Goose Bonanza

Sunday December 4

What a beautiful December day. Cloudless with very little wind but seasonable chilly. Where should we go? Buckenham Marshes is near enough and offers a good chance for some month birds.

I spent all the time we were there scoping from the car, gradually making our way from the railway crossing to the Fisherman's Car Park. All the geese were distant, fewer Wigeon that I anticipated as the norm, with a good sprinkling of Lapwing and corvids.

The end result was : 12 Taiga Bean Geese, a few Whitefronts, 100+ Canada Geese, a few Barnacles, 2 Egyptian Geese and Pink-feet. Pam spotted a Snipe which I eventually got after some good instructions - it was on the ground and distant. Two Marsh Harriers over Cantley, Shelduck, Teal, Shovellers and...... an adult winter Yellow-legged Gull  ..... on the main pool.

We missed the Taiga Beans in January as Pam was still on crutches after her hip operation. 

Home in time to suffer with Man United. I groaned when Fellaini got undressed towards the end of the match, he's a liability card-wise. Unfortunately, I was proved right. With almost his first kick he gave away a penalty. Another 1-1 draw and two points lost. Damn the man - and Jose for putting him on. Everton were pressing hard and I suppose JM thought that he'd bolster the defense. Wrong.

Swans

Friday December 2

There's something magical about Northern Swans. The first ones on the east coast marshes are few and transient, en route to Welney and /or Slimbridge. Yesterday, the  pager reported 20 Bewick's.

The drizzle was barely there when we left home after lunch. It gradually increased until it was like thick mist hanging on Ludham Marshes. Tree trimming in Ludham had meant an approach via Hall Road in Johnston Street, a detour much resented by Pam. It didn't look like an pfficial tree trimming operation, two men on a cherry picker and two men manning the cones either end. None of them wearing HighVis clothing nor looking 'official'. I think it was the imperious and impatient turn round hand signal from one of the men atop that got her going. 

Having identified a family of four Whoopers, two adults and two young, very distantly near the beginning of the track out to St Benets, we drove to the car park. A short scan, getting rather damp through the open car window, found four Fieldfare and two Grey Herons to add to the month list. No Cranes viewable in the murk and owls wouldn't be flying in this.  We drove back to the swans so that I could scope them from my side.

Two Bewick Swans on the left of the Mute Swan flock, the four Whoopers on the right. I turned up the ISA on my camera to 1.000 and gave it a go with my 3-600 lens. 

These are the only ones near respectable, much enlarged from an enlargement.

The Bewick's disappeared left when we weren't looking - I stopped photographing when Pam got out to photograph a tractor ploughing with hundreds of gulls in attendance. Then, the Whooper family and the one Pink-footed Goose present, exited right.

Ludham Bridge was not the flight destination, no swans at all there.

Winter Birding

Thursday December 1

Setting off at 7.50,  the dial reading 2C in an - as yet - unheated car it was easy to believe the date. It looked lovely. Blue sky, no wind and an overnight frost silvering the verges and their carpet of brown leaves. The cold stillness was not encouraging the steady, slow- fluttering shedding of leaves, it must have been gravity.

To complete the weather report...... the temperature varied from 2, rising to 6C then dropping again throughout the day, dependant on the thick fog patches we hit and the cloud cover at Snettisham.

We decided to breakfast in Sculthorpe Mill car park, birding whilst our porridge pots cooled. A Sparrowhawk flew through the other side of the mill, no small birds to be seen after that, until a pair of Grey Wagtails flew onto a cottage roof.

If there is no traffic, Pam dives across the double white lines onto an old lane on the right, near the top of the hill before the Doghotel. No Hares to-day but a very worthwhile diversion. A Red Kite made its leisurely way across the top of a field, banking whilst it hunted. Lovely.

The first of the day's Red-legged Partridges walked across the lane.

Valley Farm Lane's Tree Sparrows were already inspecting vtheir nesting boxes on the exposed end wall of the last cottage. At last we can see the Gamekeeper's bird feeding station again, now that the hedge and the walnut tree have shed their leaves. Coal Tit, Chaffinches, Blue and Great Tits and Goldfinches (he calls them King Harry). No Marsh Tit to-day in the short while we were there.

Abbey Farm lane and hide always have possibilities but often disappoint. To-day was disappointing apart from three pairs of glowing Yellowhammers in the same tree. Back onto the entry road, five Grey Partridges posed on top of the estate wall. Didn't like to disappoint them, despite the back lighting.

The others were in the sunlight on the left.

Female - funny colouring - back lighting

A pasture on the back lanes leading from Flitcham to Sandringham, had seven Roe Deer quietly feeding - until we stopped and they became a scattered group of white rears racing into the distance. Always sorry to disturb them but, they are so easily spooked, one's natural instinct is to stop and look. Theirs is flight, survival code.

