Ice Bird and Moths

Friday March 15

A friend's phone call alerted us to the presence of the Iceland Gull again at Walcott. We've looked for it every day this week..........

The field opposite the Poacher's Pocket has pools of fresh water where gulls full of bread, provided by regular feeders, land to have a wash and preen. It it's high tide - it was - they linger. 

B was still there when we arrived, as was the Iceland Gull. We were just in time to see it take ten steps and sink to its belly, hardly visible in the flock. Bother. It was also blowing a hooley. Perishing. 

Something startled the flock so that the Iceland got to its feet, time for a few quick shots for my year record.

Back to warmth at home. Thank you Bob, the second good find this winter.

Later on, friends Ian and Sue were on their way to see the bird. As it's only about two miles down the road, we decided to try and locate it before they arrived. No luck. It had flown again. We all saw the Merlin called by Pam, fly through low, hugging the field bank

Saturday March 16

Waking to the wind still doing its best to go through everything in its way, we read the latest news from our WhatsApp group re the special moths in south Norfolk. They would definitely be on show at Cranwich Camp this morning. 

After a very small detour due to the web thinking that a postcode request for the camp was West Tofts (!!), we arrived to find two other moth-ers already inspecting the array of pots on a tray in Dave Holman's car. As we have moth-ed in the Brecks before at specially organised meets, only two of the moths were new for us but the others were lovely to see.

We photographed those we could, in the pots of course, expressed our sincere gratitude to David for setting it all up and then sitting in his car in the cold for all of that time. Brilliant. A few of the moths :

Barred Tooth-stripe

Broom-tip

Dotted Chestnut

Mottled Grey

Acleris Cristata - very active

I ended up not photographing the Scarce Tissue.

We then called in at Lynford Arboretum, birding from the disabled parking area. A feeder containing fat balls encouraged a good variety of birds to come in. Nuthatch, Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Marsh Tits, Chaffinch, Brambling and a Wren.

A Grey Squirrel dug up some food - Acorn or Chestnut? - beneath the feeder. A cute pest.

St Helen's parking ground was full of activity with a lot of red and white plastic tape preventing access to the far areas in which we usually park. Some sort of running and cycling race on Sunday. Deciding not to visit Weeting yet , we turned on the heated seats and left for home.

This and That

Monday March 11

It's a case of looking for new year birds at the moment, staying in Norfolk anyway. We've had a spell of very high winds and rain neither of which is conducive to birding, especially the wind.
A short visit to Buckenham marsh was enjoyable. The Wigeon are in their finest breeding plumage.

Very careful scoping found up to ten Ruff crouched low amongst the Lapwing, themselves scarcely visible above the grass and sedge.Their leap into the air exposed a good flock of Golden Plover. Where were they hiding !

On the way home, a sheep field north of Stalham held the first sheep and their lambs of the year. The breed of sheep was new to me. I didn't get a good photograph as passing traffic and a thorny hedge made it difficult. 

Looking them up, I found two possibilities:

Balwen Welsh Mountain
Appearance: Balwen is the Welsh word for ‘white blaze’. These sheep are usually black, brown or dark grey in appearance with a white stripe from the top of the head to the nose, a white tail and four white socks. Males are typically horned.
History: The Balwen Welsh Mountain was first established in the UK in the 19th century by a group of enthusiastic breeders. A breed society was formed in 1985 following an increase in numbers after the breed was almost wiped out by the harsh winter of 1946-47. Only one ram survived at that time, taking the breed to near-extinction.      
Geography: The breed originated in the Tywi Valley in Central Wales, with interest growing outside the valley from the 1970s. It is recognised as a rare breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Breed attributes: Balwen’s are a maternal hill breed, so the females are small and very hardy with a strong mothering ability. This allows them to rear lambs in difficult environments.
Commercial desirability: The Balwen Welsh Mountain Sheep Society promotes the breed as having few health problems and requiring minimum supplementary feeding at peak times of the year.



 
Zwartbles sheep are from an area of Holland called Friesland their main use was for milk and cheese production. Dutch dairying practice changed so much in the last century causing their numbers to  nearly disappear. By the mid 1970's they were entered into the Dutch Rare Breed Survival Trust. In 1985 a Flock Book was formed, and numbers have steadily increased. Zwartbles Sheep were introduced into Britain from Holland in the 1980's then came over to Northern Ireland in 2000; but were not introduced into Southern Ireland until 2005 with the first lambs born in spring of 2006. In 1995, a Zwartbles Sheep Association was formed in Great Britain and Irish breeders were granted membership numbers in 2007. The South of Ireland Zwartbles Sheep Club was formed in 2010.

