Saturday 15th October - Spurn Day 2

After a good sleep we were keen to get out early and this time avoid some of the crowds as potentially there would be more people around today than yesterday. We drove straight to Kilnsea with a plan of checking the trees and bushes around he churchyard. It was still obvious that there were lots of Thrushes in the area. The wind had dropped and moved to the South but the overcast skies delivered a wet start so the first hour of daylight we were quite damp and didn't see a huge amount, as gradually the rain eased we decided to walk out towards the Canal Scrape along the coastal path. Redwing, Fieldfare, Song Thrushes were everywhere and like yesterday we were still tripping over Robins, we also saw a couple of Woodcock flush from the path in front of us. We walked to the Spurn YWT building and a Black Redstart was on the short grass then 2 Short-Eared Owls flew in off the sea.

Without a clear plan we started to walk along he Spurn peninsula towards the breach. We had better views of a Short-Eared Owl hunting along the foreshore and a Wheatear was on the beach. Thrushes continued to fly past with several Meadow Pipits moving and a flock of 60 Pink-footed Geese. and later c45 White-fronted Geese.

2 Rock Pipits were in the breach area and 2 Lesser Redpolls were the other side. The breach was an area of pure sand about 500m long which had been created a couple of years ago during a Winter storm surge and washed away a road and at high tide the Spurn peninsula is turned into an island. We continued to walk towards the lighthouse under a brightening sky and it was great being out birding and enjoying the new habitat. We worked out that the next high tide was not until much later which would give us plenty of time to reach the point and walk back without the risk of spending the night stranded on the peninsula. In front of a Humber shore hide was a large finch flock which had c50+ Brambling, Chaffinch and Linnet.

The area known as the point was new to both of us and we were guided towards a Dusky Warbler in the scrub near the point which duly showed well after a brief wait.  We also saw 27 Bearded Tits and plenty of Goldcrest a few Blackcap and a late Willow Warbler. We bumped into Colin watching a Redstart and he had just seen a Little Bunting, which unfortunately we didn't. We made time to have a look in the newly refurb'd lighthouse, although we were slightly miffed when we'd climbed the 120 stairs to find out that you weren't allowed outside on the rampart (health and safety reasons !) it had actually been really well restored and set up, although I imagine visitor numbers might be quite low given the only way to get here is a long walk .

By the time we had arrived back at the Spurn YWT buildings we had walked around 8.5 miles. Then news came through of a Raddes Warbler near the canal Scrape, we were delayed slightly talking to one of the Spurn wardens,  found the crowd,  but they had lost the warbler and it wasn't seen again. There was however good views of yet another Dusky Warbler, which as we were photographing news came through of a possible Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler only about 100m away. This really would have been a holy grail to end an already fantastic 2 days.

We arrived on the bank where a 'locustella' type warbler had been seen to fly and gone to ground in the thick grass  near a seabuckthorn bush. Reinforcements were called and a mist net erected around 20m from the bush, by this time a crowd of nearly 100 people had gathered and were organised in a tight circle around the area the bird had been last seen. The military maneuver worked and the locustella wabler waited until it was nearly trodden on before vacating the cover and heading straight into the net. It turned out to be just a Grasshopper Warbler, but it raised he pulse for several minutes and was an exciting end to the day.

Entrance to the Spurn Peninsula YWT reserve

Siskin

Black Redstart

View back to Kilnsea along Spurn Head

Short-Eared Owl

The North Sea has battered the coastline here.

The Spurn Lighthouse

The first obliging Dusky Warbler of the day

he view back to Kilnsea from inside the top of the Lighthouse

The view to the point looking South

Black Sheep ! - Possibly Hebridean

Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Redwing in the sand !

Dusky Warbler in flight

The second obliging Dusky Warbler of the day

Probably the 3rd Dusky Warbler we saw over the 2 days.

