Magic Week!!

So, my annual October pilgrimage to Norfolk was here! Affectionally know as 'magic week', the mid-October period fairly reliably produces a good run of sibes and great birding. This year was full of particular expectation, with a long run of easterly winds forecast, coming from the far east.

Day 1:

It all began with me setting off fairly early on Saturday (10/10) under bright sunshine and blue skies. The easterly winds were only really beginning from mid-afternoon onwards, so expectations for the day were not too high and so it was a fairly casual snoop about.

I stopped off at Roydon Common for a quick pee and a short walk about to stretch my legs. I was surprised to come across a group of 5 vocal Fieldfare which stopped off briefly before chattering off into the distance. A handful of Egyptian Geese flew past, 7 Redpoll and a few Siskins flew over, while there were a couple of Stonechat and a good count of at least 10 Mistle Thrush.

I met up with Kieran and Dan at Weybourne thereafter and promptly had a late Swallow fly west while waiting for them, as well as a single Stonechat. We then met up with Johny and headed west to try a few bits of habitat including Warham Greens, Stiffkey Campsite Wood and a wander out onto the saltmarsh. This produced next to nothing out of the ordinary with a few Brent Geese, Grey & Golden Plover, several Rock Pipit & 1 or 2 Marsh Harrier.

We decided to reward our efforts by heading to Cley east bank to see the adult White-Rumped Sandpiper which had been discovered earlier in the day. It took a little while, but we eventually got onto the bird distantly with a handful of Dunlin on the floods just east of east bank. Soon after it moved to Arnold's Marsh where it became more elusive before moving back to the floods. Here however, it was far more in the open where we were able to obtain pretty decent views, giving us the chance to appreciate the key ID pointers including the slightly smaller size, longer wings, shorter bill, pale supercilium and greyish upperparts with a few black feathers centres. Plenty of birds here including a sizable flock of Golden Plover, several Ruff (photo below) and usual wildfowl and common waders. We then headed to the pub for a well-earned beer or two!

Day 2:

With a stronger easterly wind in place, we all decided East Hills near Wells (seen below from the edge of Wells Woods) was a must! So a gang of 6 of us all met up at Garden Drove, Warham Greens.

Before heading out across the saltmarsh, good birds were already appearing at the bottom of garden drove including several Brambling and decent views of a Yellow-Browed Warbler in the copse, together with quite a number of Goldcrests.

Plenty of Rock Pipits & Skylark on the way out there while a couple of migrant Goldcrests in the sueda was a good sign. The first few bushes on the edge of East Hills held further Goldcrests. We were hoping to be first out there in order to find ourselves something good but were pretty disappointed to find a couple of birders already out there and even more disappointed to here news that they had already found a Dusky Warbler and a Red Flanked Bluetail. ARRRGGHHH!

Still, we began our search and soon came across 2 nice Ring Ouzel in scrub on the edge of the trees at the eastern end. There were Goldcrests literally everywhere, it was pretty insane! 

Strolling around, we also came across plenty of Song Thrush, Robins, Redwings and the odd Blackbird. A Short Eared Owl flew out of the northern edge and showed well for a short while, while Kayn re-found the Dusky Warbler. We could hear it calling relatively frequently, but failed to get any views.

The whole area was alive and it was pretty exciting sifting through everything, thinking the next thing could be something mega (later found to be nieve optimism!). I found a female-type Redstart (below) towards the SW end and there were also a fair sprinkling of Brambling, and particularly good numbers of Song Thrush and Redwing. Another sortie to the same area later on revealed a nice Yellow-Browed Warbler (photo below doesn't look much like YBW but can assure it was one!) and a Fieldfare flew over, however there was no sign of the earlier Bluetail sadly.

Back in the central area of the 'island' we managed to get onto the pretty vocal Dusky Warbler which soon showed itself really well on several occasions. I was chuffed to get such good views as my only previous Dusky, while it called well, only produced crappy flight views.

Having seemingly exhausted the island and it's migrants, we trudged back to garden drove, pretty exhausted and slightly deflated with all our efforts failing to muster a self-found sibe or two. Before heading back to Kieran's though, we decided we just about had enough time to enjoy the Isabelline Shrike that had appeared over at Beeston Common, Sheringham. It would be a new bird for me and I was certainly keen to get myself a trip lifer.

