Day Trip to Norfolk

                                                     30th January 2023 

                                                            Brancaster

                                                                  

Richardson's Cackling Goose.

On Monday the 30th January i left home at 4am and headed to Brancaster in Norfolk in the hope of seeing the Richardson's Cackling Goose !!

I parked up the concrete pad just before Brancaster at approx 07.30 , i was the only person there and could hear the distant Pink footed Geese in the distant fields.

A quick scan through part of the flock which was closest only produced PFG however these were a new bird for my year list (we don't get many in Kent).

Another birder arrived  about 30 minutes later and we teamed up to check through the furthest flock near the wooded area in the top field , other birders came & went without success however myself & Trevor (sorry don't know your last name) continued scanning the 1500+ flock of PFG , finally after 2 hours scanning Trevor said those words we all like to hear ''I'VE GOT IT ''

Richardson's Cackling Goose.

I quickly managed to get onto it before it got lost in the huge flock , roughly the size of a Mallard the RCG could easily be lost behind a PFG , so after a 2 hour search i was rewarded with some distant but good scope views of this smart Cackling Goose.  

CLEY  SPY 

Long Eared Owl

Whilst enjoying views of the RCG news had come through that the Long Eared Owl at CLEY SPY was showing well, my mind was made up to head there via Holkham fresh marsh, a quick stop at Holkham fresh marsh produced several White Fronted Geese & more Pink footed Geese.

I then carried on my journey to CLEY SPY and eventually saw the Long Eared Owl in all it's splendid glory, what a bird !!!!!

I would also like to thank the good people of CLEY SPY for allowing viewing of this wonderful bird. 

Digi scoped Long Eared Owl.

Such a treat to see this wonderful bird, i also bumped into Mike & Toby here , really great to meet you !! , we then teamed up and headed to Weybourne to look for more Geese, this time Tundra Bean Goose was the target.

2 Tundra Bean Geese.

It didn't take long to locate the Tundra Bean Geese among the 1500+ Pink Footed Geese , once again a remarkable sight & sound, one i will never forget.

Pink Footed Geese

Huge flock of Pink Footed Geese.

6th february 2023 : Norfolk Again !!!

I teamed up with Richard .R. to try and see the RCG as he couldn't come up with me the week before, sadly we never managed to relocate it at Burnham Deepdale or Brancaster, we did see lot's of Pink Footed Geese & 2 Tundra Bean Geese at Burnham Deepdale though.

Long Billed Dowitcher.

We spent a good few hours searching for the RCG without success and finally decided to head to Cley for the Long Billed Dowitcher .

Long Billed Dowitcher.

Pallas's Warbler at Swalecliffe

                                              5th January 2023 ;  Swalecliffe 

                                                                   

Pallas's Warbler.

The aim this Year is to stay as local as possible , Oare Marshes will be my local patch for 2023 however as Swalecliffe is just 10 minutes down the road it would have been rude of me not to go and see Andy .T.'s  great find !!

Supercillium & crown stripe plus wings bars were clear to see.

 

It showed well but was always on the move in typical Leaf warbler behaviour , it became elusive at times as it clearly had a circuit around the Brook & sewage works area.

With a bit of patience the Pallas's Warbler always came back to the same area along the Brook (well at least while we were there).

Here are a selection of photos :

Yellow rump.

Pallas's Warbler.

 

Merry Christmas

Just like to wish everyone who has visited my blog this year a

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

&

GREAT BIRDING

FOR

2023

 

Great Grey Shrike at Hothfield Common

                                          26th November : Hothfield Common

                                                                    

Great Grey Shrike.

On Saturday 26th November a trip to Hothfield Common was very successful , i have never been to this site before so many thanks to Neil Burt for site info.

We eventually found the area that the Great Grey Shrike visits on it's quite wide ranging circuit and after a short wait we were treated to some excellent views of this superb bird.

Great Grey Shrike.

The Great Grey Shrike remained low down for some of the time before flying up high onto an Oak tree.

Great Grey Shrike.

Other birds seen & heard were Siskin , Lesser Redpoll , Yellowhammer & 2 Dartford Warblers.

Sabine's Gull & Red Rumped Swallow in Kent

                                           4th November  2022  : Port Lympne  

                                                                         

Sabine's Gull.

News of a Sabine's Gull showing well at Port Lympne filtered through on twitter on the 3rd November (many thanks to Peter Coleman for putting the news out & info of where to park).

I had the opportunity to have a look for myself on the 4th November and wow what a view it was !!!  I have seen many Sabine's Gulls since i have been birding but never one as approachable & close as this one .

The Sabine's Gull came so close it was difficult to get a photograph of it, all my photo's are Digi-scoped .

                                                                                 

Sabine's Gull.

8th & 10th November  2022 : Palm Bay Forness.

Red Rumped Swallow Photo by Jonathan Boyce Leigh

Great views of  2  Red Rumped Swallows & 3 House Martins flying over and around the Cliff's at Palm bay on the 8th & 10th November was a real bonus , they were seen more over the houses on the 10th but we heard the flight call of  one of the Red Rumped Swallows  on the 10th.

Red Rumped Swallow Photo by Jonathan Boyce Leigh.

Many thanks to Jonathan Boyce Leigh for the use of his great photos of the Red Rumped Swallows.

We also saw a very confiding Snow Bunting & a smart Dartford Warbler along the cliff top plus a Black Redstart showed well near the Beach cafe.

Some Highlights from Shetland

                                                   MYRTLE WARBLER  at Bigton 

                                                                          

Myrtle Warbler 

One of the highlights of this years Shetland trip was the superb Myrtle Warbler at Bigton, this really smart looking bird showed well on occasion and all the above photos were Digi-scoped.

WHITE'S THRUSH at Lerwick

White's Thrush photos by Iain Johnson.

The White's Thrush at Lerwick gave us a little bit of a run around but eventually gave some fantastic views , it was great watching it do it's little side to side dance and is without doubt the bird of the trip for me.

Many thanks to Iain Johnson for letting me use his superb photos on my blog.

Siberian Stonechat ? (awaiting DNA results)

Siberian Stonechat (?)

We had some really good views of this smart Eastern Stonechat species, i understand DNA has ben collected so hopefully that will decide it's species, looks good for Siberian to me but what do i know.......Lol

Ring necked Duck    Loch of Spiggie

Ring necked Duck.

We saw the Ring necked Duck on the Loch of Spiggie on a couple of occasions and although not a rare  bird these days it was good to see it at close quarters. 

Having no camera hindered the amount photos i could get as i was only able to Digi scope, we had a great start to the week but the weather was pretty hard going most days (as you would expect up here).

Other highlights which i never managed photos of were : Hornemann's Redpoll x2, King Eider, Barred Warbler, Glaucous Gull, Yellow browed Warbler, Hawfinch & Twite  plus several more year ticks.

We had a couple of great seawatches , one of Eshaness where we saw a superb close in Sooty Shearwater amongst the 1000's of Gannets, Fulmars & Kittiwakes.

Plus we did a seawatch from Quendale Bay and saw a close in Leach's Petrel & a distant Sooty Shearwater.

Long tailed Duck

Whooper Swan & Long tailed Duck

Great northern Diver

Morning sky on Shetland.