Friday 14th October - Spurn Spectacular, in the company of Dunnocks

Spurn Peninsula- Day 1

The Dunnock is a rather poor and overlooked bird in the birding world. The dash of a small bird diving into cover that momentarily raises the pulse is normally followed by a deflatory ' oh it's just a Dunnock'. Indeed, a non-birding friend recently sent me a picture of a bird with 'whats this bird ?' the one word reply of 'Dunnock' was then met with ' I presume that's somewhere between Dunno and B*llocks' which sums up the view most people have of the Dunnock or Prunella Moudularis. Step forward the swashbuckling distant cousin, Prunella Montenella or rather more exotically named Siberian Accentor. Never before this week had a Siberian Accentor graced the shores of the UK. Not only that but it is actually a difficult bird to encounter across it's normal range of Russia and Northern China. However, after a series of Easterly winds one was found in Shetland last Saturday and stayed about two days, then the big news was another bird found late on Thursday afternoon in Easington, Yorkshire. Rapid plans were made and about 10pm on Thursday I drove to Gary's in Kent and we set off for Yorkshire. We arrived just before 5am, had a brief nap in the car then around 6.30am, when it was still dark walked to the area where the bird had been seen yesterday and joined several hundred other birders to await first light and hopefully see the bird.

The viewing was over a wire fence into an old parking area of a former school building. The fence-line was in a narrow tree belt about 30ft wide accessed from a tarmac drive that ran at the back of a Gas Installation. There was room for around 100 people to view at a time and there were over 1000 people, so there was a bit of scrum to start but the good people of Spurn Bird Obs brought some organisational skills into play and an orderly queuing arrangement which he majority of people were happy to follow. The rather attractive Siberian Accentor duly obliged with turning up - in the company of Dunnocks !

The queue of birders at first light

The area where the Siberian Accentor was feeding

The first view, in the company of 2 Dunnocks

The next 2 hours we had several views of the Siberian Accentor and much appreciated start to the day. Whilst we were standing queueing we had already noticed the large number of Redwing, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and Robins that were in the area.

We walked along a strip of scrub towards the sea that was full of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs, with one particularly good candidate for Siberian Chiffchaff. We also saw 3 Lesser Redpoll and 1 Common (Mealy) Redpoll. There were hundreds of Thrushes in the hedgerows, mainly Redwing with a few Fieldfare and Song Thrush and several Brambling along with some Tree Sparrows and I was nice to see that Tree Sparrows were doing quite well in the area given their paucity in the South.

A few more pictures of he Siberian Accentor

2 Lesser Redpols with a Mealy Redpoll - taken through a chain-link fence so a bit hazy.

We then moved to Kilnsea which was already crowded with relocating birders from Easington but here was news of several interesting birds reported from the area so it was a matter of where to try first. We started in the churchyard where both a Dusky Warbler had been trapped and Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers had been sighted but after 30 minutes of standing with a large crowd in a small space we had not seen anything so decided to walk to the beach. There were hundreds of Thrushes everywhere and trees dripped with Goldcrests and Robins were in every bush and around our feet as we walked along.

Whilst viewing more Redwing , Fieldfare and Song Thrushes, a Jack Snipe flew out from a marsh and we saw a couple of  Ring Ouzel. At the beach an area overlooking some rough ground had held an Olive-backed Pipit the only view was of the bird in flight as we walked up. There were better views of a Shorelark a the edge of the beach which was quite confiding.

Shorelark

Shorelark

Goldcrests were everywhere, even in the grass.

We then walked to the Canal Scrape seeing 9 Bean Geese on the foreshore, 8 of which were definitely Tundra Bean Geese and one had characteristics of either Taiga or the Middendorffii population. We were fortuitous being on the right side of a hedge when a Dusky Warbler appeared which was duly pursued by a crowd through a hedgerow, which had the benefit of both Woodcock and even a Quail being flushed from thick grass.

Wandering back to Kilnsea we came across a large Brambling flock of probably 40+ birds feeding around a small garden along with another couple of Ring Ouzel. The Bean Geese had relocated to a field giving slightly closer views and then we went to the trees around the Crown and Anchor car park where the previously elusive Pallas's Warbler duly obliged with a viewing. After such a great list of birds we relocated for the final hour of daylight to Sammy's point where 10+ Ring Ouzels were feeding in the paddocks.

What a superb day, we also had the fortuitous luck to bump into Colin Bushell who recommended the Marquis of Grandby in Easington and luckily they had a room free so we were able to finish the day with a few beers and some food talking birds with Colin and a couple of Sussex birders Jon and Nick. We were also excited about what tomorrow might bring as the winds were continuing to blow from an easterly direction.

