A P R I L 2 0 0 8
April 2nd - Cley - Kelling
3 Shorelark on the shingle sea bank just east of the east bank, 5+ Marsh Harrier, 1 Swallow east, 2 Sand Martin west.
April 3rd - Themelthorpe
2 Barn owls hunting the front field outside the house
April 4th - Dersingham
Heard Golden Pheasant, and had a nice flock of 25 Brambling
April 4th - Holme
Visible migration from Gore Point Tree Sparrow 5 west, Redpoll 2 west, Siskin 6 west, Brambling 2 west, Yellow Wag 1 west, Sand Martin 5 west, Swallow 1 west, 100 Woodpigeon west.
On the sea/offshore 1 Great Northern Diver east, 1 Red-throated Diver east, 5 Great Crested Grebe offshore,
Red-breasted Merganser 1 male offshore.
Pink-footed Goose 60, Brents 30, Wigeon 50, Teal 50, Pochard 5 Broadwater, Mediterranean Gull 2 ads displaying,
April 4th - Titchwell
Water Rail showing down to a few feet near the main path. Single Yellow & Grey wagtails over west, 3 singing Sedge warbler, 5 Marsh Harrier and an interesting ringtail Hen Harrier, extremely rufous underparts appearing virtually unstreaked at distance, dark collar, but structurally the bird was a Hen Harrier.
I stopped off at Choselely & found a female Black Redstart on the manure piles.
April 5th - GUIDED TOUR
Today we led a guided birdwatching tour - starting in west of the County at 7am we tried for Golden Pheasant, despite hearing them on several ocassions they proved as elusive as ever. We did however nice views of 5 Brambling, several singing Blackcaps and lots of Chiff-Chaffs.
We also were trested to 2 singing Woodlarks, flyover birds included 1 Crossbill & 8 Redpoll. Many commoner species were also recorded with close up views of Marsh Tit, Goldcrest & Treecreeper.
Further along the coastline we were treated to a nice selction of wildfowl & waders including 40 Brent Geese, 80 Eurasian Curlew, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 5+ Common Snipe & 2 superb ad displaying Mediterranean Gulls.
We added further species to the list with a few hours at Titchwell & inland areas nearby - 4 Ruff, 2prs of Ruddy Duck, 20 Brambling, 4+ Marsh Harrier & 2 Pintail.
A total of 88 species were seen or heard a highly respectable total considering the date and weather conditions.
April 13th - Foxley Wood
1 singing Willow Warbler
April 20th - Holme
Winter was still well represented with 20 Brent Geese & 20 Wigeon present. Spring had also sprung though with a female Redstart in the Paddocks, a White Wagtail on the golf course, 2 Whimbrel over, 4 Swallow est, 6+ Chiff Chaff singing, 2 singing Willow Warbler & 3 Sedge Warbler. Also a noticeable increase in Shelduck with around 40 counted.
April 21st
A lunchtime walk also produced the first Whitethroat of the year - singing from a hedgerow at Castle Acre.
An evening ride out on the bike locally produced a few things - Barn Owls at Wood Dalling & Foulsham, the last of the Fieldfare with 50+ at Wood Dalling.
April 26th - Holme - 0630 -1130
Steady visisble westerly migration - in good conditions, sunny with light cloud light to moderate SW.
Stood at Gore PT for 1 hr Swallow 50 west, 5 Sand Martin west, 40 Goldfinch west, 30 Linnet west, Meadow Pipit 100 west, 2 Redpoll west, 20 Yellow Wag, 1 Tree Pipit west.
Redwell looks great, with muddy shallow margins at the rear, 7 Ruff were taking advantage, also at least 12 Teal still present.
I then walked from the dunes up to the Observatory, best birds were undoubtedly a purring Turtle Dove, Cuckoo, 5 Tree Sparrow, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 6+ Common Whitethroat.
From the Obs - 7 Pink-feet were visible & still present out on the Grazing marsh. I walked back through the dunes, passerines on the ground were sparse, where are all our Ring Ouzels?? The east side of the county sees to be monoplising the best birds this spring (Any thoughts Tim??)
As I walked back a 1st Sum Little Gull was a surprise as headed from the grazing marsh back out to sea.
Had a wander around Sculthorpe area on the way back but failed to locate any Kites of any sort!!!
April 27th - GUIDED TOUR
Today we led a guided Norfolk birdwatching tour starting in the west of the county, we had excellent views of singing Tree Pipit & Woodlark, and also watched a pair of Woodlarks flying back & forth carrying food. We had good numbers of Redpoll, we also went to a site for Golden Pheasant and despite hearing at least 3 birds we failed to get any views, we also notched up a reasonable selection of woodland species.
Stopping off along the coast we spent an hour watching visible migrants, and a few grounded birds as well, we had 3 Tree Pipits west, 12 Yellow Wagtails, 50 Goldfinch 30 Linnet & 1 Corn Bunting all moving west. On the ground we had 2 Yellow Wagtails, 2 White Wagtails feeding with these was a female Blue-headed Wagtail.
Stopping off at another coastal reserve we had great views of Cuckoo, Whimbrel & Ruff. The overhead migration continued with 100 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 10 Sand Martin, 5 Swift,3 Yellow Wags & 2 Tree Pipit, (1 of which unusally landed right in fornt of us affording really nice views & still calling!)
