Rod's Birding: A day’s birding Suffolk and Norfolk

David, Roger and called at Foxhole Covert, Suffolk first where we saw just one Stone Curlew and heard two Woodlarks.

From Foxhole Covert we moved on to Lakenheath Fen where we walked to the Trial Wood viewpoint in the hoping of seeing Golden Oriole. We saw two Hobbies and a male Marsh Harrier as we walked to the viewpoint and when we arrived other birders had been watching a male just ten minutes earlier but it had disappeared. These birders gradually disappeared and we were joined by others and eventually Roger and I saw a bird fly high over the gap we were watching. It did call several times after this but we were unable to relocate it and we decided to continue to the joist fem viewpoint. At least two Cuckoos were heard calling and the less familiar call of a female was also heard.

As we continued around the trail we had good views of a male Bearded Tit and a Cetti’s Warbler was heard calling. From the viewpoint we had several Marsh Harriers and a single Hobby and a Bittern was heard booming on several occasions. We decided to walk back to the car park along the public footpath along the river from where we had six Hobbies hunting and another Marsh Harrier. We had been here over three hours and it was now 12:30 so we decided to drive north to the coast and Titchwell.

We also had a single Holly Blue and a Four Spot Chaser.

Hobby

Cuckoos

Juvenile Jackdaw

We arrived at Titchwell and after some lunch walked down the west bank towards the sea. As we passed the first group of feeders it was surprising to see a Jay clinging to a feeder. We reached the fresh marsh seeing only a female Marsh Harrier on route but there were plenty o birds on the fresh marsh. A Curlew Sandpiper had been reported, which Roger located feeding on the edge of an island.

There were c.200 Oystercatcher, c.500 Knot and c.80 Bar-tailed Godwits roosting and the tide was obviously high. It was surprising to see so many Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits and most were still in winter plumage with just a few birds showing the red that would be expected at this time of the year. Were they actually still to travel to the Arctic or were they perhaps non-breeders. We also located two Dunlin and a Curlew amongst the flock. There were plenty of Avocets and Redshanks but two broods of Pochard and a drake moulting into eclipse and a female Pintail was a surprise. There was also a single first-summer Mediterranean Gull and fifteen first-summer Little Gulls on the lagoon.

The saline lagoon held few birds, just a few Avocets and there was little on the tidal lagoon close to the sea.

There were circa twenty Sanderling and ten Turnstone on the beach and I did find another first-summer Little Gull. There were two Little Terns feeding off shore and at least three Sandwich Tern passed by. I then found eight Common Scoter on the sea and David picked up another twelve in flight. These were surprisingly a first for the year.

As we began to walk back Roger picked up a Short-eared Owl flying high over Thornham Marsh and it appeared to pass over the fresh marsh before disappearing to the east. Roger and I also saw two Little Egrets in flight and the Curlew Sandpiper was now on small island closer to the west bank. We heard several Beaded Tits calling and eventually had a male in flight. David then picked up a Barn Owl over a Thornham Marsh and a second female Marsh Harrier was observed close by.