We arrived with enough light and we were soon enjoying crippling views of the Isabelline Shrike, a presumed Daurian, out in front of us at the front of a small clump of scrub. It just sat there for a while before chasing after a Blue Tit and then catching a couple of wasps from a nearby bush. It was a great opportunity to take in the key ID features and it's pale colour was certainly very noticeable. After enjoying him for a while, it was time to rest our rather tired bodies!

Day 3:

Monday (12/10) was full of effort but again no reward on our part. Kieran, Dan & I began our day further east along the coast, trying all sorts of little pockets of habitat around Overstrand and West/East Runton. Plenty of Goldcrests, Song Thrushes, Redwing, a couple of black-billed continental-type Blackbirds, the odd Brambling and Siskin but nothing drastically out of the ordinary.

We popped in to where the Pallas's Warbler had been seen the previous day just west of Sheringham, but despite several others searching too, there was no sign. Best bird here was a brief female-type Redstart in a nearby hedgerow.

We then met up with Kayn in Cley and we drove the windy old route towards the western end of the coast. We tried Titchwell churchyard and some other nearby habitat close to the far eastern end of the Titchwell reserve. Again, nothing more than plenty of Goldcrests, a Kingfisher & 1 or 2 Blackcap.

A walk through some scrub and hedgerow habitat on the northern edge of Brancaster was a little more productive with nice views of a Yellow Browed Warbler, an unusually showy Cetti's Warbler, a handful of Chiffchaff, a couple of Blackcap, and again quite a few Redwing, Song Thrush and Goldcrests.

With our luck seemingly out. We decided to travel to Lady Ann's Drive, Holkham where both a Radde's Warbler and Red-Flanked Bluetail were present. The Radde's, if I was able to see it, would be my 300th UK bird!!

The Bluetail was a pig to see and we soon gave up with that one. The area to view it was rammed with birders who also informed us it was showing pretty poorly, deep in willow scrub.

So, onto the Radde's!! On the way over, a Yellow Browed Warbler called but failed to show itself. A few minutes later, we approached a small area of reeds and scrubby bits on the edge of the pines, towards the western end. It was surrounded by 30 or so people. We began staring avidly into the reeds. The bird soon called which was cool to get more familiar with. Soon after, I managed to get views as it flicked around, rather low down but in no time it vanished further into the reeds, at least showing it's orangey undertail coverts before it went. Every now and then it would call, or we would see the reeds move, giving away it's whereabouts, though failed to give us any more views for now.

Then, after a few bits of movement low down, it appeared right out in the open flicking about on a rose-hip bush. For the next 20-30 seconds it showed brilliantly well, allowing me to enjoy that big creamy supercilium and also importantly allow me to soak up my 300th UK bird species...Radde's Warbler...BOOM!!

To get such good views of both Radde's & Dusky in two days was pretty awesome and a great education on them both for me too. I concentrated on seeing and enjoying the Radde's rather than getting any pics, so instead, below is an image of the 'twitch'.

Myself, Dan & Kieran popped into the marshes close to Salthouse for a quick butchers on the way home. Very little to write home about other than a rather funky-sounding Robin trying it's best to sound like a Dusky Warbler!

Day 4:

With the wind strengthening, we decided a day on East Hills was again in order. We all met up at Garden Drove, Warham Greens mid-morning. There certainly seemed to be quite a few common migrants about, possibly a good sign of new birds in with the usual suspects of Goldcrest, Song Thrushes and a lovely group of Brambling showing nicely at the bottom of the track.

The walk out produced the usual Skylarks, Mipits and Rock Pipits, as well as a couple of sightings of another lovely Short Eared Owl & good views of a hunting juvenile Red Kite. We joined up with three of the Holme lot and began looking for somewhere to cross the big channel out there.

Going first, I appeared to be across home and dry, only for the bloody channel to deepen just before the end...arggghhhh!!! This culminated into my wellies filling with 'lovely' cold sea water. Brilliant! At least I wasn't the only one as the same happened to Kieran.

Dan & Johny were sporting boots so it was barefoot mode the rest of the way for them, a pretty funny sight it's got to be said!

East Hills, again had plenty of birds but certainly didn't have anywhere near the numbers of Monday. It just didn't have that rare feel! A Long-Eared Owl though was very nice. It flew out of the trees ahead of us in the central area. The views I had certainly weren't enough to ID it, however the ID was confirmed a short while later as a few of the others got good views of it up in a nearby pine for a short while.