Dusky Warbler

Waders on the Humber foreshore

Brambling

Another Goldcrest

Siskin

Bean Geese

Ring Ouzel a Sammy's Point

Saturday 8th October - Home bonanza

On Thursday I had to pick up my beleaguered car from Pulborough after it had spent two weeks in the garage, so I worked at home rather than travel to London. Just after lunchtime I noticed a bird on the fence at the back of the garden, found the bins and to my amazement it was a Kingfisher !!! It dived into the pond, obviously caught something and sat for a few moments on the side just out of view then flew low and purposely directly towards the house veering away at the last minute and ... gone. Incredible and despite building a pond where I have joked about it attracting flocks of seabirds, ducks, waders etc, I never envisaged that I'd be visited by a Kingfisher, so a new bird for the garden list.

Having returned from Blackdown earlier I noticed a Red Kite drift past, It's been several months since I'd seen one, then I heard a bird calling , it was obviously flying over and eventually I picked it up heading south, a Woodlark !! - Again a new bird for the garden list., 2 in a week is not only unusual having been here 5 years but also good birds , the list is now up to 85.

Saturday 8th October - Ouzel Dawn

A return to home turf, I arrived at Blackdown just before 7am - sunrise was officially 7.15am so it was barely getting light . It wasn't really misty, just very murky, and the light remained appalling all morning. However, there were obviously a large number of thrushes on site, as soon as I left the carpark, groups of Redwing were flying out through the pines uttering their high pitched 'tseeeep'. I estimated over 300 in the morning. The number of calling Chiffchaffs (my count was over 30) were also high as I walked along the top path of the Borden Door Valley. There was then a large flock of 50+ Siskin and a couple of Lesser Redpoll, with several Meadow Pipits flying over calling and as well as the Redwing several Song Thrushes were moving. It wasn't long before I heard the 'chack' of a Ring Ouzel and saw 3 at the top of a pine. As I walked to the bottom of Borden Door there was an obvious favoured Rowan attracting a number of Thrushes and I'd seen 7 Ring Ouzels before walking on. Stonechat and Dartford Warbler were on the valley sides. and another large Redwing flock was at the top of the valley.

Several more Meadow Pipit were flushed as I walked down the West side when more Ring Ouzels appeared , being very flighty and calling constantly, my count soon reached 18 , then 27,and when not in a Rowan were hidden in a Pine tree or in flight and were never approachable . I was concerned that a in a straight count I'd be double-counting birds that were flying around with the Redwing. I made my way to Cotchet Valley looking down on the number of abundant Rowans and could already see more Ring Ouzels from the top path. At least another 14 were in the valley, also feeding in the Rowans  were Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Bullfinch and 2 Brambling and a Woodlark were seen in flight.

As I returned to Borden Door A large number of Ring Ouzels flew and 22 landed at the top of a Silver birch I also saw 3 Fieldfare. My count of individual birds totalled 67 but taking into account potential double-counts, I still believe conservatively there were over 40 on the site which is the most I've heard of here.

6 Crossbills flew over as I walked back to the Car Park, making it a great morning.

A really gloomy start to the morning.

A Ring Ouzel

From a distance, look carefully there are 16 ring Ouzels in this tree

The light was unfortunately not good for pics

There are plenty of Rowan berries for the birds

Wednesday September 28th - Sunday October 2nd - A few days in Norfolk

I'd booked 3 days holiday from work a couple of months ago as I had been running out of slots when to use up some days and it would be xmas before the girls get any time off. I'd also booked 4 of these  nights in Norfolk about a month ago, rather than wait and see where might be good to go, just to ensure I had a plan. At this time of year anything could be happening with the birds, in Norfolk any sort of easterly or northerly wind could produce a huge influx of birds to the coast including any number of rare ones, but the wind or the weather cannot be guaranteed and unfortunately I was faced with the prospect of strong westerly winds.... which for Norfolk is unlikely to yield anything rare, but there will be still birds to see and I was optimistic, which as a birder is a mandatory requirement.

