Bit of county birding

Had a day looking round Northants today with Dave. Started off at Harrington Airfield early doors. We headed along the concrete road and it wasn't long before a Merlin flashed across the field between us and the bunkers, putting up a single Golden Plover which proceeded to fly around calling. We suddenly realised the Merlin (a female) had in fact perched up on wires and showed well but distantly for a few minutes, fanning it's tail right out. Managed to get a distant silhouette photo below.

There were birds everywhere especially Finches & Buntings, these included a smart female Brambling picked up on call before showing nicely yet briefly. There were also several Redwing kicking around and a few Siskins over in ones & twos.

We then heard the news of several Bearded Tits at Stortons GPs so we swiftly headed there. We failed to latch onto them with an increasingly stiff breeze keeping them quiet. We did though  hear 1-2 squealing Water Rail and 1-2 Cetti's Warbler in song.

Next we headed to Barnes Meadow NR to have a tramp around the wet meadows for Jack Snipe. We did flush a handful of Snipe and there was also a Little Egret but zero Jacks.
This was followed by a brief tramp around Summer Leys which produced absolutely nothing, in fact sadly the reserve seemed to have more people than birds!

We completed the day with a visit to the dam at Pitsford. It wasn't long before we got onto the Black Necked Grebe that has now been there well over a month. It showed amazing well close in at the northern end of the dam with Coots and several Little Grebe.

A few days in North Norfolk

So I headed off to Norfolk for 3 days, kindly put up by Kieran & Leila. The hope was that I'd rake in a load of far Eastern goodies. In reality the weather didn't play ball at all and in fact the weather comprised of sunshine and gentle south westerly wind!

I started on Thursday 4th October and headed straight for Titchwell. Things started well with a flyover Bittern heading from the marsh on the left of the path, over to the main reedbed. On the freshmarsh there were several Spoonbill sitting behind one of the islands on the far side. There were good numbers of all the classic waders present as well as 2 Little Stint and all 3 'Shanks' in one scope view on the saltmarsh and singles of Green Sandpiper & Kingfisher on the grazing marsh pool. 

The sea wasn't too bad considering the lack of wind. There were several Red Throated Diver moving through including a smart bird still largely in summer plumage. A Slavonian Grebe showed relatively well as did close in singles of both Common Scoter and Eider. A Sandwich Tern flew through and there was a steady stream of Gannets, mostly juveniles. Three Razorbill were on the sea briefly and several Guillemots flew through.

There was a Wheatear just west of the boardwalk and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese flying South showing that there was at least some visible migration on show. Back in the car park there was further visible migration on show, this time in the form of an amazing flock of 15-20 Jays moving west. This was part of an incredible influx in the area totalling literally hundreds of birds. Everywhere I drove I was seeing Jays, it was quite bizzare!

Next I headed to Cley but sadly there really was sweet f**k all about and so hearing that the Pec Sand was still at nearby Kelling Water Meadows I finished off the day there.
On arrival, a couple quickly got me onto the bird, a very smart juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper on the far side of the pool there. After enjoying the bird for a bit I headed along the path to Kelling Hard where there were around 4 showy Stonechat and then that was that for the day.

After being seriously well looked after by Leila and Kieran, Friday began early doors with a seawatch at Cley with Kieran joining me for the day. It wasn't long before I got onto a distant gull swooping around, behaving more like a tern. As it turned in mid air there the distinctive white wedge in the wing...Sabine's Gull! Great start to the day and my first lifer (and last) of the trip. We watched it for a bit before it melted away into the distance. The sea was like a millpond but we still managed several Red Throated Diver, flyby Auks, a female Red Breasted Merganser west, a few Wigeon, Teal and Brent Geese and the usual stream of Gannets. There were also 3 Wheatear closeby.
After an hour or so we headed over to Kelling again to see what we could find as well as have another look at the Pec with nothing else reported. On the way a Sacred Ibis was on show in one of the roadside fields close to Salthouse.
The Pec Sand showed far better today and I was able to get some better photos of the bird. Again several Stonechats were around but nothing else.

Next we went looking for Yellow Browed Warblers in Wells Woods at the Dell. We soon latched onto a tit flock but all we could find were several Chiffchaff as well as a couple of flyover calling Crossbill. After a good trawl around we knocked it on the head. After a cheeky pasty stop we went off to Salthouse. On the way we firstly stopped off at Morston Quay to check the channels for waders. On arrival a Spotted Redshank showed amazing well on a pool next to the car park. A Spoonbill also showed distantly on the saltmarsh.

We next stopped at the flooded area just east of Stiffkey, right next to the A149. Kieran often checks it as it is probably quite underwatched. The flood certainly came up trumps. There were 21 Ruff including a handsome white male. Suddenly, I realised that loosely associating with them in the longish grass was a yet another Pectoral Sandpiper! A self found yank, get in! We watched it, a juvenile, feeding vigorously for a while before putting the news out and heading on to Salthouse (absolutely shocking photo below, but I had to put it on being a self find and that!).

Salthouse and Gramborough Hill was quiet with a just a couple of Stonechat and a big flock of feral Canada & Greylag Geese holding a Barnacle Goose, a Canada X Greylag and a Barnacle X something else!

We finished the day in the hides at Cley to have a good look through all the roosting gulls in the hope of my illusive first Med Gull for the year or a Caspian Gull. Pat's Pool quickly filled up with tonnes of gulls. 
Both Kieran and I separately got onto a gull which looked like a good candidate for a Caspian Gull. It turned out we were looking at the same bird! It looked like a good for a 2nd winter bird with a small dark eye and long sloping forehead. It stayed until 17:30pm before heading off west. 

Sadly there were no Med Gulls on offer, however there were a couple of smart adult Yellow Legged Gulls also out on the water. Later on, closer scrutiny of the books, coupled with several other birders' opinions was that the probable Caspian Gull was indeed a 2nd-winter bird. Happy days!

The next day (Saturday 6th) was my last day in Norfolk. I headed to Wells Woods for a final look around the Dell. I spent a good hour and a half wandering around, however despite finding plenty of birds, the Yellow Browed was not meant to be! Highlights included 2-3 female Brambling showing nicely, feeding with Chaffinches, a couple of Lesser Redpoll and some more very showy Chiffchaffs.

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Again, there was very little reported so I decided to finished the trip how I started it, with a good tramp around Titchwell. Had a look on the new trail finding very little although I had absolutely stunning views of a Swallow just sat on a bench. It was either extremely lazy or just simply exhausted, either way it refused to budge despite me walking within a few feet of it.

The rest of the reserve produced all the usuals plus a single Spotted Redshank, a Whinchat and a Wheatear perched up close to the grazing marsh. I then found bird of the day in the shape of a handsome adult winter Mediterranean Gull sat on mud on the freshmarsh. Finally Med Gull has joined the yearlist thank god!!!!! (A very poor picture below) :

The sea produced very little with just a Red Throated Diver and a possible distant Bonxie. The last thing seen was a couple of Redwing over the car park as I was packing the scope in the car. Amazingly the first Redwings I'd come across in the three days I was in Norfolk. Then that was that for the trip. Had a wonderful time despite the lack of rares. However still came away with a self found yank and my first Sabine's Gull so every cloud!