A sheltered area of sycamores near here was full of phyloscs and I just stood there sifting through a conveyorbelt of Goldcrest! I soon picked out a lovely-looking Firecrest and several Chiffchaff including a slightly darker-looking bird which Dan was trying his best to string into something else but a Chiffy is all it was I'm afraid Dan! The area got a good going over from all of us but a similar suite of common migrants to previous days was all we could find. This included several Blackcaps, Brambling, Redwings, Robins, Song Thrushes and of course, Goldcrests!

The walk back produced incredibly close views of the juvenile Red Kite, as a well as 1-2 cream crown Marsh Harrier and a fly by immature Spoonbill too, the first and only of the trip. While chatting by the cars at Garden Drove a Yellow-Browed Warbler called from the nearby hedge just the once but we all failed to locate it.

We got back to Kieran's with Dan & I having a half-hearted plan to go back out for a sewatch that evening. But I was out of my rancid, wet wellies and we'd grabbed ourselves a beer, that plan was quickly shelved!

Day 5:

Sadly my last day in Norfolk! For the umpteenth day in a row, the wind was coming in steadily from a roughly NE direction and so the day started with the usual anticipation!

With the wind having a bit of a more northerly feel, we decided to give the sea a bit of a go before moving on to Wells Woods. Dan, Kieran & I were soon unexpectidly joined by Kayn. Birds were going past, but anything more than the relatively usual fare illuded us. Still, it was nice to see singles of both Great Skua & Arctic Skua as well as a few Eider, several Red Throated Diver, as well as a steady stream of Gannets & Auks.

The Dell in Wells Woods had been holding a hugely illusive Blyth's Reed Warbler for the past day or two, another potential lifer for me. We had a decent initial look around without success.

Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Redwings, a couple of flyover Redpoll sp, Brambling, a couple of Fieldfare and tonnes of Goldcrest were all that was found wandering about towards the drinking pool and further south. Dan & Kieran found a brief SEO on the edge of the pines and Dan had a flyby Ring Ouzel on the southern edge.

After again failing to get any views of the Blyth's Reed and grabbing some food, the others decided to try some habitat back east along the coast. I decided to head further west to reduce my drive a little for later on.

So off I went to Burnham Overy Dunes to give this area and the western edge of Holkham Pines a bit of a go. The walk down was producung quite a few Goldcrests and Robins. There were quite a few Pink Footed & several Egyptian Geese in the area too.

A walk west through the dunes to Gun Hill was my first plan. Before doing so, the reported Great Grey Shrike appeared, hovering just east of the boardwalk. Unfortunately, walking over the ridge to where it was, it had vanished. All that was there was a birder who promptly asked me whether I'd seen the Shrike!!! How an earth had he not seen it, it must have been hovering just above his bloody head! I kindly explained I literally just seen right where he was!

Anyways, throughout this area and all the way up to Gun Hill, the area was littered with lots of exhausted Goldcrests. Every bush held at least 1or 2. It was quite a spectacle! There were also good numbers of Redwings including several flying in high, in off the sea together with a couple of calling Brambling.

There wasn't much variety in what I was seeing, however towards Gun Hill, a nice Short Eared Owl (below) flew up a few feet away from me and cruised away west over the dunes and a male Blackcap appeared at the base of the hill.

I walked all the way to the western end of Holkham Pines seeing nothing particularly new on route. At the edge of the pines, there was a female Brambling and quite a few thrushes. I planned to leave for home about 5 o'clock and so I had enough time to walk further east to have a look at the bluetail. I checked the latest bird news on the way over to find an Izzy Shrike had been found near Washington Hide! I had already seen one this week, but was very keen to see another if time would allow.

Creeping into the willows where the bluetail had been showing, I came across local birder John Furse. He said the bird had been showing fairly regularly and only a few minutes later my second Red Flanked Bluetail flicked into view. I was lucky, as it showed three times in the 15 or so minutes that I was there, zipping around low down amongst the willow saplings. It was very dim under the willows and so impossible to get any photos with the SX50.

John was parked at Lady Ann's Drive and kindly offered me a lift back to my car via the Izzy Shrike which of course I accepted! We walked further east and had a bit of a scan looking south from the Washington Hide area for the shrike. It had apparently gone missing for quite a while though. We did see a Redwing with a white wing which was a bit different. We then set off back to John's car, however 10 seconds later we were called back as the Isabelline Shrike (poor record shot below) had suddenly appeared. It was quite distant sat up in a hedge before flying up to the top. Someone kindly let me have a look through their scope, allowing me to see it in more detail. It was more marked than the Beeston bird, however certainly paler enough for Daurian. It also showed off it's red tail nicely too.

  

In increasingly heavy rain, we headed off, signalling the end of a bloody good trip full of laughs and great birds! A haul of 2 Izzy Shrikes, Red Flanked Bluetail, Radde's & Dusky Warbler, a few Yellow Browed Warbler and a great number of scarce and common migrants just cannot be sniffed at. Getting my 300th UK bird species too was a great moment too. 

There is though a slight hint of feeling a little hard done by having spent a lot of time covering so much good habitat and yet not being able to pull something special out of the bag ourselves. But hey ho, there's always next magic week!! My dream of finding my own OBP will have to wait for another year! 

Jumping on the Yellow-Browed band wagon

On Wednesday (30/09) I set off 'nice' & early for a day in North Norfolk to both catch up with a YBW or too and anything else that may drop in. With a gentle easterly you just never know!

It was also a chance to catch up and do some birding with my pal Kieran again. We started at Wells Woods for an early stomp about. It was a lovely clear, mild morning as we slowly worked the dell and further west towards the drinking pool. We latched onto a couple of roving tit flocks, however nothing more exciting than a couple of calling Chiffchaff, a handful of flyover Siskins and plenty of Goldcrests. A large concentration of birds around the drinking pool eventually produced a fine Firecrest that after a bathe, spent a bit of time preening in a nearby sapling (rubbish photo below).

We walked back towards the Dell and promptly heard a Yellow-Browed Warbler not too far away. I strolled off to find it however soon returned as Kieran found presumably another nearby and showing very well. It took a couple of moments before it duly showed well for me too, flicking around a silver birch, pausing perfectly in the morning sunlight. I could probably have got a decent photo but was keen to just simply enjoy it. These were probably my best views of YBW so I went back to the car pretty happy!

We gave Warham Greens and 'the pit' a decent going over, finding little. There were a few groups of Dark Bellied Brent Geese on the saltmarsh and a decent flock of Golden Plover too, while 1-2 Marsh Harrier loafed past and a Swallow flew through. Stiffkey Campsite Wood also was deadly quiet. I finished my birding with Kieran with a bit of a seawatch off Weybourne after a well earned Lamb & Mint pasty. Again this was fairly fruitless. Best birds were 4 Common Scoter west, the odd distant auk sp. past and occasional groups of Gannets heading through.

We then parted ways and I decided to finish my day at Titchwell to enjoy some good views of waders etc. The freshmarsh was a hive with activity with big numbers of Teal in particular. 
A scan from the Island hide revealed a very distant Little Stint busying about. Other waders included a decent sized flock of Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tailed Godwits, a handful of Knot, Dunlin, 4-5 Avocet, a small number of Dunlin, a few Ruff, Snipe, Golden Plover and a vocal Greenshank.  As well as the commoner stuff, a handful of Brent Geese were also bathing.

A walk further along the path also produced some Grey Plover and a single feeding Spotted Redshank. The sea appeared relatively quiet so I moved back to the freshmarsh to enjoy the evening golden light. A couple of Marsh Harrier appeared and went to roost in the reedbed and it was nice to see a rather mobile Curlew Sandpiper which did for a short while, give great views.

The day finished with a small skein of Pink-Footed Geese over heading to roost. 

Cornwall & the Scillies

Between 19/09 & 26/09, Em and I travelled down to Cornwall and the Scillies for a chilled out holiday! 

On Saturday 19/09 we visited Padstow, bathed in glorious sunshine and the sound of typically vocal Herring Gulls. Wandering about the harbour, there were quite a few foraging Turnstones snapping up the smallest of scraps! A Kingfisher zipped past the quay while a walk along the Camel Estuary after lunch, I managed to see 2-3 adult Med Gulls and at least 10 Sandwich Terns (with several fairly advanced begging juveniles), as well as the odd Shag & Cormorant. 

We spent the following day in St. Ives where on the bird front, I saw pretty similar fare to Padstow, with the addition of a Wheatear, as well as a group of distant dolphin sp.

Monday was a super early start, before driving to Penzance in torrential rain to get the Scillonian over to the Scillies. As we set off, the rain cleared and we were in fact bathed in sunshine all the way over. Undoubted highlights were nice views of a couple of Sooty Shearwater and a Balearic Shearwater, both well overdue lifers for me! Other birds seen included fantastic views of an Arctic Skua, several Manxies, a Kittiwake and scores of Gannets.