Wednesday 28th

I set of from home around 6.30am, inevitably hitting M25 rush hour, so it took a bit longer than hoped but arriving on the North Norfolk coast I headed straight to Brancaster arriving at 11am. The first bird I saw after a short walk along the beach was a Hoopoe, which was busily feeding away on the sand, just in the dunes. A lovely bird although always looks wrong in a UK landscape. The weather was bright warm and breezy with big clear skies. A few Swallow flew past with Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Brancaster Beach

Hoopoe

I moved on to Titchwell at around 1pm. It was packed ! - Despite being mid-week and not in holiday season, I couldn't find a place in car park for 20 minutes. Walking out on the main footpath an adult Scaup was on the Reed Pool and 5 Marsh Harriers were hunting over the saltmarsh,. The freshmarsh had a good selection of waders with a flock of c150 Golden Plover, c50 Ruff roosting Bar-tailed-Godwit and Knot joined the regular feeders of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin with a single Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. A group of 20 Brent Geese were early arrivals and on the sea a Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Grebe and 5 Pink-footed Geese flew from a distance over the Wash.

Teal still in eclipse



Ruff

Black-tailed Godwit

I left Titchwell and  the hoards around 4pm and drove to the Red Lion in Stiffkey, where I was staying, dumped the bags, then went for a walk on the Pedlars Way Coastal path at Stiffkey towards Wells not quite reaching Warham Greens.
The wind had picked up, the saltmarsh had a few Curlew, Redshank, Little Egret and a Greenshank and 12 Spoonbill flew towards Wells late on. The bushes were unsurprisingly quiet with a just a single Blackcap seen.

Thursday 29th

Todays forecast was pretty grim, with strong Westerly winds and the promise of rain. Not really a day with high expectations. I decided to spend the morning at Wells and Holkham in the Woods, where a least there would be a little shelter . The winds were certainly strong but the rain only lasted for the first hour and from then continued to brighten. A couple of weeks previously, after a period of Easterlies, several Yellow-browed Warblers had been reported at various sites in Norfolk but had since largely dispersed, although the woods at Holkham/Wells still had the occasional report of a YBW. Today however, the woods were fairly disappointing, the windy weather not making searching for small birds ideal.  A couple of small flocks held plenty of Goldcrest and Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcap, but nothing more interesting. The marshes at Holkham had a good build up of Pink-footed Goose with several hundred birds already present. 3 or 4 Marsh Harriers were also over grazing marsh, but 5 hours walking was pleasant enough but thin on the bird front.

With no more exciting news I decided to try Titchwell again. A Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen on and off over the last week, and a Yellow-browed Warbler had also been seen earlier in the day, so at least there was a chance. The reserve was slightly quieter than the previous day, but the wind was still vigorous so little hope for passerines, also the 'Pec Sand' was making only very brief appearances before spending the day hidden in the reeds. So my walk around the trails held no sight or sound of any warblers and the views over the freshmarsh showed no sign of the Pec Sand. The surprise of the afternoon was an Osprey that drifted South over the saltmarsh, which I first picked up over the beach looking towards Thornham. The waders were very much the same as the previous day, but still a good selection with plenty of activity on the freshmarsh.

Friday 30th

The winds had dropped today although it remained breezy and still from the West. I headed further East along the coast to Cley. I parked at East Bank and had a look around the back of the Walsey Hills pool (again another YBW had been seen there yesterday) but just Goldcrest, and on the pool were Snipe with a Grey Heron.

Walking up the East Bank, 3 Bearded Tits pinged briefly as they dived into cover, Arnolds Marsh was empty and a small flock of 20+ Meadow Pipits were on the beach along with  2 Wheatears. The sea was almost devoid of birds some Sandwich Terns passed noisily and I could just make out a distant Gannet and Red-throated Diver.

I called in at the visitor centre at Cley with half a mind to walk around the hides afterwards but over a Bacon Bap I changed my mind, the surprise for me was the lack of birds on the main reserve, it feels like that the quality of the pools has not properly recovered since last years Winter flooding. Comparing this to Titchwell where the freshmarsh was full of birds. It was clear that despite a flock of Greylag Geese and a handful of Wigeon the reserve was near empty.

