Yesterday around Cley there were a number of interesting birds. A Yellow-browed Warbler in Walsey Hills, the Long-tailed Duck still at Salthouse and the Glossy Ibis at Kelling Water Meadows – until it disappeared mid-morning. This morning the bird information services announced ‘Glossy Ibis in the paddock south of the beach car park, West Runton’ – likely the same individual. I managed to get along there between packing for some nice views. Now we’re off to catch a train!
It’s been a relatively uneventful weekend, birding-wise, for me. I’ve managed a couple of sea-watches and some conservation work but mostly it’s been preparation for our up-coming trip to India. Sea-watching has produced more of the same, with very little evident passage – the interest coming mostly from the melee of feeding gulls and terns off-shore. Sandwich, Arctic and Common Tern and Little Gull being the highlights. Saturday morning was dedicated to finishing off the Marsh pond at West Beckham Old Allotments. The ‘hard yards’ having been done by our excellent volunteers from Marsh Insurance, all we had to do was a bit of tidying up! It took five of us nearly four hours but by the finish it really does look like a welcome addition to the mosaic habitat of WBOA and a boost for biodiversity. We were entertained throughout the morning by a constant movement of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling heading west. We’re off to Cley today for our regular duty day and then we’re off. This will be the last post on this site for a few weeks but I hope to publish an occasional blog of the highlights from Assam & Arunachal Pradesh on my other site: TrevorOnTour.me
Duty day at Cley NWT yesterday produced a few highlights, despite water levels remaining high resulting in a general lack of suitable wader habitat. Best birds were: a ring-tail Hen Harrier which spent the day doing occasional sorties from the reed-beds around the main scrapes, a couple of late Wheatear along the shingle ridge and a Spotted Redshank on Arnold’s. Sea-watching over the past few days has been reasonable, if a little wet, with a couple of new duck sp for the year adding interest – a close in female type Long-tailed Duck on Sunday was followed by two Goldeneye this morning. A ‘flock’ of seven Shag east was the other most notable record.
Little Gull is a highlight of any regular sea-watch. This dainty gull breeds in Eastern Europe and winters in coastal regions of Western Europe and the Mediterranean. We get them off Norfolk on passage, with the occasionally non-breeding birds during the summer. Yesterday’s sea-watch started with a Little Gull, but what followed was wholly unexpected. A constant stream of birds of mixed ages, were all heading east – displaced by storm Babet. There were birds far out to sea, close in shore, low over the sea and high up in the sky. In just two hours I counted 1583. By this morning the numbers had dropped to just a couple of dozen lingering off shore. Other highlights today included a female-type Long-tailed Duck, which flew west close in-shore, and a ring-tailed Hen Harrier which drifted slowly east.
Record shot of the ring-tail Hen Harrier from this mornings sea-watch
Water levels at Cley are high following the recent rain – great for the wildfowl but not so good for waders. Yesterday I started our duty day in the hides but left after a short while in search of more interesting stuff. Along East Bank there was plenty of Bearded Tit activity. I spoke with one birder who had seen an ‘eruption’. To avoid ‘overcrowding – the young birds fly high up into the sky before dispersing to other reed-beds in the area. At the eastern end of Arnold’s a small selection of waders were feeding in the grass at the edge of the high water. Snipe, Redshank, Dunlin, Ruff and Blackwit were all present – along with the Long-billed Dowitcher, now fast approaching it’s one year anniversary at Cley. On our way home we stopped off at the cattle fields near Babcock hide. A single Cattle Egret was feeding amongst the cows. There’s been a small flock feeding along the coast for the past few weeks but I’ve previously managed to miss them. Highlight of Sunday’s sea-watch was a reasonably close-in Pomarine Skua – apparently there were 50 at the west end of the county!
This week has been the NENBC Walks Week event – a different small group bird walk each day. Yesterday it was my turn to lead a group on a circular walk from Cromer to East Runton, taking in both coast and country. I’d originally planned to start with the walk along the beach but the state of the tide and the prevailing strong wind prompted a reverse. We headed out of town, across the Runton Gap to join Mill Lane. Once in East Runton we headed for the coast and returned via the beach to Cromer. Despite the wind and the dearth of autumn migrants we managed to see over thirty species. An enjoyable stroll in warm October sunshine. Nearing the end of our walk, having watched Gannet, Razorbill and Red-throated Diver just off-shore, as we passed by the pier I noticed a tern resting on a groyne. The initial assumption was that it was Common – there’s been quite a few on our morning sea-watches recently. But there was something not right – short legs and a short dark red bill suggested Arctic – a much scarcer species in the NENBC and an unlikely encounter close-up. The only conflicting feature was the comparatively short tail-streamers but this is not uncommon in post-breeding adults.
