Roger picked me up and we then
drove to Newton Harcourt to pick up David before collecting Ken at
Uppingham. There had been quite a few
good birds in Norfolk this week and we were hoping to connect with a few. On reaching Kings Lynn we headed towards Cromer
hoping that there would be some news before we reached Fakenham so that we
could then decide where to head first.
With news of an Isabelline Shrike at Beeston Regis Common we continued
towards Cromer and came off the main road heading for Sheringham and then along
the coast road to Beeston Regis. After
parking in the layby we walked the short distance to the footpath that headed
off over the common. As soon as got to
the footpath we could see several birders not too far away and we were soon
getting good views of the first-winter Isabelline Shrike. It spent most of the time sitting one of two
bushes and making the occasional successful sortie after insects.
Isabelline Shrike
Isabelline Shrike
Steve and Terry had joined us
on the common but with news of a Blyth’s Reed Warbler still at Wells we headed
off but were not too optimistic in seeing it as it was a new UK tick for both
Ken and I. When we arrived in the area
birders seemed to be scattered and the bird was obviously not showing and
people didn’t seem sure where it had been seen.
As we stood observing an area of scrub we were constantly distracted by
Goldfinch that were feeding in the pines and there must have been at least
fifty in the small area we could see. A
Woodcock then flashed through the clearing but only Ken and I saw it before it
disappeared. Just after this we heard a
whistle several times and it was another birder who was trying to attract
people without too much disturbance and we were soon alongside him. He explained that he thought he had the
Blyth’s Reed and indicated where it was.
As I scanned the brambles I could see occasional movement and then had
brief views of the bird in question. As
I continued to watch it came out in full view but unfortunately only briefly
and then I saw just an occasional movement before I thought it might have
flown. I then found out that David had
also had the view I did but Ken had just seen part of bird that cocked its tail
before disappearing and Roger had not seen it at all. It was then relocated some fifty yards away
but on reaching the site there was no further sign. We returned to the original location and it
did appear again but on this occasion none of us saw it before yet again it disappeared. The parking ticket was due to expire soon and
so David and I returned to the car for some lunch and were joined shortly afterwards
by Ken and Roger who still hadn’t seen it.
A Red-flanked Bluetail at
Holkham had now been reported and we agreed that we should make the short
journey to Lady Anne’s Drive and walk to the cross roads in Holkham Pines for
the bluetail. As we walked out towards
the crossroads Goldcrest appeared to be everywhere and we had a couple of
sightings of Redwings. Several returning
birders were indicating that the bluetail had been showing well and we were
quite optimistic that we would see it well.
We found a group of birders off the track observing a group of bushes
but there was no sign of the bluetail.
We stood there for quite some time seeing very little, a Sparrowhawk and
a Treecreeper being the best. A birder
to the right suddenly said there it is low down in the left hand corner. David, Ken and Roger managed to see it as it
dropped lower and I didn’t see it at all.
However a few minutes later it reappeared and this time was clearly
visible as it moved through a hawthorn before disappearing again. David was the first to make a move back
towards the car and Roger and I soon followed him, leaving Ken hoping for
another view.
As we walked back all we were
seeing were more Goldcrest until David called saying that Steve had found
another Isabelline Shrike near the Washington Hide. We quickened our pace and soon joined David
and we then had reasonable views of our second Isabelline Shrike of the
day. I called Ken to make him aware and
we continued watching the bird first outside the hide and then from within
it. It actually came closer whilst we
were in the hide and was clearly more obviously marked than the bird we had
seen earlier. However by the time Ken
reached us we had lost the bird but after just a few minutes Ken found it perched
some distance away on top of a hawthorn bush.
It did come back down the hedge towards us and we were able again to get
some reasonable views. There were also a
few Redwings and Blackbirds feeding in the area along with several Reed
Buntings and a Song Thrush. Two Marsh
Harriers were observed over the fields and there were two Pink-footed Geese
some distance away. We eventually went
back to the car and headed off home after what had been a very successful day
for me, with Blyth’s Reed Warbler added to my UK life list and two Isabelline
Shrikes and a Red-flanked Bluetail as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment