Norfolk-and-Birds

Last Thursday I made an eagerly anticipated sojourn to the English mecca of birding, the north Norfolk coast. What I had hoped would be a veritable welly filling exercise in year tick's, lifers and high quality birding ended in abject frustration as I was 'done' by fog.
It was foggy when I left my house at 5.30am, foggy all the way to Norfolk. However, the local radio 'KLF FM' assured me as I entered Old Hunstanton that it would 'clear by lunchtime'. It didn't,tossers, and by 2.30pm despite continually nudging further eastwards in a vain bid to escape it,  it was rolling in thicker and faster than ever.
 The locals were no comfort "settin in for a couple o'days " they all said to a man, chewing on their piece of straw. So whilst I think I went to Norfolk, I barely saw any of it, certainly no actual coast , save for a couple of yards of sea whilst stood on Cley beach, where I found myself contemplating doing a Regginald Perrin.
Highlights, 3 Marsh Harriers, Cettis ( heard),Guillemot (very close to shore of course), Turnstone, Brent Geese, getting home.



Brent Geese ..honest !

Fog Harrier



Mist Shanks





Mipits save the Doorstep Doldrums

Sunday 11th November

As it was such a nice morning I decided to walk my patch, despite finding very little about the previous day.Thankfully I had been to Elmley Lovett on Saturday and at least enjoyed a few Redwings and Fieldfares, but the patch was really quiet.On Ladies pool a LBB Gull and 2 Cormorants of note. Walking on, Green and Greater Spotted Woodies and a Nuthatch. The Buzzard was on its favourite perch.

Buzzard

As I descended down into the Paddocks a couple of Ravens could be heard, and continued to frequent the area for the rest of my tour, occasionally resting up on a Pylon with a different pair of Buzzards .The occasional Skylark showed but bird numbers ,save for the large Corvid and Woodpigeon flocks on the fields, were low. 

With all the disturbance on the paddocks of late ( laying of Water pipes), there has been a noticeable lack of Linnets, but as I climbed the path back towards home I picked up on a group of birds flitting from grass to fence line. Expecting to see the welcome sight of a few Linnets, I was delighted to see that they were largely Meadow Pipits, with the occasional Linnet about too. Altogether I reckon about 20 Mipits, which despite the interruption of a dog walker and her 2 wandering hounds, hung around long enough for a record shot.This is my 1st record of Mipit in the Barnet Brook area, and was a most pleasing find after a good few hours of not much else this weekend.



Raven

Meadow Pipit



 





Wigeon on the Doorstep

It was nice and quiet as I approached Ladies Pool this morning, and cutting through the air was the unmistakable call of Wigeon. I had a seem some  there a few weeks ago, but they were at the far end, and in eclipse. Today there were 2 very smart males and a female. The one male was initially reasonably close so I took a quick bit of video of one calling, and the other can be heard replying. The rest of the circuit was fairly quiet but  I  needed the  walk, and I found out a few interesting things chatting to a couple of fellow locals, hopefully stuff I can see for myself and  utilise on the blog at some future point !

Ring Ouzel reward ! 3rd November

I was minded to try my luck on Saturday up at Titterstone Clee. There is always that possibility of a good passage migrant, a decent Raptor as well as a bit of fungi should the tumbleweed be blowing through on the birding front.
I took pity again on the house bound Jason K  ( not because his car was still in for repair, just generally because he is Sandwell FC fan ) and collected him as I was passing, and we  crossed the county line into Shropshire.
Soon we were up at the summit of Titterstone where conditions could best be described as 'a bit fresh' and rather misty. However, encouraged by our hopeless optimism, we proceeded to do a thorough working of the site, to see what we could winkle out.
Passerines were very thin on the ground, and save for a few Meadow Pipits things were very quiet. As another wave of  mist rolled over, we were beginning to think it could be 'one of those days'. However things picked up as a nice pair of Stonechats showed, the male looking very smart, even with viewing hampered by the poor visibility.
Round by the old fort, we enjoyed nigh on  50 Ravens whizzing around having fun on the breeze, which was worth the admission price alone.
The fungi was a little disappointing, save for some Snowy Waxcaps.
After a couple of hours, and not much else to report save a Buzzard, we headed down to the working quarry. Optimism had been fairly dampened by now, we had barely counted a handful of species, let alone a rarity.
With grim determination we continued to scan and listen when all a sudden we thought we were onto something. We flushed a bird that flew away low towards the quarry, the brief jizz just did not look right for a blackbird. Heading into the viewing area at the far end there seemed to be some passerine activity where the rocks were trapping the sunlight. There on  a ledge was a male Ring Ouzel. Unfortunately it only showed few a few seconds before disappearing over the ridge. However after doubling back, we reconnected with it again briefly 20 or so minutes later.
This was my third Rouzel of the year, and my first autumn bird ever, and a good reward for  the  graft and teamwork we had had put in in less than ideal conditions !

