A week in Norfolk

Norfolk 2024

Monday 28th October

I met up with John & Janet at Kings Cross where we took the 10.42 train up to Kings Lynn. It was a fairly quiet journey up with just a few small herds of Roe Deer seen along the way. Once in Lynn we crossed over to the bus station and took the bus up to Hunstanton. Our usual B&B had sold up so we were staying at a new one which was fairly close to the other one. We checked in and met up with Darren who had been up a couple of days.

We went for a walk south along the beach. The tide was close to high so there wasn’t much beach left for waders, just a few Oystercatchers and Sanderling among the usual Turnstones. Best sighting was a Harbour Porpoise not too far out in The Wash, the first one we’d seen on this stretch of coast.

Turnstone

With a bit of drizzle in the air and the approach of dusk we popped into a café for a hot drink then back to digs. In the evening we headed down to The Mariner for dinner and a couple of beers.

Tuesday 29th

We headed down to the seafront for some pre-breakfast birding. It was fairly gloomy but the sea was calm. Out in The Wash was a distant flock of about 300 Common Scoter and a single Eider was a bit closer. A Peregrine buzzed the waders on the beach below us. We saw yesterday’s Harbour Porpoise again, only this time there were two of them. Apart from a few Chaffinches very little flew over so we headed back for breakfast.

We were down at the bus stop in time for our usual 09.28 bus to Holkham. We wandered slowly along Lady Anne’s Drive as there was plenty to see, particularly at the far end where a flock of a dozen Cattle Egrets were associating with their bovine buddies.

Cattle Egret

Although there hadn’t been any recent reports of Shorelark or Snow Buntings we walked down to the roped-off area to look anyway, then had a look out to sea from the dunes. There were a few Common Scoter offshore along with a couple of Gannets, a Red-throated Diver and two late Sandwich Terns. Waders tried to feed on the beach but were regularly flushed by dogs.

Next we walked west along the pines and had lunch in one of the hides. A Great Egret was on the largest lake but we didn’t see a single Little Egret here to complete the set. Marsh Harriers, Buzzards and Red Kites drifted over. We carried on to the end where a new hide had been constructed to replace the old one that had been closed for the past two years as it was falling to bits. On the way back we heard a Firecrest and several flocks of Pink-footed Geese and Starlings flew past. 

Pink-footed Geese

We ended up with a list of 70 species at Holkham which was pretty good. We tried to locate a Barn Owl towards dusk but there was no sign of any.

Wednesday 30th

We started the day with the usual seawatch by the beach. As the tide ebbed and exposed some rocks I started looking through the Turnstones in case there was a Purple Sandpiper there – and the first bird I looked at was indeed a Purple Sandpiper! A few Fieldfare flew over with more Redwings, the first I’d seen this autumn. It was soon time for another hearty full English breakfast.

Purple Sandpiper

We spent the rest of the day at Titchwell, starting off on the Fen Trail which was a bit quiet. We tried not to stop along the west bank too much as we wanted to check out the sea before the tide dropped too much. However, we did stop and look for the elusive Jack Snipe on one of the islands but there was no sign of it. We spent an hour looking out to sea – at first glance it appeared empty but after a while birds began to appear and it ended up being really productive with Black-throated Diver, Slavonian and Red-necked Grebes seen. There were a lot of waders out on the beach and even a flock of Spoonbills.

Spoonbills

We spent some time in the main hide looking at the waders and ducks while having lunch. Several hundred Golden Plover were roosting on one island and there were a few Ruff and Dunlin scattered around and the Spoonbill flock flew in and landed. We tried again in vain for the Jack Snipe then headed back to the cafe for a mid-afternoon cuppa. Once refreshed we went back on the west bank to see what flew in to roost. Only a handful of Marsh Harriers appeared but there was no Hen Harrier this evening.

Brent Geese

Dunlin

Golden Plover

Ruff

Spoonbills

Where's Wally?

As we waited for the bus there were a few Red-legged Partridges in the field behind us and a Short-eared Owl flew over. We ended up seeing a credible 80 species at Titchwell, a record count for us at this time of year.