Snettisham was dull and overcast. It was a Weston Super Mare mud vista, the water's edge not discernible. We added the commoner waders before getting out to scope the last reserve pit, where intermittent shafts of  light cast an eerie glow.

There's a Redhead Smew in there somewhere, towards the Shore Hide on the right. Also, several pairs of Goldeneye, one of my favourite ducks, innumerable Wigeon, Greylags, Cormorants and Lapwings.

No geese on the mud, we'd  seen a flight of Pinks on the way and added Brent later.

Already losing daylight at only mid-day, we added Fulmar at Hunstanton, nothing at Holme, and Choseley, Black-tailed Godwit at Brancaster. Maybe Stiffkey Marsh was worth a look. Only half an hour, during which I had a few inadvertant power naps, at Stiffkey in very poor light. 
At one awakening I said 'I've got a Harrier' . It was a ringtail Hen, juvenile male or female. Great, always a pleasure to see a Hen Harrier. That made five raptors for the day. Kestrel, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and the Hen. Still no Marsh Harrier, usually a banker, that's why we left after half an hour, hoping for one at Cley. We always see at least one on Mothing mornings. Not to-day, almost dark at 3.50. 

The day's total was a pleasing 74 species.

Randoms

Sunday November 27

I haven't posted for ages. Not because we haven't been birding, we have, twice a week after mothing and several short outings to Winterton and Ludham Marshes. Mothing has now finished for the winter. We were still finding 30+ moths in the four traps at Natural Surroundings but none or one at Cley. The moths were repetetive and of limited species too.

A Greenshank at Morston was the week's highlight. 

One drive at Felbrigg found a clump of mushrooms on a tree stump beside the entry road. We weren't able to stop long, too much traffic. I believe that the main clump is Deer Shield but cannot convincingly identify the smaller, umbrella shaped fungi on the left.

We still have skeins of geese flying over the village. To-day, about two thousand Pinks flew over and we actually found them on the ground in two fields on the way to the main road. I tried to scan the very spooky flock, they didn't like us stopping, nothing different in the short time I was able to look.

We then drove to Ludham via Winterton on a very grey afternoon with few birds about.  Hundreds of Lapwing at both sites plus a large 2k flock of Golden Plover over Thurne.

A partial rainbow over Thurne produced an eerie effect.

These different shaped and formed rainbows all have particular names, I don't know about this one.

Still no Bewicks or Whooper Swans around, I would expect some by now. 
A delightful cameo..... I noticed a Chinese Water Deer in the far corner of a pasture as we left St Benets. Scoping it in order to make sure that it wasn't a Muntjac, it lowered its head and something brown leapt into the air. There followed five minutes of fun.The deer would pretend to be uninterested before quietly getting nearer to the hare, extending its head slowly for a sniff. Noses actually touched on one occasion, both animals jumping vertically and backwards a foot simultaneously. Occasionally, the deer would do a skittish little pronk and run before returning to continue the face to face. The Hare just faced it out until the deer tired of his game and wandered off.

More Waxwings

Thursday November 10

Zero moths in the Cley Centre trap this morning. Greg held the opening until a couple of minutes to ten - the cafe opens at ten.

It had stopped raining but the sky was pewter grey, the light appalling. A real test for my new lens, which I was field testing for the first time. A Tamron 150-600mm zoom. Hand held with the ISA raised to 600.

 What would we find at Beach Road to-day? The flock of Brent Geese held two newly in Barnacle Geese and a single adult Pale-bellied Goose.  I tried the lens out on the distant Barnacles.

Then, on a Common Gull and a Lapwing.

We had to be patient and I succeeded in a short view of one of the Short-eared Owls hunting west of West Bank.

News of Waxwings at Holt, a short distance from Cley, sent us off to look for them. We found the one parking place in the school road and waited....... Not long, before a group of 8 Waxwings flew into the top of a tall tree at the end of the road. 

I walked nearer and a few flew down into a Rowan tree, against what little light there was. Delightful birds.

Back to Cley Beach road where the geese were even further away but Pam was able to get her glimpse of a Short-eared Owl.

Why now ? The sun came out and the whole day looked different. We had one of Julian's hot chocolates, no birds of note, before driving home in time to put the moth trap on at dusk. We had one Feathered Thorn this morning and a host of midges.
Lens verdict?
Impressive in the lighting conditions, not expensive either.

Wot, No Moths, some Birds

Tuesday November 8

After several days of chilly wind and torrential showers, I was not hopeful of finding much in the moth traps at natural Surroundings this morning. I was not wrong. The highlight was three different variations of Mottled Umber, a real pitfall for the inexperienced. Apart from this, just one Satellite and a Chestnut.
 I didn't take my camera down, Pam did. here's two of the Mottled Umber.

