4 Barn Owls, and 2 very confiding birds flew around in front of us whilst waiting for the goose roost, at the end of the day.
The goose roost was a little disappointing as just 2500 Pink-feet roosted & it now appears that our vast numbers of Pink-feet may have grown tired of the long winter freezing weather - just where they have gone seems to be a mystery as they have not reappeared in the UK, maybe they have hopped across the North sea to Holland? We did have 8 Woodcock just as we were leaving flying out on to the marshes at dusk
16th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - East Norfolk
We spent the day in the east of the county in the Broads area, where we managed to started with some woodland birding, we had great views of 50 Siskin, 2 Redpoll, 1 Marsh tit, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Treecreeper & 1 Bullfinch. Out on the Broad there was a good collection of wildlfowl 100 Tufted Duck, 40 Pochard & 20 Goldeneye.
We then headed further east, we find a nice flock of 250 Golden Plover & 500 Lapwing. These were sent to the skies when a superb ringtail Hen Harrier went sweeping by.
We were then treated to excellent views of 2 groups of Common Cranes, firstly a group of seven, plus 2 groups in flight.
At the raptor roost in rather wet conditions we saw 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 40+ Marsh Harrier & 1 Barn Owl.
17th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - South Norfolk
Today we started in mid-Norfolk, & with success as 20 Hawfinches gave wonderful scope views in the tops of the trees, & then several dropped down to feed on the ground we were even able to discern the males from the females - the best views thus far this winter.
Other noteable birds here were 40 Redwing, 70 Siskin, 3+ Treecreeper & 4+ Marsh Tit, 2+ Nuthatch, 2+ Great Spotted Woodpecker.
We then moved on to another Brecklands site where we saw 20 Crossbill, including some smart males perched up feeding on cones, we also saw 30 Siskin & a male Sparrowhawk.
Other noteworthy birds during the afternoon at other breckland sites were 120 Brambling, 1 Bullfinch & 3 Marsh Tit. En-route we stopped off as the light was fading and had lovely views of a Barn Owl hunting.
20th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - North Norfolk
The tour got off to a great start with fantastic views of 80 Snow Bunting showing down to a few feet.
At Cley we found a 2 Pale-bellied Brent Goose amongst 600+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese.
On the reserve we located 2 Marsh Harrier, 100 Dunlin, 40 Avocet, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin.
We heard 2 Bearded Tit, but they only gave fleeting glimpses
We headed off east & stopped off briefly to look through a mass of wildfowl, amongst the many Wigeon & Teal we also found 15 Pintail.
Before lunch we stopped again & had nice views of 20 Corn Bunting, 20 Yellowhammer & also 2 Barn Owl.
Next stop was Titchwell, & here we had a good selection of 50+ species, the pick of the birds were 2500 Common Scoter, 1 Red-throated Diver, 20 Goldeneye, 10 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Water Pipit, 1 Spotted Redshank & 20 Siskin.
We finished the day at a raptor roost & scored well with 3 RT & 1 male Hen Harrier, 3 Marsh Harrier & 1 Barn Owl.
21st February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - Mid Norfolk
A tricky day in very poor weather, & due to this I decided to head into the Fens first thing, here we had 4 Bewick's Swan, 5 Corn Bunting, 60 Skylark, 70 Goldfinch & 20 Linnet.
The weather was not great when we returned to the Brecks, but despite this we had good views of 2 Hawfinches.
Other noteable birds here were 40 Redwing, 70 Siskin, 3+ Treecreeper & 4+ Marsh Tit, 2+ Nuthatch, 2+ Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Great views of 50 Crossbill, including some smart males perched up feeding on cones, we also saw 50+ Siskin, a male Sparrowhawk & 1 Goshawk
Other noteworthy birds during the afternoon at other breckland sites were 40 Brambling, 3 Bullfinch & 3 Marsh Tit.
On the way back we stopped off & lovely views of a Barn Owl hunting.
22nd February Norfolk 1 day Winter birdwatching tour - North Norfolk
We started on the North Norfolk coastline and we had lovely views of 30 Snow Bunting & pair of Stonechats, and a mixture of other commoner waders.
