I've had a particularly busy few weeks at uni but I've still managed to fit in a bit of birding as well. Here are a few of the best bits from the last month or so...
First-winter Caspian Gull at Sheringham. A day in the Holkham area produced 8 Spoonbills, 137 Russian White-fronted Geese, 3 Great Egrets and 50+ Snow Buntings among others.
Lesser Yellowlegs at Lingham Lake, Nosterfield. A redhead Smew was also on the lake.
Cattle Egret in the roost at Bolton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire. 2 Great Egrets were also in the roost and a drake Ring-necked Duck was at nearby Ellerton Lake.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (unfortunately I can't disclose any more details)
A nice trip down to Walberswick NNR is Suffolk today, eventually getting good views of our target - the Eastern Yellow Wagtail. We had just arrived back at the car ready to leave when we heard news that it had been seen again so a rapid walk back to the marshes and thankfully it was still showing well. We heard it give the classic buzzy call a number of times too.
Also in the area was a Western Yellow Wagtail, Great Egret, Short-eared Owl, 7 Twite and up to 10 very showy Snow Buntings...
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Western Yellow Wagtail - notice the plainer looking face with pale lores, and of course the different call!
Yesterday I finally had the chance to go on a twitch since arriving at uni! I woke up to see that my three-hour practical for the day had been cancelled so decided to get straight on the bus and head to Cley! For a change the public transport was quite simple and we arrived mid-afternoon. The Isabelline Wheatear was on view immediately and, as the afternoon went on, started to show even better. It came within metres of us on several occasions, although never seemed to stand side on!
Other highlights during the afternoon included 3 very confiding Snow Buntings, a Long-tailed Duck and a Purple Sandpiper feeding on Arnold's Marsh.
I have also got out birding on a couple of other occasions, managing some nice sightings, even if not quite as rare as the Wheatear! These have included a Pallas's Warbler at Waxham, 8 Cattle Egrets and 3 Great Egrets at Burnham Overy Marshes, and Yellow-browed Warbler, Jack Snipe and Ring Ouzels at Walsey Hills.
When we set off this morning we just hoped to catch up with the adult Bonaparte's Gull at Stag Rocks. We didn't think much else would happen but of course you never know with birding...
On arrival at Stag Rocks, the adult Bonaparte's Gull was the closest bird in the surf and provided some really nice views before it took of with a small flock of Black-heads, circled a couple of times and landed on the sea much further out.
We decided to start scanning the rest of the sea hoping for a grebe or Long-tailed Duck. From the parking area we could only pick up a single Great Northern Diver so we walked north to scan from the lighthouse. There were a couple of Puffins offshore as well as a Long-tailed Duck, but it certainly wasn't our most memorable visit at that point.
However, that changed when I picked up a large diver about half way out to our north-east. The view wasn't great with it slightly in silhouette but something about it demanded attention - I think it was the way it held its bill - exactly like how a White-billed Diver would. After a few seconds it turned to face a different angle and I saw what I thought was an unmarked yellowish bill.
My dad had a look through my scope and was also interested immediately. I rang SS and JWR who were looking from the top of the bank, and it turned out they also had briefly seen a large diver but left it as a Great Northern. However, on having closer views when they joined us by the lighthouse they also agreed that we had a found a White-billed Diver!
After a while, the bird made its way a bit closer and I managed to digiscope a few record shots before it drifted south and further out again. When at its closest the scope views were excellent and we were even able to easily pick out the white spotting on the back of the adult Diver. By the time we left, it was out towards the Farnes but did briefly spend some time alongside a Great Northern, providing a great comparison.
Other stuff offshore included 7 Long-tailed Ducks, at least 2 Great Northern Divers and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers while 145+ Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks. Just as we were leaving a group of 7 Snow Bunting flew south quite high.
Before heading home we made a detour to Newbiggin where a first-winter Red-backed Shrike had been found earlier in the day. We arrived to find it showing nicely around the tank blocks at Church Point, though it did look a bit bedraggled in the rain! This December record is unheard of in the county previously, and looking at birdguides it seems to be just the fourth December Red-backed Shrike since 2001.
Some videograbs along with the videos below...
White-billed and Great Northern Divers - videos should be watched in HD at 1080p
With a couple of reports of Black Guillemot at Cheswick last week, we decided that we would target catching up with one today as it was easily the commonest bird missing from our county list.
While the light wasn't great first thing, we gave it an hour or two on Holy Island. There was no sign of yesterday's Shore Larks but a Snow Bunting flew over and we did see 18 Twite and a Short-eared Owl.
Next we did head to Cheswick and parked by the railway bridge. We walked through the dunes and started scanning the sea, and it wasn't long before my dad did pick up a first-winter Black Guillemot about half way out. We watched it for a while, but once it started diving it was really difficult to get onto again.
Having not seen one (it?) for seven years, we also hoped to see the drake Black Scoter while we were here. As we walked north, we noticed a small group scoter just off Cheswick Black Rocks. Setting up the scope revealed the Black Scoter with some female Commons. We enjoyed some really good views of this bird - much better than we were expecting.
Other birds off Cheswick included a Great Northern Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Goosander.
On Sunday we planned to spend the morning on the patch. We were at Druridge Pools just long enough to find a Yellow-browed Warbler in the pine plantation before some good birds were reported from Beal and Holy Island.
We decided to head up there and the first couple of hours proved frustrating with no sign of the scarcities at Beal. We moved onto the island where things did pick up, with the best birds including 7 Yellow-browed Warblers and the incredibly confiding Snow Bunting still on the Crooked Lonnen. The counts included the following...
I've finally gone through the last of my photos from the few days me and my dad had in Norfolk in mid-February as well as Rutland on the way home.
A day in the Brecks produced the briefest of views of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, as well as a Golden Pheasant, 17 Parrot Crossbills and a Goshawk among others. Sadly they were all too quick for photos!
The following day on the north Norfolk coast one of the highlights was the flock of 100+ Snow Bunting at Salthouse, along with the geese on my previous post.
And on the way home we called in at Rutland Water, where 5 Smew included a very showy redhead and my first drakes for seven years!
