David was driving today and
had plan to try a maximise the opportunity to increase our year lists and he,
Roger and I set off for Uppingham to pick up Ken before heading off to West
Norfolk. Our first port of call was to
be Wolferton Triangle for Golden Pheasant and as we headed towards Guyhirn I
picked up a Barn Owl close to Brett’s Transport but the rest failed to get on
it.
We arrived at the triangle
around 08:30 but we didn’t intend to spend too long and were just hoping we
would be lucky but we weren’t and we continued on to Hunstanton cliff top. From the cliff top I added Fulmar, Brent
Goose, Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Turnstone to the year list and
there was also a pair of Red-breasted Merganser on the sea. From cliff top we drove the short distance to
Old Hunstanton where there had been a couple of Firecrests yesterday. To our surprise there were no other birders
on site and after about thirty minutes searching the area we gave up and headed
for Thornham.
We hadn’t had a particularly
good start with two of the target birds missed but maybe our luck we change
here. As we got out of the car a Skylark
flew over and there some Twite feeding close by and we eventually finished up
with about twenty. There was also three
pipits we suspected were Rock Pipits but they flew off over the marsh before we
could be certain. Our plan was to walk
towards Holme and then divert through the dunes to reach the beach before
walking out to the point to hopefully find the three Shore Larks we had seen
before Christmas. As we set off along
the path there was a Barn Owl sitting on a post some distance away and on
taking flight it flushed a Snipe. Roger
then found a pair of Stonechat sitting on fence between us and the Barn
Owl. We eventually managed to reach the
beach but initially there appeared to be no sign of the Shore Larks after Roger
and I had walked a good way out on the spit but David and Ken who had not gone quite
so far, found them further to the right feeding on an exposed muddy area. As we walked back we saw what we thought
would be the same Barn Owl but it was some distance away from where we had
first seen it but on getting back to the end of the track found a Barn Owl
sitting where it had been earlier and we therefore assumed we had seen two birds. The Twite flew around as we were almost back
to the car and settled briefly before flying further west across the salt
marsh. On reaching the car David
indicated that he might have a Rock Pipit and on closer inspection we found six
between where were parked and the old building.
I had added another nine year ticks here and my total stood at 105 as we
headed off to Titchwell.
After taking lunch in the car
park at Titchwell we set off down the west bank and a Water Rail took my year
total 106 before adding Water Pipit, of which there were two, with a Rock Pipit
on Thornham Pool. A Peregrine was then
observed on one of the dead trees and not too far away, a Marsh Harrier, which
was another addition to the year list.
The Freshwater Marsh was pretty full and consequently there were few
waders but there were plenty of wildfowl, including a couple of Pintail and two
pairs of Red-crested Pochard.
As I approached David and
Roger they were looking over Volunteer Marsh and had found a couple of Knot and
there were three Black-tailed Godwits on the channel on the northern edge of
the lagoon, which were both year ticks.
The Tidal Marsh was rather
productive with a Spotted Redshank and twenty-seven Avocets moving the year
list on to 113 but the sea and shore were a little disappointing with few
birds, particularly the sea but Sanderling and Common Scoter boosted the year
list 115.
As we walked back towards the
centre a female Common Scoter preening on one of the islands was unexpected and
rather unusual, although it has been seen on the Freshwater Marsh several times
recently.
The feeders at the rear of the
centre were quiet but conversely those at the front were attracting quite a few
birds that included both Coal and Marsh Tits, Brambling and Greenfinch with
both the Marsh Tit and Greenfinch new for the year.
Feeling we had done pretty
well at Titchwell we moved on to Chalkpit Lane where we were hoping for
Rough-legged Buzzard but it hadn’t been seen for quite some time and didn’t appear
during our brief stay and presumably a bird reported at Brancaster was the bird
we were looking for. There were two
Buzzard and we had two Grey Partridge, yet another year tick, as we were
leaving.
With the light beginning to
fade we called at Roydon Common on the way home and I soon picked up what I
thought might be a ring-tailed Hen Harrier but on closer inspection it didn’t
appear to show a white rump and whilst watching the bird, two others joined
it. One was similar but the third was
clearly a ring-tailed Hen Harrier but they all soon dropped and appeared to go
to roost on the ground. Our best guess
as to the identity of the two other birds was that they were female-type Marsh
Harriers but was unsure due to the poor light and also as we had never seen
them at this site before also cast doubt.
Despite missing a few of our
targets birds it had been a good day’s birding as I personally recorded
eighty-eight species, twenty-eight of which were new for the year and had moved
the total on to 119.
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