In one of the harbours we were able to take a look at Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Turnstone, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck & Brent Goose.
Up on the nearby ridge we picked out Buzzard, Marsh Harrier & Peregrine these kept a feeding flock of 3500 Pink-footed Geese, on high alert & several times they took to the sky. Eventually we had lovely scope views of Scandinavian Rock Pipit.
We finished the day at a raptor roost where we saw 2 r/t Hen Harrier, 2 Marsh Harrier, & Barn Owl.
24th & 25th February 2 day One to One Photography Workshop
Today was spent visiting an array of photography sites with a visiting photographer.
We spent a day & editing & workflow of images working with Adobe CS2 & Canon DPP, the following day we spent out shooting images. Her favourite image of the day is shown below:-
6th - 13th February. A 7 Day Birdwatching Tour to Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland.
A trip report for this 7 day tour will be published shortly - but in short we had a fantastic trip with 107 species, species. With lots of special birds & moments - 8 Golden Eagle, 100+ Great N Diver including one raft of 6o birds together on the water!! 40+ Red-throated Diver, 6 Black -throated Diver, 20+ Slavs, 5 Merlin, Lesser Canada Goose, daily Hen Harrier , 20,000 Barnacles & 5000+ Greenland White Fronts, including 2 wonderful evenings watching them coming into roost overhead. Iceland Gull, 300 Scaup, 2 Purple Sandpiper, 200+ flock of Twite , 20 Chough, we found a Black Redstart (less than annual!!).
READ ENTIRE TRIP REPORT - CLICK HERE
Click here for January 2010
________________________________
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
26th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - North Norfolk
Today's three day tour got off to a great start with fantastic views of 90 Snow Bunting showing down to a few feet,
At Cley we found a 3 Pale-bellied Brent Goose amongst 500+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese, also present was a juvenile Whooper Swan
Elsehwere on the reserve we located 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Ruff, 2 Marsh Harrier, 25 Dunlin, 40 Avocet & were rewarded with great views of a Water Rail walking around in the open.
We headed off east & stopped off briefly to look through a mass of wildfowl, amongst the many Wigeon & Teal we also found 15 Pintail.
A stop off in a harbour area produced nice views of Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Redshank & Dunlin, as well as Goldeneye & Red-breasted Merganser.
We finished the day at a raptor roost & scored well with 3 RT & 1 male Hen Harrier, 3 Marsh Harrier & 1 Barn Owl.
27th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - East Norfolk
Today we started in mid-Norfolk, & with success as 12 Hawfinches gave wonderful scope views in the tops of the trees, & then several dropped down to feed on the ground we were even able to discern the males from the females - the best views thus far this winter.
Other noteable birds here were 40 Redwing, 70 Siskin, 3+ Treecreeper & 4+ Marsh Tit, 2+ Nuthatch, 2+ Great Spotted Woodpecker.
We then moved on to another Brecklands site where we saw 40 Crossbill.
Other noteworthy birds during the afternoon at other breckland sites were 40 Brambling, 1 Bullfinch & 3 Marsh Tit.
En-route we stopped off and had amazing views of a Barn Owl hunting & tehnperched down to just a few feet.
28th February Norfolk 3 day Winter birdwatching tour - South Norfolk
We spent the day in the east of the county in the Broads area, there was a good collection of wildlfowl 100 Tufted Duck, 40 Pochard & 20 Goldeneye.
We then headed further east, we find a nice flock of 250 Golden Plover & 500 Lapwing plus a ringtail Hen Harrier. A short drive & from the car we were able to scope around 300 White-fronted Geese, & 250 Pink-footed Geese
We were then treated to excellent views of 5+ Marsh harrier & 6 Common Cranes
Having seen the Cranes, Hen harrier & Marsh Harrier & with the rain pouring down all day we decided to miss the raptor roost!
"Just a note to say thank you for an enjoyable day last week. I think you offer an invaluable service to someone new to the Norfolk area who is interested in nature and specifically for photographing nature as in my case. I would have wasted a lot of time trying to find sites that you showed me in just one day many of which I would never have found" Graham Brown - West Mids.
