This first-winter Caspian Gull was a nice way to round off my first semester at uni. It was at Earlham Marsh, Norwich yesterday before being flushed by some horses. Other highlights at my local patch at uni have included a Great Egret and fly-over Marsh Harrier.
I also made a trip to Buckenham Marshes RSPB last weekend to see the four Taiga Bean Geese, although they remained distant, and had good views of the local wildfowl and Marsh Harriers.
Had another great day on the north Norfolk coast today. We walked from Wells to Holkham Pines with the highlights including a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard at the former and two Hume's Warblers, 6 Shore Larks, 10 Eurasian White-fronted Geese and Great Egret at the latter. Unfortunately my photos don't really do the birds justice...
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.
This weekend I'm back at home from UEA, so today me and my dad decided to have a full day's birding on the coast. We chose (perhaps wrongly!) not to start in the Druridge area, and instead head north to look for seabirds.
Stag Rocks was quiet with just a single Great Northern Diver offshore and then a Red-necked Grebe just before we left. Budle Bay and Fenham-le-Moor were both busy with birds although we couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
We continued north, ending up at Cheswick. Here we quickly picked up the drake Black Scoter, while a single drake Long-tailed Duck and a group of six Velvet Scoters were nice to see.
On the way back home we called in at Cresswell Pond to take a look at the smart juvenile/1st-winter Long-billed Dowitcher found earlier in the day. We had decent scope views of the bird but unfortunately it didn't land on the mud in front of the hide. The pond had a good selection of other birds too including a Little Stint, 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 5 Scaup and 5 Ruff.
Tomorrow I'll be heading back to uni and I hope to round up any bird sightings I have while there on my blog soon...
Black Scoter
Distant Long-billed Dowitcher at Cresswell - please view at 1080p
I've had a busy few weeks with lots of birding, a trip to North Ronaldsay and preparation for university. The birding has been decent around county so here are a few of my highlights...
Common Rosefinch on Holy Island - nice to finally connect with my county bogey bird!
Pomarine Skua - one of 11 which passed Newbiggin on 17th. It was a good seawatch and also included a good number of Sooty Shearwaters and a superb Leach's Petrel close inshore.
