It was that time again - mid October and our annual east coast foray, looking for sibes!
I ended up spending a very welcome two and a half days in North Norfolk with Dan & Gareth plus our Norfolk based birding pal Johnny Prochera for the first day too. There was though one thing missing - the birds! It was without doubt, our most migrant-free, mid October for pretty much 10 years!
Anyways, it wasn't all doom and gloom...
We began in Wells Woods on Saturday 09/10 - with the hope of something from the east. The wind was coming from a good way east for a day's window - the only problem was, we had a blue, cloudless skies! Not exactly conducive for pulling anything down
I got there first, at about 08:40am, soon completing a circuit of the dell with very little to show for it. Best being a calling Brambling, flyover Redpoll, Siskin, Rock Pipit and Ringed Plover, a couple of Chiffchaff, a bit of a movement of Chaffinch overhead and a decent number of Jay knocking about. Dan & Graeth arrived and we then met up with Johnny, adding nothing particularly new other than a rather bedraggled Vole of some sort!
After that we had a good trek out from Stiffkey Campsite car park to look for Pipits, Harriers and whatever else we could find. Good numbers of duck out beyond the bank particularly Pintail & Wigeon. All the usual waders here including Barwit, Grey Plover, Knot, Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatchers etc, plus 1 Ruff & 1 Greenshank and a couple of nice redhead Red Breasted Mergansers.
We finished the day at North Point pools adding Med Gull, a surprise Fieldfare, c5 Redwing, a Blackcap, Blackwits, Water Rail, Grey Partridge, plenty of Egyptian Geese and quite a few Snipe.
We began Sunday 10/10 with a seawatch off Cley Coastguards with the wind having a distinct NW feel to it and early on, quite a bit of rain. A trickle of Little Gulls were moving through E early on, but this switched to a torrent once the rain stopped and probably well over 1000 had moved through E during our time there. Pretty amazing really! A small group were seen to head off inland over our heads too. The Little Gulls passed through at a range of distances, but the majority were a fair way out and were joined by a trickle of Kittiwake too.
Away from the Little Gulls, it was an enjoyable watch without being spectacular. We had a small pulse of Skuas consisting of 4 Arctic & 1 Great Skua and a candidate for Long-Tailed which stayed too distant to be pinned down. There were plenty of Red Throated Diver both on the move and offshore, pretty much all still exhibiting a large proportion of their breeding plumage.
A Peregrine headed off out to sea after a snack and Johnny caught sight of it having a dart at one of the passing Little Gulls which was pretty cool!
Other fairly standard fare consisted of several Common Scoter, Razorbills and Guillemots, Gannets, Brent Geese, a group of Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and several Turnstone son the beach.
After a fruitless wander around Gramborough Hill and Salthouse, Johnny headed home. Gareth, Dan & I then finished the day at Titchwell and to be honest it was pretty good. The juv Rosy Starling appeared amongst the large numbers of Starling on the freshmarsh at dusk. A Cattle Egret hung around on the freshmarsh for a bit and 1-2 Great White Egrets came into roost. A late Reed Warbler surprised Dan and I, appearing in the reeds close to the path. Finally the gulls provided interest late on, with at least 2 Caspians, 8+ Yellow-Legged and a 1w Med Gull too.
We spent all of our time around the freshmarsh. It was a real hub of activity with several Avocet still about, lovely close views of several hundred Golden Plover, as well as Black-Tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Ruff and plenty of Teal among other things.
My last day in Norfolk (11/10) was the most fruitless of the three. There was a chance the sea may produce something with a NW wind on the cards. But in reality, there was probably a bit too much W and it was dire - barely a bird on the move and a stark contrast to the previous morning. Dan and I resorted to throwing a few lumps of leftover bread into the surf to spice things up a bit. But after creating a 'frenzy' of 3 Herring and a Black-Headed Gull, we promptly ran out of bread and the fun was over! Pretty much summed up our bird-finding exploits up to that point! What was nice though, were both close Red-Throated Diver and Razorbill.
Before I departed for home, we had one last look at North Point pools, digging out nothing too new other than an adult Med Gull and a Greenshank. The Dell then got one more going over - we knew full well it would be pants and so it proved. Dan dug out a Blackcap (yes, wow a Blackcap!), but Gareth and I didn't even see that.
Anyways, despite the lack of migrants, I had a wicked couple of days, spending some time with great mates. Can't nail it every autumn!