Thursday 31st: Halloween

There were no spooky sightings pre-breakfast so we elected to spend our spare day walking from Thornham Harbour to Holme. It was noticeably colder this morning. We had a good start as we saw a covey of Grey Partridge from the bus just outside Old Hunstanton. At Thornham Harbour there was another flock of six Cattle Egrets feeding out in the fields and two Dartford Warblers zipped past.

Fungi

We passed a lot of people as we walked along the main coastal footpath. At Holme Dunes we cut inland and went to the cafe at the reserve for a much needed coffee and cake. The regular Jack Snipe had been located so we headed out to the hide but it was mostly hidden from view. After a while it walked out into the open then, realising its mistake, scarpered off deep into the rushes. There wasn’t a lot else to see on the reserve so we carried on walking along the dunes and looking out to sea.

We were hoping to get Shore Lark or Snow Bunting but neither showed. Instead we saw two Short-eared Owls, one in the dunes and another that had just flown over the North Sea. It landed on the beach but soon got mobbed by gulls so flew right past us and into the dunes. 

Short-eared Owl

We ended up by the Peddars Way crossroads and took the bus back from there and then treated ourselves to a final dinner at Chives.

Friday 1st November

We only had time today for a short pre-breakfast look on the beach where the only new bird of the trip was a Red-breasted Merganser. It was then time to pack up, have breakfast and head back to Lynn on the bus and the train home.

 

Oct 21st-31st: a quiet end to October

To start off the last third of the month I began at Rainham Marshes. A few Redwing went over as we walked round from Purfleet station and a Ring-necked Parakeet called. The latter aren’t yet established in the area but I’ve started hearing them more regularly in Purfleet so it’s only a matter of time. The tide was up so we didn’t go far along the riverwall and instead went straight into the reserve at opening time.

The woodland was quiet so we carried on to Ken Barrett hide. The water level had gone up again and there were even fewer birds than on my last visit so we gave into the lure of coffee and cake at the cafe. Purfleet scrape is beginning to fill up with the recent rain but it’s got a long way to go. There was the usual Ruff at Butts hide but little else.

Over the next few days I did some local vismigging, either at Brent Res or Fryent CP. Woodpigeons are just starting to move around now and on Tuesday 25th I saw the first proper movement with 723 logged over Brent. Finch migration is still really poor with just odd Linnets, Siskin and Redpolls going over.

At Fryent on Wednesday I had quite a few patch year ticks with Skylark, Siskin & Lesser Redpoll but the best was a pair of Egyptian Geese which were new for the site. I’ve been expecting them at every visit so it was nice to finally see them. There was also a high count of 429 Ring-necked Parakeets flying north in many small groups. They are obviously dispersing from a roost further south, possibly as far as Wormwood Scrubs. Although we know where many of the large roosts are it would be interesting to find out how far birds are coming from.

Fryent CP at dawn

On Thursday I ventured over to south London for a change and visited Crossness for the first time this autumn. I met my mate John at London Bridge and we were soon at Belvedere, where it’s just a short walk to the reserve. A pair of Stonechats greeted us but there was no sign of a Dartford Warbler which was found there the following day. I added two new patch birds, both overdue waders: Green Sandpiper and Avocet.

Avocet at Crossness

There was a Common Sand by the outflow in exactly the same place where one wintered last year so is most likely the same individual. It was low tide so there were a lot of waders on the exposed mud including a flock of over 100 Black-tailed Godwits but no Dunlin. There don’t seem to be any along the Lower Thames yet this month. We cut back down to the Southern Marsh and finished up by the lake on a total of 64 species, my best at this site. It’s always a nice walk and I really should visit it more often.

A couple of days vismigging at Brent followed with more Woodpigeons on their way to Spain for the winter with daily totals of 458 and 670. There hasn’t been a really big day yet although that typically occurs in the first week of November. While at the vismig spot at Brent I did find a couple of newly emerged Shaggy Inkcaps. I had a look for Fly Agaric but there was no sign at the usual spot.