The Zwartbles name means Black with a White Blaze. A very noble yet elegant black sheep with a distinctive white blaze from poll to surround the muzzle, two to four white socks up to but not beyond the knees or hocks and undocked tails with a white tip. Like a short horn cow these sheep serve the dual purpose for meat and milk but have the addtion of a very fine thick fleece with plenty of crimp


Considering that Norfolk has  historic connections with the Netherlands, maybe they are the latter.......I can't make up my mind - and I don't know the farmer. They're also  bigger than the mountain sheep usually are.

Sunday March 10
A pager message re an Iceland Gull at Walcott sent us on our way. It's only a couple of miles from home. Gale force winds made standing difficult, especially as the bird was missing. Steve and Dot were still parked up and had seen the bird fly away. Unfortunately, none of us re-found it. 
We had another look this afternoon, finding a Mediterranean Gull amongst the flock loafing in a field near the Ridlington turn-off. The tide was well in, precluding any beach birds.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi

Friday March 1  St David's Day

Our best Norfolk Birding day for over a year - at least.

It didn't owe anything to the weather either.The day started at 7.10 in light drizzle, which continued well into the morning. The remaining time of the ten hours out, the cloud was high overcast split by a very occasional and short spell of sun. 

A Barn Owl  hunting low over the field at the T junction with North Walsham road augured well. The drizzle didn't put off the calling Greenfinch, Wren, Dunnock and Blue Tit in the front garden nor the pesky Pheasants which love our garden.We had nine females dotted on the lawn and paths of the front garden when we got home at the end of the day.

The first Brown Hare appeared near Harpley Cottages, a rabbit at the entrance to the Abbey Farm turn-off and a female Muntjac crossed the road near home.We don't count roadkill Badgers and Foxes......Rabbits are rarely seen these days so worth a mention.

Sculthorpe Mill was worthwhile to-day, a pair of Grey Wagtails disported themselves around the plant pots in front of the Mill, on the path outside and on the mill bridge. A Song Thrush sang, Greenfinches blew raspberries, Goldfinches twittered about and a Robin produced its wistful notes. I still hear ''Robin, winter song'' being announced on my first set of bird recording tapes. I can not hear the difference year round.........

I had a longer and steeper walk than I had anticipated at Snettisham. I got ut to open the entrance gate beyond the chalets and another car drew up. I gallantly waved them through which meant that Pam had to drive up onto the reserve in order to allow them through. I didn't have my stick either. The good news is that I made it rhrough the bramble and hawthorn lined path and up the hill to the waiting car, unscathed. Pam met me to hand over my stick as I started the short climb, which helped confidence. Oh dear. The water was so distant that I couldn't see the shore through my scope. I've had a look at the tide timetable for this year to find all the high tides fall early morning and late evening. This must have been a really early one. Instead of masses of shorebirds along the sea edge we had birds scattered all over the deeply ravined and clefted mud, apart from a large flock of Golden Plover huddled in an extensive and thick line part way out. Most Plovers appear to flock in the winter, apart from Grey Plovers which are always found singly and well separated.

The pits were pretty empty of birds.The Goldeneye must have departed north in the recent warm weather as did the Pink-feet in this area. There are still plenty of Brent Geese around. 
The jounce out to Holme was rewarded with two Spoonbills flying west overhead.  Pam saw three birds for the list, Gadwall, Coot and Pochard from the Broadwater Hide. I never caught up !  
My fault for staying in the car. 
Brancaster Staithe was full of water.

Oystercatchers and a few Turnstones hunted through the pile of Mussell shell detritus in the hope of a meal.

A small group of Turnstones roosted on a moored boat.

I enjoyed watching a shellfish man wading out to collect Mussells from his boat, wash them well, riddling the remaining animals to remove the undersized before tipping them into a basket. 

I can't resist photographing Black-tailed Godwit.

My first scan of Holkham Marsh was from the lay-by overlooking Gun Hill, during which I found a few Pink-feet and not much else. The hedge gap, opposite the Wellington Hide and Meals House,  from which the largest proportion of the area can be scoped, was much more productive. Three more Spoonbills, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, two White-fronted Geese, Ruff, Great White Egret and........ two Bar-headed Geese. The latter not a list padder.

Blanks at Stiffkey and chicken hut 13B, no birds on the posts at Selbrigg, the final list total of 81 species could have been more. That's the story of all lists.