I was out with Dave, Roger and
Ken and we were on our way to Burnham Norton and hopefully a Steppe Grey Shrike
that has been present since the 6th.
All we saw on route were a couple of Buzzards and a couple of Jays but
news had reached us before we arrived that the shrike was still present. On arrival after parking we walked along the
path from the village towards the sea wall and a group of birders that were
obviously watching the shrike. We were
surprised on arrival that it was so close and we had some superb views and I
was able to get some decent photos in what was pretty poor light. We also saw a single Marsh Harrier and
Stonechat and a number of Pink-footed Geese.
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
Steppe Grey Shrike
After a good hour with bird we
decided to move on and walked back to the car and headed for Titchwell.
When we reached the car park
Craig and Erik had arrived and we all started to walk to the sea together. The news was encouraging at Titchwell as
there appeared to be a good selection of birds on the sea following an
exceptional high tide. As we walked down
the west bank a Bittern flew over heading towards Thornham Marsh and provided
some nice views. There were plenty of
waders on the fresh marsh and a Spotted Redshank and three Greenshank flew
over. However we decided to press onto
the beach as the tide had turned and it was likely that the birds might drift
out on the tide. When we reached the
beach our concerns were justified as most of the birds were now distant but we
did manage to find four Red-breasted Mergansers, two Red-throated Divers, two
Black-throated Divers, at least six Gannets, an Arctic Skua, seven Sandwich
Terns, a Guillemot and three Razorbill.
There were also plenty of Great Crested Grebes but we couldn't find the
reported Slavonian Grebes. Bar-tailed
Godwits were also present in good numbers as were Grey Plover and there were a
few Knot. However Oystercatcher,
Sanderling and Turnstone were rather scarce with only one Sanderling and two
Turnstones being seen.
As we walked back towards the
centre Dave heard a Stonechat call and we soon found it perched on Thornham
Marsh. We went out to the Parrinder Hide
where we spent more time going through the waders seeing three Avocets, c.500
Golden Plover, a few Dunlin, eight Ruff, sixty-plus Black-tailed Godwits,
twelve Spotted Redshank and several Redshanks.
Tony, who had joined us earlier, found a Marsh Harrier on one of the islands
and a Bittern flew over at considerable height.
As we walked back towards the car park Roger found a juvenile Little
Stint but we then noticed a crowed developing near island hide and so we moved
on. There was a Yellow-browed Warbler in
the willows between the path and the hide, which we saw several times as it
fed. There was also a Chiffchaff and a
Reed Warbler in the same group of bushes.
We eventually returned to the car for lunch and then decided to go back
to see if we could find Bearded Tit. We
had no luck with the Bearded Tits but Dave did catch up with the Little
Stint. As we walked back to the car park
we met Terry who was on his way to hopefully see the Yellow-browed Warbler,
which we believed had moved on. He
informed us that there was a Firecrest near the buildings and so we continued
on.
When we arrived there was
quite a gathering but as we joined then we realised they were watching a
Yellow-browed Warbler, which we assumed was the one we had seen before lunch,
although there were two present the following day. We were pointed in the right direction for
the Firecrest and it wasn't too long before we had decent views, although as it
disappeared I turned to see Dave looking in the wrong direction and he hadn’t
seen it. I was pretty sure it had gone
over the staff car park and we soon found again and this time he also saw it
well.
We had talked about going to
Thornham earlier as there had been Twite reported there but all we saw were
three Marsh Harriers, a Sparrowhawk and three Rock Pipits and Choseley Barns
failed to produce any Grey partridge or Corn Buntings and so we headed off
home.
Marsh Harrier over Thronham Marsh
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