Roger picked me a little before 06:30 and after driving to David’s who
was the designated driver today we sent off to Rutland Water to collect
Malcolm. We made a short detour at
Rutland Water to view the flock of forty-four Barnacle Geese that have been present
for a while, but David hadn’t seen.
Having watched the geese briefly we were soon on our way to Blackbush
Drove in Cambridgeshire where we were hoping to catch up with a Rough-legged
Buzzard. They had all seen it whilst I
was away cruising and were optimistic they would see it again. However, when we got there it was still quite
cold, particularly in the fresh westerly wind.
We were there almost an hour but there was no sign of any buzzards and
all we were seeing was a constant stream of European Herring Gulls moving
south. Whilst we were on site we did see
a Little Egret, a Common Kestrel and circa thirty Fieldfare but we eventually
called it a day and continued to Norfolk.
Our next target was a Tundra Bean Goose that been reported several times
earlier this week feeding with Pink-footed Geese between Ringstead and Thornham
and the good news was that it was there today.
After seeing a Grey Partridge at the side of the road, we arrived in the
area but there were no geese feeding in the fields, although we did have a few
small flocks of Pink-footed Geese in flight.
With dip number two under our belts David decided we were going to
Thornham for Twite, which we had all seen this year, although Malcolm, Roger
and I dipped on our first visit. There
were a few other birders looking for the birds, but they hadn’t been seen. So, after parking near the old coal shed we
walked to the footpath to Holme but we didn’t go too far along the path as it
felt quite raw and there was no sign of the Twite and we eventually decided to
go for our next target a Hooded Crow.
The highlight of the visit was a Little Egret and two Grey Plover.
The Hooded Crow had been east of Chalk Pit Lane and Choseley most of the
week and had been seen yesterday at the pig farm. We approached the pig farm from Brancaster
along Mill Lane and then went along Ringstead Road to Chalk Pit Lane where we
spent some time observing the area. It
was no surprise, considering the way the day was going, that there was no sign
of the crow and we had to be content with five Common Buzzard, a Common Kestrel
and c.100 European Golden Plover.
It was just after 11:30 when we arrived at Titchwell and after an early
lunch, when I saw a male Brambling we set off for the west bank. When Roger and I reached the visitor's centre
Malcolm informed us that he and David had seen two Brambling and after short
wait Roger and I saw a female. David
then re-joined us indicating that some good birds had been seen this morning,
specifying Red-crested Pochard, Common Greenshank, Mediterranean Gull and Water
Pipit.
We set off down the west bank and stopped at Thornham Pool where the
Water Pipit had been earlier but there was no sign and on reaching the
Freshwater Marsh, which was well flooded all we could find were twenty-one Avocet
amongst a party of Black-headed Gulls.
There was a female-type Western Marsh Harrier over the reedbed but other
than a good number of Pochard and Tufted Duck there was little else on the
Freshwater Marsh.
When we reached Volunteer Marsh the tide was out and there was party of
twenty-eight Knot feeding but other than two Grey Plover and thirty-plus Common
Redshank there wasn’t a great deal else.
There was a Black-tailed Godwit on the Tidal Marsh and at least three
Pintail but like everywhere else fewer birds than normal.
When we eventually reached the beach, the tide was out and there were
fewer birds both along the shore and on the sea. Most of the waders expected were present but
in small numbers and on the sea, there
was circa twenty Common Scoter and a single female Red-breasted Merganser. I did pick up a Fulmar flying west and there
were good numbers of Great Crested Grebe on the sea, but otherwise it was
particularly quiet.
As we made our way back we found a Little Grebe and a second Black-tailed
Godwit on the Tidal Marsh and when we caught David up at the Freshwater Marsh
he had found two male and a female Red-crested Pochard. The wind had increased gradually during the
day and was now quite fresh and gusting making it rather unpleasant.
There had been a report of two Little Gulls, three Caspian Gulls and a
juvenile Iceland Gull at Fisher Fleet in King’s Lynn. We weren’t very optimistic but felt we should
give them a go as they were on the way back and David suggested we should go via
Ringstead to see if the geese had returned.
As we approached the area where the geese had been seen there were a few
Pink-footed Geese in flight again and they appeared to be dropping down. Malcolm then said there quite a few geese in the
next field, and we could see a small number through the hedge. We managed to get a position where there was
a gap in the hedge but didn’t want to get out of the car as they would almost
certainly flush. It was difficult for
Roger and I as we were having to look through David and Malcolm but I could see
quite a few and as I was scanning David announced that he had it. He gave directions and leaned forward so I
could get a better view and I soon found the bird on the front edge of the
flock. Malcolm also picked it up, but
Roger was struggling, and it was several minutes before we managed to get him
on to it as he was tending to look to far to the left and once we had all seen
it we continued on to King’s Lynn.
There were no other birders present when we arrived at King’s Lynne and
although there were good numbers of gulls, all we saw were Black-headed and
European Herring Gulls. Some other
birders then arrived and informed us that the birds had departed earlier this
morning as the tide turned and only the finder had seen them.
We had agreed to finish at Eldernell and were surprised when we arrived
to find the car park almost full and a good number of birders present. There were two Common Cranes stood on top of
the distant bank and I found three more to the right of the old duck
decoy. We also saw six Whooper Swans and
there was a 1000+ European Golden Plover seen in flight quite frequently. There was a nice party of c.100 Fieldfare and
we also had two Western Marsh Harriers, a Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel. Malcolm had a Western Barn Owl and two Short-eared
Owl performed quite well as the wind dropped late afternoon.
Short-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl
Not one our best days out with many of the target birds missed but I
still recorded eighty-four species, four of which, were year-ticks.
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