With David and Ken away Roger
and I decided to have a day in West Norfolk and set off for King’s Lynn at
06:30. The journey over, considering it
was a week day, was pretty uneventful and we arrived at Fisher Fleet in King’s
Lynn at 08:25 hoping two see a juvenile Iceland Gull. As we parked a couple of birders informed us
that it was on the mud at the entrance to the fishing fleet dock. As we walked towards the area there were
plenty of Black-headed and Herring Gulls and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull
along the shore of the Great Ouse and there were more gulls on the other side
of the entrance. We scanned these and
other birds on the near shore but we couldn’t see the Iceland Gull. I walked a little further back up the road
and found it resting on the near shore and the reason we hadn’t see it was that
from most positions it was at least partially hidden by the grasses along the
bank. We watched the bird for about
twenty minutes and I was able to get several photos despite the bird’s position
and the poor light before it flew to the far side of the dock when we decided
to leave.
Juvenile Iceland Gull
Feeling pretty pleased with
the views of the Iceland Gull we headed for Choseley Barns where we were hoping
to see one of the Rough-legged Buzzards that had been hunting over the fields
during the last few days.
We saw a couple of Marsh
Harriers as we were approaching Choseley and on parking we flushed several
Chaffinches and a Fieldfare. Roger
noticed a couple of coveys of partridge and whilst I was getting ready he
identified one group as Red-legged Partridges but the other whilst mainly
Red-legged also contained at least three Grey Partridge but another birder flushed
them before I could get my scope on them and I had to be content with seeing
them through the bins. We scanned the
fields but there was no sign of any birds of prey but we did find several
Meadow Pipits and four Yellowhammers.
Another birder then arrived and as he scanned the fields he indicated
that he possibly had the Rough-legged.
Roger then picked up a bird of prey flying towards us, which we were
able to identify as just a Buzzard as it came closer. The birder hadn’t said anything but as I
scanned the fields again I saw a bird on the ground with a pale head and on
mentioning it, it was what he had seen before the Buzzard diverted his
attention. We all got our scope on it
and were pretty confident that it was in fact a Rough-legged Buzzard and when
it flew it confirmed its identity. We
had it flight on a couple of occasions before it disappeared behind a conifer
and almost certainly landed in the far side.
The views of the bird were quite distant but despite these the flight
views were rather good with the white base to the tail and the single diffused
bar were clearly seen as was the dark belly.
From Choseley we went to
Brancaster Staithe where there had been a Red-necked Grebe and we saw this
almost immediately after getting out of the car. The tide was out and it was feeding in Mow
Creek, which is quite narrow at low tide and we were able to get some excellent
views and a few photos.
Red-necked Grebe
It was going quite well today
as so far everything had been relatively easy and we decided to go to Thornham
and considered walking out to the point in the hope of seeing the Shore Larks
again. However when we arrived the wind
had got up quite a bit and it was getting close to lunchtime and as it would be
a last a ninety minute round trip, we decided to see if we could see them from
the car park, although the chances were pretty slim. As we scanned the area we did manage to see
several Skylarks and I found a party of circa twenty Twite and we felt if the
birds were on view we would possibly be able to identify them. As we continued scanning a party of birders
had gathered and they were clearly showing some interest in something and one
was actually using his camera. However
we couldn’t see anything where they were looking until three larks suddenly
flew and went by the group before appearing to land. The group had swung around and followed the
birds but then began to meander back along the point. We felt that the birds were certainly the
Shore Larks but that they hadn’t actually come down and had continued along the
spit and out of sight.
As it was now lunchtime we
headed off Titchwell where we had lunch before venturing onto the reserve. The first group of feeders near the centre
were quite busy but there was nothing of note and after passing through the
centre we found those at the rear to be totally devoid of birds except for a
few Woodpigeons feeding on the ground. A
new group of feeders just along the Meadow Trail produced a Great Spotted
Woodpecker and as we walked back towards the centre we found lots of activity
around the rear feeders. We stood and
watched birds coming and going, which included Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinch
and Greenfinch and eventually we had a female Brambling. There was also a mixed flock of Goldfinch and
Siskin feeding in the alders.
We set off down the west bank
and found that the Freshwater Marsh water level was particularly high and not
very suitable for waders but we did find an Avocet and four Dunlin. Lavender Pool on Thornham Marsh held quite a
few Teal and we also found five roosting Snipe.
As we reached Volunteer Marsh we found quite a few Redshanks along with
a few Curlew and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits but a pipit turned out to be
just a Meadow.
There were more birds on the
Tidal Marsh where we found our first Bar-tailed Godwit of the day and then I
found a single Ringed Plover and three Spotted Redshanks and Roger found another
two Avocets.
On reaching the beach the tide
was way out but there plenty of waders, mainly Oystercatchers, Dunlin and
Bar-tailed Godwits but there were also at least four Ringed Plovers, several
Grey Plovers, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone.
We scanned the sea and found a four Common Scoters, a couple of Velvet
Scoter and six Red-breasted Mergansers but there was little else except for a
drake Goldeneye and several Great Crested Grebes. As the tide began coming in the waders
started moving around, with some appearing to go onto the reserve to roost and
we located our first Sanderling of the day with at least ten being eventually
seen.
Common Gull over the beach
Common Gull over the beach
When the tide had virtually
covered most of the good feeding area we found quite a few Oystercatchers now
roosting on the Tidal Marsh and there also appeared to be more Dunlin and
Black-tailed Godwits feeding along with the three Spotted Redshanks. A party of roosting Shoveler contained five
Pintail and four Little Grebes were also observed. As we scanned the Volunteer Marsh I saw a
bird fly in, which I initially suspected might be a Grey Plover but there was
no black armpit and on scoping the now settled bird found it to be our first
Knot of the day, after which Roger found three more. Three Avocets then flew over and appeared to
drop onto the Tidal Marsh but we saw little else until we reached the
Freshwater Marsh. As we scoped the marsh
Roger found a single Ruff and two Snipe on the few exposed islands but other
than another six Pintail there was little else.
Curlew on Volunteer Marsh
We stopped by Island Hide to
view the reedbed and saw at least nine Marsh Harriers come into roost, of which
only one was a male. A Cetti’s Warbler
called as we started to walk back and after a coffee and the light almost gone
we set off for home after what had been an excellent day’s birding.
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