Snowy Waxcap

Ring Ouzel ( Spring passage bird 2012 Titterstone)

Foggy Patch and a Fungi Safari

Saturday 20th... Patch
I set out optimistically on Saturday to walk the circuit of of my patch, only to rapidly realise that the fog was lot worse that had been apparent from the house. Unperturbed I pushed on, patch birders are hardcore like that ;@) used to trying to get blood out of a stone.Besides there has been little reason to stray further afield, with the birding scene fairly stale at the moment. The other thing is you have to gather the negatives, as it's all information. I've had no Yellowhammers the last few weeks, no Kestrel. Only by recording what is present, or not, on a  patch over time can you get a proper feel for what is happening, why and looking for trends.
Anyway, the common stuff was still calling, even if it wasn't always showing, and I noticed a slight increase in Chaffinch  numbers in an area I have seen decent finch flocks in recent years, some of which have held Brambling, so that was something to note.
I will cut to the chase, in a section where the fog was at it's thickest, 2 Swallows pushed across a field, low, close and south bound, a good late record.
I also stumbled across a Field Vole that had perished on the path. I took a record shot, it may be useful info for the Worcestershire Biological Records of their presence, after all I am unlikely to see one alive normally.
Finally, on the homeward stretch, 9 Meadow Pipits flew over. This was actually a patch tick for me. So, whilst the walk was damp and fog bound, I actually eeked out 3 interesting ( if unspectacular) observations for the patch.

Field Vole

Sunday 21st... Devils Spittleful
More fog. I had arranged with Jason K to do a walk around the Devil's Spittleful Nature Reserve. I had never actually ventured onto that side of the A456 so although the premise was a fungi forage, for me it was also about getting the lie of the land. I'm not hugely into fungi , I like them as much from a aesthetic point of view and the thrill of hunting out a good specimen. It fills a void with the birding being a bit stale and the inverts as good as over.
It was an enjoyable 3 hours. Bird wise, Redwing flock over, 4 Buzzards, a Kestrel, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, several Jays and Mipits stood out. On the invert front, a surprise in finding a Small Copper still knocking about. On the large feline mammal front, a Lion roared loudly, but thankfully it was the other side of the fence on the Safari Park site.
The fungi were decent if not spectacular. I have posted the pics of the pick of the bunch.

Sickener

Rosey Bonnet ( cheers JK)

Small Copper, definitely

Yellow Brain Fungus, for sure

Lion !

A Weekend on the Doorstep

With it being quiet on the bird scene I couldn't be bothered venturing too far this weekend. Instead on both days I undertook an extensive walk of my patch, prefering to see what I could dig up.  .
Saturday 13th
At Ladies Pool Wood, the first delight of the day appeared in the form of a Treecreeper. I have only had a handful of Treecreeper sightings this year, and this was my first in this area since March.As a tit flock moved through I picked out a Coal Tit, then, in the same tree that the Treecreeper had been, a Siskin showed, again a species not seen here since March.
A Grey Heron then passed over quite low, possibly having come off Forge Pool
The First of 5 Red Admirals flew by, which together with a Single Comma and a single Small Tortoiseshell completed the butterfly sightings on the walk today.
Over in the Barnet Brook area, I caught up with a few more species that have eluded me for a little while locally. First a Splendid Song Thrush, then a Sparrowhawk, which was harassed for a few minutes by a Raven, providing good views against the clear blue sky.
A Collard Dove was seen, they seem to come and go on my patch. ...All these bird species were not seen last week
The 'twist' today was an excursion into the sandy heath area of my patch to see if any fungi were showing.  I don't profess any great knowledge, and like them as much for aesthetic reasons as anything. Consequently I give ID's to pics sometimes as a best guess.