Shaggy Inkcap

Water Rails have arrived for the winter and I saw two scurrying along the edge of the reeds at Brent within a minute on Saturday. 

To finish the month I spent Halloween at Rainham. It was a fairly quiet day despite the fair conditions but that’s really been the story of October. It usually produces the most rarities in London but this month there’s been nothing gettable. Scarce migrants like Short-eared Owl, Ring Ouzel and Yellow-browed Warbler have been thin on the ground and it’s not been cold enough to get the wildfowl moving. So I finished the month on 181 for the year and with just two months to go it’ll be hard to get many more.

August 15th-21st: waders and flycatchers

 I popped up to Brent Res on Monday morning to look for waders from the hide but couldn’t find yesterday’s Wood Sand. All the others waders were equally matched with three each of Lapwing, Snipe, Common and Green Sands. My tentative plan for today was to go to Regent’s Park for the Pied Fly if it was still there and when I was in the hide I checked my messages and there was positive news so I didn’t explore the rest of the area, instead taking the bus down to Kilburn station.

It didn’t take long to get to Regent’s Park, arriving just before 9.00. I knew roughly where the bird was hanging out and walked up the west edge of the park, not stopping to look for any water birds on the lake. As I approached the area I heard the flycatcher calling. It reminds me of the opening note of a Goldfinch call and is often repeated for a while, making it easier to track down. I soon found the Pied Fly perched up high in a tree but it stopped calling when it saw me and promptly disappeared. I looped around the Chat Enclosure but there was nothing there. As I walked back it started calling again and I quickly found it but it did the same thing again and vanished.

I was really pleased to catch up with Pied Fly as I probably had a non-calling one at Brent yesterday but it also vanished quickly – too quickly as I wasn’t able to confirm it. It was another new one for my year list and not one that I was confident about getting. Unlike Spotted Flycatcher which I still haven’t seen yet but they are usually a bit later in August.

I decided not to explore the rest of the park as it was getting hot so just left by the nearest gate and roughly headed west where I thought there was a bus route. I emerged through the side streets at St John’s Wood station but carried on and took the bus home.

With various transport strikes going on during the week, that was my only real venture away from Brent apart from an evening visit south of the river to co-lead a bat walk around Southwark Park. The heatwave had finished and there had been some rain earlier in the day but luckily it was dry when we walked around. Common Pipistrelles were out before we even set off and everyone managed to see a few during the course of the evening. We also had Soprano Pipistrelles and probably a Brown Long-eared Bat in the same place we saw one last year but there was no sign of either of the two larger species that we should have got. Maybe they were full up after gorging on insects the previous evening.

Back at Brent, the Wood Sand reappeared on Tuesday and then remained all week, allowing quite a few people to come along and see this elegant wader. It spent most days in East Marsh so was really only viewable from the main hide but on Sunday it was briefly present in North Marsh. The same day I also heard a Greenshank calling as it flew past unseen behind some trees to add to this month’s wader list.

Wood Sandpiper on a raft after the water level rose

Passerine migration is now in full flow and the number of Willow Warblers fluctuated every day, peaking at a dozen. One of the favoured areas at Brent is the Dump and one morning I found a Common Redstart in one of the Elder bushes. The heat wave has caused the insect population to plummet with very few butterflies around and we still haven’t had a second generation Common Blue yet or even any Brown Argus or Small Copper all year. There’s also very few dragonflies around as well with just the occasional Migrant Hawker on the wing.

The only other thing of note was an exceptionally large specimen of Dryad’s Saddle that I found on a willow on the south side, measuring just over half a metre across.

Dryad's Saddle

I did manage a walk around Fryent Country Park on one day for a change. I was mainly looking for migrants on the hedges but it wasn’t a particularly good day with just a few Chiffs and Blackcaps seen. Most of the grass fields have been cut now and it’s looking very dry. The blackberry crop this year is looking pretty woeful but surprisingly the Blackthorns have produced a good crop of sloes.

Hedges looking good for migrants

Sloes

I did see a trio of Yellow Wagtails go over which is a good local record and found a perched Hobby.

Hobby