David, Malcolm, Roger and I set
off for Cley in Norfolk hoping that a Desert Wheatear present since Tuesday the
25th would still be there.
Malcolm had seen it yesterday as it was a lifer for him but he still
wanted to come for a day out.
We had a bit of a diversion at
King’s Lynn as the ring road was closed at the roundabout near The Queen
Elizabeth Hospital and we had to turn right.
I set the Sat Nav for Cley, which then directed through Gayton and Great
Messingham and we joined the A148 at Harpley.
It might have taken a few minutes longer but there was very little
difference in the distance. As we were
approaching the coast we were surprised to see the cloud clear and the sun
appear and it was a lovely morning when we pulled up at Walsey Hills. Two birders were coming out of the entrance
to the hills saying that a Dusky Warbler had been calling and showing
occasionally and with no news on the wheatear we decided to go and have a
look. Another birder at the end of the
track indicated that he had heard it several times and had seen it briefly but
it had now gone quiet. We did see a
Chiffchaff and whilst watching it the Dusky called and appeared to be almost in
front of us but it didn’t show and went quite again. News then came though that the Desert
Wheatear had been seen and so we decided to leave as this was our prime
target. Five high flying Bearded Tits
flew over as we made our way back to the road.
On reaching the road we had
some debate as whether we should go to Salthouse and walk west along the bank
or go down the East Bank and then walk east.
We could see the birders in the distance and they looked about midway
but Malcolm assured us that the walk was easier from the end of the East Bank
and so we decided that we would walk from Walsey Hills.
As we crossed the road the two
birders who had told us about the Dusky Warbler told us that there were several
Bearded Tits feeding to the west of the bank.
As soon as we went on to the bank we could hear them calling and had
several brief views as they flicked about in the reeds but unfortunately they
decided to move on before I managed to get and photos, which was a pity as
there were several smart males.
We walked along the bank
fairly quickly and the only birds of note were a couple of Little Egrets and a
female-type Marsh Harrier. On reaching
the shingle bank we walked east along the area between the bank and Arnold’s
Marsh, which wasn’t too bad as there was a covering of grass on most of
it. However when we reached the end of
Arnold’s Marsh it was just shingle and going got rather tough but we eventually
reached the area where the wheatear was.
We saw it immediately but it was rather distant but it wasn’t long
before it had come much closer and we able to get some excellent views and
photos of a splendid male Desert Wheatear.
Male Desert Wheatear
Male Desert Wheatear
Male Desert Wheatear
Male Desert Wheatear
Male Desert Wheatear
Roger picked up a Woodcock in
fight, which had presumably come in off the sea, whilst we were watching the
wheatear. After watching and
photographing the wheatear we turned our attention to the sea but it was very quiet
with just a single Red-throated Diver and several Gannets and so we started the
walk back.
As we walked back we paid a
little more attention to the pools with several Shelduck and a single Pintail
on the first and more Shelduck and several Dunlin and Redshank and a Curlew on
Arnold’s Marsh.
When we got back to Walsey
Hills we checked out the pool and found a Water Rail and a roosting Jack Snipe,
which was year-tick for Malcolm.
With nothing else being
reported in the area we started to move back west, which helps reduce the
journey time later. We turned towards
Burnham Overy at Burnham Deepdale and then took a minor road west from Burnham
Overy with the intention of checking out several fields where a flock of
Pink-footed Geese had included three White-fronted Geese and two Bean Geese
yesterday. However there was no sign and
we turned into Chalk Pit Lane and headed towards Titchwell. One of the fields along Chalk Pit Lane
contained numerous birds that included C.100 Golden Plover and c.100 Fieldfare,
along with small numbers of Lapwing and Skylark and eleven Red-legged
Partridges and we also may have had a Corn Bunting but we were unable to
relocate the bird to confirm its identity.
Several skeins of Pink-footed Geese flew over and must a numbered more than
five hundred in total but they were flying high and didn’t come down in the
vicinity.
We eventually arrived at
Titchwell and after parking we had lunch before making our way along the path
to the sea. Another long staying Dusky
Warbler had been seen a few times during the morning but not for over an
hour. We stopped briefly in the area,
seeing a Brambling but there was no sign of the Dusky.
A brief stop at Thornham Pool
produced nothing and the water level had risen on the Freshwater Marsh and
consequently there were less variety waders, with just four Avocets, 100+
Golden Plover, fourteen Dunlin, fifty-two Ruff and fourteen Black-tailed
Godwits being seen. There were plenty of
Wigeon and Teal with smaller numbers of Shelduck, Gadwall, Mallard and
Shoveler.
We didn’t spend too long
looking at Volunteer Marsh or the Tidal Marsh as there was little of interest
and we wanted to get to the sea.
When we reached the beach the
tide was out about as far out as I have seen it and so we walked out to get
closer to the shoreline. There was a
good selection of waders on the shore that included Oystercatchers, Grey
Plover, Knot, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank and
Turnstone. As we scanned the sea,
Malcolm picked up three scoters, which then flew and we were able to confirm
that they were three Velvet Scoters, which then joined five Common Scoter. They pitched into the sea again close to a
party of ten Red-breasted Merganser and there were also three Great Crested
Grebes. A party of Cormorants were
feeding a good way of shore and were accompanied by a few Gannets with their
numbers growing to at least thirty and obviously there was some good feeding.
Grey Plover
Knot
Sanderling
Adult winter Common Gull over the sea
David and Roger had gone back
ahead of Malcolm and me and when we reached the Tidal Marsh there was a
Kingfisher perched on vegetation at the edge of the marsh.
Kingfisher
I left Malcolm with the
Kingfisher and continued along the bank to the Volunteer Marsh, where Roger and
David had seen a couple of Ringed Plovers, which appear to be quite scarce at
this time of the year here. I couldn’t
find them but did hear one call and got some rather nice shots of a Dunlin and
a Curlew.
Dunlin
Dunlin
Curlew
Curlew
I continued along the bank and
stopped briefly to view the Freshwater Marsh again, where the Golden Plovers
were a little closer and I was able to get a couple of shots. There were a couple of Chiffchaffs in a bush
in the reedbed and I found Roger at the Dusky Warbler site but it hadn’t been
seen or heard all afternoon.
Golden Plover
Golden Plover
Brent Goose
The field to the west of the
entrance road hadn’t been touched since the harvest was collected but all we
could find were seventeen Red-legged Partridges, several Woodpigeon and a
single Stock Dove.
Once we were all back at the
car we set off for home and called at Choseley where we had more Red-legged
Partridge but there was no sign of the hoped for Grey Partridges. David also found a pale Buzzard perched in
hedge that initially suggested that it might be a Rough-legged Buzzard. I suggested that we make one further stop and
Abbey Farm in the hope we could find some Grey Partridge and perhaps even Barn
or Little Owl.
At Abbey Farm we parked at the
far end of the road but the field where I had seen Grey Partridge in the past
contained cabbage and didn’t look at all suitable. I then scanned east towards a barn and found
several partridges, which turned out to be just Red-legged but I then noticed
some more in the field where the barn was.
David and Roger both looked as they were using their scopes but found
only Red-legged again. I had a look
through Roger’s scope and was pretty sure that the four most distant birds were
actually Grey Partridge. Roger and David
then looked again and eventually agreed on my identification but there was no
sign of either of the owls.
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