Amethyst Deceiver

Purple Brittlegill




Penny Bun

The Penny Bun was huge ! There were also numerous Earthball's around. I headed home wards via the paddocks where I had 2 final good bird encounters. Firstly a Green Woodpecker dropped in close by while I was chasing a moth, and finally a Mistle Thrush showed well along the bridle path. I just avoided the rain.

Green Woodpecker

 Sunday 14th

 

With the weather being so nice again, I could not resist a bit more exercise and low carbon birding. I basically did it all over again ! Today I was joined by Jason K for the Fungi stretch ( that's not an unusual  position ! ), he loves a bit of Fungi and I had promised him a big Surprise in the woods ! )
Firstly though, to get to that point, there was walking to be done, and the the birding highlights came together in a matter of minutes. Firstly, just down from the Kennels, I pick up on my first Redwings of the Autumn, 2 perched high in a tree. If that was not good enough, I then secured a patch Lifer in the form of a Grey Wagtail ! The bird was on the roof of the Kennels where several Pied Wagtails were coming and going, and indeed chased it off.
At this point JK arrived and we undertook the Fungi trail I had walked the previous day. I will leave him to tell about that final part of a great weekend

                                                          

Patch Super Sunday

Yesterday I had an enjoyable trip 20 miles down the road to Titterstone Clee. I will leave the Shenstone Birder to write a summery of that little sojourn.
Sunday was another lovely Autumn morning so I set out to walk a circuit of my patch. Things started well with the apparent return of the House Sparrow population noted. On my first look at Ladies Pool there was a Lesser Black Backed Gull and more importantly a Cormorant ! This was my 1st non flyover Cormorant on the patch.
Walking away from the Pool I noticed a Red Admiral basking high up in a tree, I had seen Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell yesterday too in Shropshire.
I continued to pick off the expected bird species, A Raven kronked over,  then  4 Skylarks performed well and showed beautifully against the blue sky.A  Nuthatch, tapped loudly at the entrance to Barnet Brook Wood.
Emerging onto the Stubble field the south facing set aside area was chuffing with inverts, mainly hoverflies but a few butterflies began to show. 2 Chiffchaffs chased each other through the treeline. I then came to an area of Ivy berries that held 3 Red Admirals and 5 Comma's...a splendid sight in the Sunday morning sunshine, it was now pretty warm and they flitted around the adjacent vegetation.

Basking Red Admiral

Comma

.
I was both surprised and pleased to see a few remaining Swallows lingering prior to their winter vacation, around the Kennels. A good group of pied wagtails occupied the site near the paddocks , which were pretty quite. Things livened up again as I approached Wood Lane, with a couple of Mistle Thrushes making a welcome appearance, followed by a pair of Bullfinches.
I swung back around to Ladies Pool again, which was busier with wild fowl. Scanning around I picked up a female Goosander, my earliest autumn date by a good month !

Female Goosander ( v long range Digital shot)

At the far end of the pool was a group of ducks that I could not be definite about. They certainly were not Mallards, I decided to pop back later with my Scope. As I crossed the causeway some further invert activity caught my eye. Firstly a still pristine looking Migrant Hawker nosed around me before leading me to a Common Darter, basking on the edge of the pool. These were certainly late welcome sightings.

Common Darter

A little while later I returned with my scope. The Goosander took flight just as I arrived, but the mystery ducks at the far end proved to be 7 eclipse Wigeon (4 males) ..a patch lifer !... I had clocked up just short of 40  bird species ( without seeing Kestrel, Sprawk,Linnet,Song Thrush, Yammer or  Dunnock) .. add in a patch lifer and those inverts .. a super Sunday stroll.

Wigeon