Instead, I drove to the beach at Salthouse and walked over Granborough Hill. The weather was nice with blue skies and a brisk westerly wind, but again very little on the bird front just 2 Wheatears and 2 Stonechat. I was enjoying the fresh air and just decided today might be a day to do exactly that. Next stop was back to the beach at Cley at Coastguards. I started walking towards Blakeney Point and walked as far as Halfway House , Several Wheatears were at least a sign of movement, a few Skylarks , Meadow Pipit and Reed Buntings.

The next hour or so was spent with my only retail therapy of the few days, firstly at Cley Spy then to Holt and then calling in at Blakeney for an ice cream at harbour. Final stop was back to Stiffkey and longer walk on the edge of the marsh this time as far as Warham Greens, although to be honest I'm not exactly sure where Warham Greens officially starts.  5 Spoonbills were feeding on the saltmarsh with Little Egrets, Curlew, Redshank and a Greenshank. The scrub and bushes seemed empty until I came across 2 Whinchat and a Stonechat. One of the fields held a large Golden Plover flock and a covey of Grey Partridge. I stayed around until dusk hoping that there maybe a Owl appearance but other than a Marsh Harrier and a few waders and Gulls no Barn Owl appeared.

Grey Heron early morning on the pool at Walsey Hills

View from the East Bank at Cley

Wheatear

Fishing Boats at Cley

Whinchat at Warham Greens

Whinchat

view over Saltmarsh at Stiffey

Spoonbill at Stiffkey

Saturday 1st October

A day with a prediction of worsening weather through the afternoon.  Pre-breakfast just standing at the door of my room at the pub several skeins of Pink-footed Goose were heading out over Stiffkey, a commotion saw a Jackdaw, Rook and Mistle Thrush in pursuit of a bright green bird - it was a Ring-Necked Parakeet, which was a bit of a surprise as I wasn't aware they had dispersed to Norfolk and then a Great White Egret flew over and disappeared behind the houses. A surprising start to the morning.

I went back to Titchwell as at least there were a good number of birds there. Walking out to the hides plenty of Bearded Tits were active in the reeds with a late Reed Warbler. A Whinchat was visible at the back of the reeds and the freshmarsh was still full of waders. The large Golden Plover flock, 50+Ruff, Avocet, Black- tailed Godwit, 100+ Dunlin, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Stint, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Snipe . There was still no sign of the Pec Sand(or YBW) and the sea had very little. The weather had started to close in as I left Titchwell . I drove up to the drying barns at Choseley, where a few Red-Legged Partridge a flock of Goldfinches and some Pied Wagtails were the only activity I then headed to Holme as I was short of ideas. A Richards Pipit (or 2) had been reported in the grazing fields at the back of the Broadwater lagoon, which was only viewable from the public footpath. As I approached a viewing position I could hear the distinctive sparrow like calling what was almost definitely the Richards Pipit, but it it offered no  view. There was really no possibility of seeing the bird on the ground so a flight view was the only option. I stayed in the area for a couple of hours with no success, but there were several more Whinchat and Stonechat and a Peregrine and Buzzard were quartering the field with several Swallows present. I left around 4.15 just as the rain started which was torrential with thunderous looking black clouds by the time I made it back to Stiffkey

A skein of Pink-footed Geese

Snipe at Titchwell - the light was a bit weird

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin

Sunday 2nd October

I had originally planned to leave fairly early today and head home. The appalling weather last night changed my plan a little as this morning looked like a strong N/NW wind may encourage a bit of seabird passage so I left Stiffkey at 6.45am and drove to Cley beach. It was windy and wet with a bit of flooding on the road. There were already a number of birders looking out from around the shelter at coastguards . It turned out to be an excellent seawatch until I left around 10.30 The full list

Leach's Petrel (2)
Long-tailed Skua (2)
Arctic Skua (10)
Great Skua (46)
Sooty Shearwater (8)
Manx Shearwater (5)
Grey Phalarope (1)
Razorbill
Guillemot
Kittiwake
Eider (3)
RT Diver (30+)
Diver sp 15
Gannet ('00s)

The Leach's Petrels were close to the shore and the first Long-tailed Skua was seen at the same time as the first Leach's with both being in the same scope view. In fact most of the birds were seen very close to shore with the wind and because they were travelling into the wind their passage was slow enough to get really good views.