We arrived on St. Mary's and after an awesome lunch overlooking the harbour, we began exploring, doing a circuit of the Garrison. The weather was stunning and there were lots of butterflies on the wing including tonnes of Speckled Wood, as well as several Holly Blue. Lots of Swallows were also zipping around everywhere and we saw several Black Rabbits which looked more than a bit weird!

Staying in the centre of the island meant a bit of walk from Hugh Town but did mean it was a pretty good central base to explore. Later on, before we went out for dinner, I took a walk down through Holyvale to Porth Hellick Pool to have a look at the Pectoral Sandpipers that had been present there recently, always a nice bird to see. Was a nice walk along the leafy Scilly lanes. I managed to find a Willow Warbler and continued to hear the constant chattering of migrant Swallows overhead. Porth Hellick Pool looked great, especially in the golden early evening light. From the two hides, the 3 Pectoral Sandpipers showed extremely well right in front, reminding me of the 3 at Pitsford Res several years ago. There were also several Greenshank, a Ringed Plover and a Whinchat on my walk back to the hotel.

The next morning I had another quick look before breakfast. The Pecs were again ridiculously close and there were more Greenshank and several Snipe present.

After breakfast, we walked down to Hugh Town to get the boat over to nearby Tresco. On the way down I found a Pied Flycatcher and also saw an unfortunate Wheatear wandering around Hugh Town High Street with an apparent broken wing.

Tresco was different from St. Mary's but just as stunning, particularly the several white, sandy beaches and the Abbey Gardens which we had a good wander around.

The gardens held a nice little population of Red squirrels, several of which showed fantastically well; always a treat!

Walking around the stunning gardens, I also saw a Pied Flycatcher and a beaut of of a Golden Pheasant wandering along the path. I'm always amazed how long their tails are...plastic magic!

The rest of our time on the island was spent around the Great Pool and the southern end, slowly making our way to the jetty where would catch our boat back to St. Mary's. In between gorging on the tonnes of blackberries on offer, birds seen included a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Whinchat, several Stonechat, 2 Wheatear, a few Greenshank and a few Little Egret.
Small Copper butterflies were also in good supply, together with loads more Speckled Wood.

The next day was sadly our final day on the Scillies. Before breakfast, a scan from the hotel garden was productive with a Lesser Whitethroat and a Whinchat in a nearby hedge. We then set off to explore more of the southern end of the island, walking to Peninnis Head and past the airfield and back towards Hugh Town before getting our ferry back to the mainland. Popping into Porth Hellick Pool one more time, the 3 Pecs were still close, together with the usual Greenshanks & Snipe.

On what was a pretty cloudy day, our walk from here all the way to Peninnis Head produced 3 more Whinchat, several Wheatear, Stonechats, large numbers of Song Thrush (migrants?) and best of all, a distant juvenile Dotterel trotting around the grass by the airfield runway (too distant for any decent photos).

We got our ferry back to the mainland late afternoon. Highlights included a group of 2-3 Harbour Porpoise, a pod of Common Dolphin, a brief small Petrel sp. (presumed Storm), at least 4 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Manx Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 2 Fulmar and 100s of Gannets!

My last little bit of birding of the trip was firstly a wander around Dawlish Warren (Devon) late afternoon on Friday (25/09). Saw very little to be honest other than a Grey Plover, 6 Brent Geese, a couple of Gannet and plenty of Oystercatchers. The next day I spent a bit of time at Bowling Green Marsh near Exeter on the way home. BGM is one of my most familiar and favourite sites, visiting there frequently as a keen young lad back in the day when my Gran used to live around the corner from there. Saturday (26/09) was a bright, sunny day making visibility difficult due to the glaring sun and heat haze. Amongst the commoner stuff, birds included a singing Cetti's Warbler, several Pintail, c.40 Black Tailed Godwit, a Common Sandpiper, a Raven & a few Chiffchaff.

So there was the end of a wonderful trip! A couple of lifers but sadly no oober-rares. Typically on leaving the Scillies the islands filled with some awesome rares including Blackpoll Warbler & Grey-Cheeked Thrush, but hey-ho, you can't win them all! Certainly will be heading back to the Scillies though, such an awesome place, with great opportunities to find your own birds.