A good attendance this morning, despite the parking warning re a group of 30 walkers turning up at 10.30. The parking is very limited. A and A are off to Oman to-morrow but still turned up. Andy was there too after his 300 mile cycling week with his wife. He joined K and M and us for coffee afterwards and was as entertaining as always. His account of a 90+ uncle who owned a 2,000 acre farm of prime arable land in Yorkshire, taking up with ' a prostitute from Wakeham and leaving the farm to her'  was an example. I liked the hoarder uncle who wore a Sikh turban whilst riding his scooter too. When challenged by police he justified it by saying that Sikhs could do it, so could he.

Home via Cley as always. We both saw a close Great Northern Diver from beach car park followed by two Little Grebes in the western dyke ending at Salthouse Duck Pond.

Nothing of note along Salthouse beach road, apart from Julian's delicious hot chocolate, until a second winter Glaucous Gull flew along the dune top, giving us extensive views. David N and John F joined us for a chat, David had seen it pass Sheringham earlier . A lucky look by Pam.

Home via Sainsbury's to spend 8p off a litre of petrol voucher to fill an almost empty tank. We only had to buy £15 worth of clothes to attain the voucher ......Easily done, Pam needed another pair of denims.

Home to see if my new lens had arrived. A Tamron 150-600 mm zoom which has had good reviews.Not expensive either and relatively light in weight. At least I can use it from the car.

In Search of Waxwings

Saturday November 5

What a day to choose. Stormy northerly winds, the torrential squally showers almost continuous. Towards the afternoon, some contained nearly fully formed hail. 

The journey west was almost birdless. The road down to Sculthorpe Mill completely so, a particularly heavy shower brought a hasty retreat. At the end of the road, the sun came out. Back down to the Mill, an incredible experience. A huge wind squall from behind the car enveloped us in yellow, brown and orange Autumn leaves. It was like a colour blizzard. The leaves continued to roll across the car park like a fast retreating tsunami. 

This became the pattern of the day. Rain followed by short spells of blue sky and sun which were small oases in a mass of purple-grey cloud with the occasional partial rainbow.

A field at the entrance to Valley Farm Lane held a few Redwing, Fieldfare, Red-legged Partridges, two hares and one Mistle Thrush. My partially open window still let in enough wet to soak my left leg. Wiping down the car surfaces was a good thing, from  the amount of dirt showing on the tissue.

Abbey farm approach lane held no birds at all, the view from the hide only a few Teal and Mallard. Not even any Greylag to-day. Two Common Buzzards drifted across a far field, hassled by the ever present corvids.

As we were giving Snettisham a miss, we drove down to the sea front car park west of Hunstanton town, soon after Tesco. The sea was still pounding the walkway, no chance of waders there. Until two surprise Purple Sandpipers flew past, close in.

The sea was sensational, as was the skill of the sail boarders negotiating the turmoil. I couldn't resist a few photos, the sails are so colourful.

A short scan from the cliff top only produced Gannets. Where were the reported Auks etc that came through on the pager? 

Anticipation rose as we neared Holme NOA and NWT approach track. The toilet block parking places were full, birders wandering around the parking area opposite. Many were leaving. We left too, to drive down to the nature reserve, scanning all the bushes and trees, hearts leaping at every starling flock. The horses were backsides in to a thicket, trying to escape the weather. The birds must have been somewhere doing the same thing.

Back to the toilet block where we only waited about twenty minutes before a small flock of Waxwings flew into a bare tree opposite the toilets. Waw. Pam couold see them from her window. I got out, using the car as a shield and saw them fly down into the hawthorn hedge to feed. I'd only managed a couple of photographs when a youngish man, wielding a giant lens, appeared in the open alongside me. 

Shaky hands....

 The birds flew back, high into the tree. 'Was that me?' he said. I did not answer.

My other pics are of groups in the tree, thick branches making focusing difficult for my camera. 

Kevin the Teenager?

By now, the tree was engulfed by birders and photographers. No chance of them coming down again.

Pam counted about 27 birds, the other reported 40+ not present this time. We did see several groups fly distantly. Magical birds which never fail to take my breath away. Charismatic and beautiful, a true birders' bird. They also bewitch the general public.

Early afternoon and already drawing towards evening light. Blasted clocks going back. We drove home via Titchwell to pick up a late lunch before eating our sausage and onion baguette at Brancaster Staithe. Most of the boats have gone for the winter. Bar-tailed and one Black-tailed Godwit fed on the 'mound'. Humpy Grey Plovers did their dots and dash food hunt and the Turnstones and gulls fed on a half loaf of white bread left by a visitor. It's bad for you boys and girls. 

One of the Bar-tails was incredibly pale, apart from the leg colour and bill, it looked like a winter Greenshank.

Various pretty unproductive calls along the coast, apart from a Kingfisher flying along the Salthouse Beach Road drain.

I kept an eye on the pager for news of the Tree Swallow at Minsmere. We missed the St Mary bird by two days. Could I hope for a visit to-morrow?

Sunday November 6

The Tree Swallow was seen early morning before flying off south. Disappointment. One should always go on Day 1, I bet P did.