A couple of days ago one of the first birds I saw on my morning sea-watch were two Little Egret heading west, low over the sea. Egrets can be surprisingly difficult to see sometimes as they blend in amongst the melee of ‘white’ gulls off shore. The slow, deliberate wing beat is generally the first clue before neck, bill and legs confirm. Then it’s a question of which? It’s sometimes difficult to judge size of birds at sea, so Great Egret can look small and Little large. The former generally have slower wing-beats, more of a neck bend and, depending on age / time of year, a yellow bill. But it’s legs which are the best clue – proportionately longer and all dark. However some distant birds you just have to let go – ‘egret sp’. I’ve not seen Cattle Egret yet off Cromer but it must be a real possibility on migration. Towards the end of the sea-watch I looked up from recording and right in front of me – not too far off shore – was another egret. This one displaying all of the features of Great, outlined above. It quickly headed east and, I suspect, inland. I was about to pack up when another white bird caught my attention. I thought at first it might be an adult winter Med Gull or possibly a late Sandwich Tern. Looking through my binoculars I could see it was neither – but what was it? I went through the range of possibilities in my mind – Iceland, Ivory, Little but none off them fitted. I had my suspicions confirmed when I processed my photos. It was a leucistic Black-headed Gull which, on further enquiries, had been seen further along the coast a couple of days before. White birds at sea – never straightforward.
What did I say at the end of my last blog – ‘I’m not expecting great things’. Perhaps I should keep my predictions to myself in future! Over the weekend there was a brief but significant shift in the weather – first to the north, before going back round to the south, but not before a nod to the east. Not much but enough to open the floodgate on some impressive seabird movement and create a mid-autumn influx. Caught up in this fleeting weather event were a few interesting land birds. Sea-watching over the weekend produced a large passage of Brent Geese and Wigeon from the east, together with a smattering of other interesting birds. Eider started appearing, along with Red-breasted Merganser, Little Gull, with the steady stream of Gannet, terns and divers continuing. A couple of Manx Shearwater and Arctic Skua added variety. Sea-watching also produced a couple of interesting fly-bys – Snow Bunting and Rock Pipit, mixed in with the more numerous Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Chaffinch, Blackbird, etc. But this end of Norfolk wasn’t a patch on further west, with an unprecedented arrival of Short-eared Owl (50 recorded at Holme) and a sprinkling of scarce or rare passerines. Cley yesterday did yield good views of the Long-billed Dowitcher (it’s becoming less predictable in its habits) but not much else. On my way home I stopped off in Salthouse to see the Yellow-browed Warbler – one of a handful recorded along the coast over the weekend. With the weather set to be more varied – the dominant high of the past few weeks breaking up and winds becoming more changeable – there is still hope for a late autumn flourish. But I’ll keep that prediction to myself!
With the run of south-westerlies and unseasonably warm weather continuing, birding this week has been limited to coastal stuff and sea-watching. Cley on Monday was mostly a repeat of recent weeks, minus the Long-billed Dowitcher which is more mobile of late. Highlights were the growing flock of Spoonbill, a couple of Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. Sea-watching on most days this week has produced a reasonable selection of stuff including: five species of duck, two skuas – Great & Arctic, three terns – Sandwich, Arctic & Common, plenty of Red-throated Diver and waders – the best of which has been Sanderling and an early group of nine Turnstone roosting on the lifeboat ramp. A female Marsh Harrier and another Little Egret were a bonus. An October Swallow during our Felbeck Trust work-party on Thursday was a welcome surprise. With very little change forecast in the weather during the coming week I’m not expecting great things.
On the final afternoon, when Europe was bossing the Americans in the Ryder Cup in Rome, I decided to seek out a little golf course action myself. There was very little bird-wise on my way through Happy Valley: House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Great Tit and Magpie was about it. Then I heard a Mediterranean Gull calling overhead, amongst the melee of gulls hawking insects in the warm October skies. As I watched I found at least six – mostly adults but with a couple of 1st winter mixed in. I watched as they repeatedly returned to roost on the off-shore reef, exposed by the exceptionally low tide. Once I reached the turf slope things began to pick up. Several migrant Meadow Pipit were flitting about and a Green Woodpecker was busy feeding on the green. A pale bird sat up in the scrub turned out to be Whinchat – my first in the NENBC this year!. More chats began to appear – with four Stonechat feeding around the bracken. I checked out the beach on my return but there wasn’t a single wader to be seen – disappointing but not entirely unexpected. The Med Gulls were still active along the ridge as far as North Lodge Park – I eventually got one over my head along Cliff Avenue – sprinting back to my drive to get it on the Flat List!
Cromer Nature Notes 