1 Sparrowhawk very high west, further 4-5 Redpoll west.
Offshore we had an unseasonal close inshore Gannet ahead of a brisk storm, which also resulted in a nice pulse of passage hirundines all west at eye level.
We then headed off inland where we had great views of 8 beautiful Dotterel, 4 superb females & 4 males. Also here 3 Wheatear, 1 of which was clearly a "Greenland Wheatear".
We finished the day with a full 60 minutes of virtually non stop action - 3 Montagus Harriers, 2 Marsh Harriers & 1 Buzzard, there were 2 male Montagus Harriers an adult and a 3rd calendar year bird, also an adult female.
The total species for the day was a very respectable 93 species.
Back to March 2008
Today we led a guided birdwatching tour - starting in west of the County at 7am we tried for Golden Pheasant, despite hearing them on several ocassions they proved as elusive as ever. We did however nice views of 5 Brambling, several singing Blackcaps and lots of Chiff-Chaffs.
We also were trested to 2 singing Woodlarks, flyover birds included 1 Crossbill & 8 Redpoll. Many commoner species were also recorded with close up views of Marsh Tit, Goldcrest & Treecreeper.
Further along the coastline we were treated to a nice selction of wildfowl & waders including 40 Brent Geese, 80 Eurasian Curlew, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 5+ Common Snipe & 2 superb ad displaying Mediterranean Gulls.
We added further species to the list with a few hours at Titchwell & inland areas nearby - 4 Ruff, 2prs of Ruddy Duck, 20 Brambling, 4+ Marsh Harrier & 2 Pintail.
A total of 88 species were seen or heard a highly respectable total considering the date and weather conditions.
April 13th - Foxley Wood
1 singing Willow Warbler
April 20th - Holme
Winter was still well represented with 20 Brent Geese & 20 Wigeon present. Spring had also sprung though with a female Redstart in the Paddocks, a White Wagtail on the golf course, 2 Whimbrel over, 4 Swallow est, 6+ Chiff Chaff singing, 2 singing Willow Warbler & 3 Sedge Warbler. Also a noticeable increase in Shelduck with around 40 counted.
April 21st
A lunchtime walk also produced the first Whitethroat of the year - singing from a hedgerow at Castle Acre.
An evening ride out on the bike locally produced a few things - Barn Owls at Wood Dalling & Foulsham, the last of the Fieldfare with 50+ at Wood Dalling.
April 26th - Holme - 0630 -1130
Steady visisble westerly migration - in good conditions, sunny with light cloud light to moderate SW.
Stood at Gore PT for 1 hr Swallow 50 west, 5 Sand Martin west, 40 Goldfinch west, 30 Linnet west, Meadow Pipit 100 west, 2 Redpoll west, 20 Yellow Wag, 1 Tree Pipit west.
Redwell looks great, with muddy shallow margins at the rear, 7 Ruff were taking advantage, also at least 12 Teal still present.
I then walked from the dunes up to the Observatory, best birds were undoubtedly a purring Turtle Dove, Cuckoo, 5 Tree Sparrow, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 6+ Common Whitethroat.
From the Obs - 7 Pink-feet were visible & still present out on the Grazing marsh. I walked back through the dunes, passerines on the ground were sparse, where are all our Ring Ouzels?? The east side of the county sees to be monoplising the best birds this spring (Any thoughts Tim??)
As I walked back a 1st Sum Little Gull was a surprise as headed from the grazing marsh back out to sea.
Had a wander around Sculthorpe area on the way back but failed to locate any Kites of any sort!!!
April 27th - GUIDED TOUR
Today we led a guided Norfolk birdwatching tour starting in the west of the county, we had excellent views of singing Tree Pipit & Woodlark, and also watched a pair of Woodlarks flying back & forth carrying food. We had good numbers of Redpoll, we also went to a site for Golden Pheasant and despite hearing at least 3 birds we failed to get any views, we also notched up a reasonable selection of woodland species.
Stopping off along the coast we spent an hour watching visible migrants, and a few grounded birds as well, we had 3 Tree Pipits west, 12 Yellow Wagtails, 50 Goldfinch 30 Linnet & 1 Corn Bunting all moving west. On the ground we had 2 Yellow Wagtails, 2 White Wagtails feeding with these was a female Blue-headed Wagtail.
Stopping off at another coastal reserve we had great views of Cuckoo, Whimbrel & Ruff. The overhead migration continued with 100 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 10 Sand Martin, 5 Swift,3 Yellow Wags & 2 Tree Pipit, (1 of which unusally landed right in fornt of us affording really nice views & still calling!)
1 Sparrowhawk very high west, further 4-5 Redpoll west.
Offshore we had an unseasonal close inshore Gannet ahead of a brisk storm, which also resulted in a nice pulse of passage hirundines all west at eye level.
We then headed off inland where we had great views of 8 beautiful Dotterel, 4 superb females & 4 males. Also here 3 Wheatear, 1 of which was clearly a "Greenland Wheatear".
We finished the day with a full 60 minutes of virtually non stop action - 3 Montagus Harriers, 2 Marsh Harriers & 1 Buzzard, there were 2 male Montagus Harriers an adult and a 3rd calendar year bird, also an adult female.
The total species for the day was a very respectable 93 species.
Back to March 2008