What's Been Happening?

Sunday September 30

Lots of moth-ing and not much birding, unfortunately. We missed the big Albatross chase along the east and north coast. My pager is giving me gobbledy gook messages most of the time - back to the early days of poor reception at home. I became accustomed to the good reception of the X2 pager. Shall I return it and go for Birdguides? It's tempting. Unable to walk for any distance means that I cannot respond to most messages anyway. But, I do prefer a pager to the phone service.

At the excellent presentation on the Antarctic by James Lowen at GYBC on Monday the 24th, with so many terrific photographs, a newish member had photos of the Albatross on his camera. Plus many Gannets...... I did not join the crowd looking at the back of the camera screen. Some of the onlookers thought that one of the birds was the albatross.....

A later pager message said that photos showed the much chased bird was a Gannet ! Who's photos?

An afternoon outing to Winterton brought a dozen Common Scoter on the sea, a few distant Brent Geese and nothing else. 

We saw our first flocks of Pink-footed Geese flying overhead on our way to National Surroundings last Tuesday. Lovely, always a pleasure. We have since seen a single bird fly, calling, over our home. 

An MOT and then a visit to Holden Honda meant no car for our 'free' days last week. The MOT was a rush job after a DVLA reminder so there wasn't a courtesy car available. The Mundesley garage couldn't solve the clunking noise hence the Norwich visit.

To-day, we drove to Buckenham Marshes, just to have a look. On the way my pager informed me that the Pectoral Sandpipers were both there yesterday. Hope blossomed. Scoping our way down the entrance track to the Fisherman's car park, we saw only Rooks and Lapwing, Canada Geese and Greylag. Even Cantley Beet Factory was smokeless. Then, two very distant raptors came into view from behind the factory. Patience brought them near enough to ID as Red Kites. A new Cantley tick for us. They separated and I lost view of one until finding it perched on a gatepost. Even this distant view in poor light is heavily cropped.

Even more heavily cropped.......

As we parked so that I could scope the pool in front of the empty hide, a flock of Lapwing rose and circled, showing three waders amongst them. The larger one was a Ruff, the other two? Could they be? The flock then flew strongly towards Cantley. Bother. The waders suddenly dropped away and returned to the pool. Yes, the two smaller birds were Pectoral Sandpipers, new for the year - and Buckenham.

Far too distant for photographs but good views in the scope. I wish I'd thought of taking a few flight shots, too busy looking.

I really like Autumn moths. Particularly Pink-barred Sallow and Black Rustic, both of which were in to-day's trap.

We twitched a Delicate at R and J's lovely Beeston bungalow yesterday, thank you both.

High Tide at Snettisham

Friday September 14

Very occasionally, the conditions are near perfect for a high tide watch at Snettisham RSPB reserve. 

A tide of 7 metres plus

The time - 10.10 high tide

Weather - warm with little wind and reasonable light without bright sunshine - facing into the sun from the hides so always backlighting

A week day - which cuts down on the crowds 

No RSPB outings

We were parked up soon after 8.15, in time to see the mass of waders collecting on the mudflats before flighting in overhead to the tenements of the pits' mud islands. 

Nothing rare, thousands of Knot, Dunlin, Oystercatchers, Redshank, both Godwits, a few Curlew, 30+ Great Ringed Plovers, a group of 1st year Turnstone, 10+ Little Egrets, and Spoonbill. The Shelduck, Mallard, Wigeon Teal and Gulls stayed on the sea, I wish the honking, squabbling, Greylag had done so.
Lack of mobility meant watching from the first hide - both outside, scoping from the car and, inside later on. Most of the intently marching birders walk as far as the second hide, which gives better and closer views of the roosting waders. This included two led groups this morning but no RSPB 'Birds and Breakfast' mobs.

A couple joined us in the hide, he sporting a very bad limp. I called Red Kite to Pam which prompted him to ask for directions. Home from home, he said, he's from the Chilterns. He then expressed his pleasure at being able to drive down as, on his previous visit over twenty years ago, he'd had permission to drive on the Sandringham estate with 'his and her' hides, giving views from  the opposite bank from us.

We sat for some time, watching the birds constant shuffle for room, the incoming ones seeming to land on backs but somehow finding space. 

Occasional mass uprisings meant more space shuffling, some landing on a small Cormorant Island nearer to us. 

The Egrets and larger waders massed the far shore. No wonder this counts as one of THE top spectacle experiences offered in the UK. Well worth the early morning departure - necessary even on a latish tide morning. Arriving around high tide would give one the pit spectacular but, obviously, not the preparation for it.

My photographs are not of the best, I always wish for better here. A 300mm lens and D70 does not have the number of pixels to enable a great enlargement nor the depth of field to do justice to the mass of birds in a  large pit. I always use AV on a reasonable light day. My editing programme - probably my fault - messed up the ones I'd earmarked for the Blog. These will have to do........

Back-lit Common Terns

To Autumn

Saturday September 1st 

Officially the first day of Autumn, signs of the changing season have been visible for several weeks. Early  leaf browning, especially on Horse Chestnuts, a tribute to the long hot spell. To-day was a nigh perfect autumnal day. Blue sky with some photogenic fluffy cloud, a hardly there wind and warm. Shame that passerines did not appear, to help swell our numbers.

John Keats got it right !

To Autumn
John Keats, 1795 - 1821

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

The day's highlight was Snettisham Pits. We arrived within half an hour of a 6.1 high tide, to find the Wash water-covered still. We then watched the water recede very rapidly - as always on the shallow mud expanse, leaving the creeks still ebbing, taking an intrusive kayaker with it. A host of roosting terns, mainly Common with a few Sandwich, were startled into flight,  landing further away. Thousands of Knot on the shoreline, periodically took to the air, morphing smoke-like, akin to a starling murmuration. 

I scoped assiduously, hoping for a range of passage waders, finding hundreds of Oystercatchers, a dozen Avocet, 20 Redshank, another 20+ black aproned Grey Plover. two Turnstones, a Ringed Plover, one Bar-tailed Godwit in summer dress and dozens of Dunlin. I was rather disappointed later, to find a pager message re two Curlew Sandpipers on the flats ! My pager only worked when it got into range of the western transmitter, 'ours' still seems to be malfunctioning.

The hedgerows are heavy with scarlet haws

Blackberries are ripening 

and the Dog Rose hips look good enough to eat (no thanks). The war-time Vitamin C syrup was too sweet for me.

Pam had, what we think is, a twenty two Spot Ladybird land on her arm, very small.