Bar-tailed Godwit at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Sanderling at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Great Knot at Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

Not a great photo, but the Great Knot can be made out if you look at the bird in the centre of the frame at the front of the main flock (and if you click on the image). This represents only the fifth record of this species in the U.K., a bird that breeds in North East Siberia and overwinters in Australia, so goodness knows what it is doing in Norfolk!

This bird has been present at Titchwell in North Norfolk for almost a week now and tonight was the third visit that I have paid to the site, with the previous two drawing blanks in the way of sightings. Tonight was different with the bird present on the fresh marsh with a large flock of Knot. Always distant and most of the time with its' bill firmly tucked under its' wing, but on the rare occasion it moved the assembled masses were treated to okay views of this rare wader from the East.

Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, a comparison

Two fairly common birds on the north Norfolk coast at this time of year are the Bar-tailed Godwit (photos above) and the Black-tailed Godwit (photos below). Superficially similar, in the fact that they both have long legs, long bills and are brown/grey, but are easily told apart, especially when seen together. The 'Barwit' is a smaller, more chunky looking bird, with shorter legs, an upturned bill and a distinct supercilium in its' winter plumage. The 'Blackwit' is a larger bird with an unfathomably long, straight bill, longer legs and a shorter, less distinct supercilium.

Rough-legged Buzzard in Norfolk

My friend, Chris Orders and I spent the day in North Norfolk yesterday, just generally 'birding'. More of this trip will follow, but I think that we will both agree that the bird of the trip was this juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard and that is primarily because of the way that we saw it.

We had viewed the area south of Choseley Drying Barns where two juvenile Rough-legged's have been seen for most of the winter, but we were unlucky in that we didn't see either. So, having thought that we had 'dipped' on these birds we continued on our way to Titchwell and then headed for home via Wolferton to see if we could get our eyes on the Golden Pheasant. Upon leaving Hunstanton, the traffic was at a standstill, so we turned around and made our way back to Choseley to go the country way home. Just before entering the village of Bircham this large raptor was seen by both of us being mobbed by a Crow, we both thought 'Buzzard', but when the bird banked we both saw the white tail, immediately changing our cries to ' Rough-legged'! Neither of us were 100%, however, so I managed to get a few ropey shots as the bird flew in front of the car and away. Arriving home I sent off a couple of emails to confirm I.D. and both Josh Jones and Mike Weedon positively identified the bird as a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard. Nice.

Thanks to Mike for editing my less than impressive photos!

Cattle Egret at Pentney village in Norfolk

Yesterday was my first foray in birding this year and it took me into north Norfolk to try and catch up with the long-staying Pallid Harrier which has been seen close to the village of Flitcham. Mission was accomplished after standing in a rather wet and cold field for 2 and a half hours in order to get views of a rather splendid bird and first life tick of 2016, with the only downside being that the bird was over 300 metres away and refused to come any closer! A Cattle Egret being reported at nearby Pentney GPs caught my attention as I haven't seen one of these birds for a couple of years, so I decided to pay a visit on my way home. After discovering that the bird had relocated to the village, I found its' favoured horse paddocks and there was the bird quite happily following a horse and picking off anything that the animal disturbed. I stayed until the night drew in and when the bird flew, so did I.

Hoopoe at Crostwick in Norfolk

Finally managed to pick my 'bogey' today with the Hoopoe that has been present on horse paddocks at the village of Crostwick in Norfolk for the past week. I have 'chased' this bird for years, never 'catching' it, even abroad where they are apparently extremely easy to see.

After a bit of a run around in the rain, sleet and strong winds I finally managed to get to the correct site and whilst balancing on a plastic bucket in order to look over a 7ft high wooden fence, I got my first ever view of this rather splendid bird. When the sun did deem to shine the bird was never closer than about 200 metres away and when it did decide to come any closer the sun had gone in and more rain clouds appeared. It did feel good to pick that bogey though!

Olive-backed Pipit at Muckleburgh Hill in Norfolk

We made our way to Muckleburgh Hill and on arrival found the parking situation to be the same as that at the Shrike site, but with only a small car we managed to get a space. We made our way to the hill, passing various birders informing us that patience was the key and the bird will show eventually. We arrived and the bird was right in front of us, not ten feet away! Skulking through the bracken and seemingly oblivious to the hoards. I rattled off a couple of shots in case this was my only chance and then the bird flew. Upon reviewing my photos, I realised that I had got the completely wrong settings and everything was completely blurred (more so than normal anyway!), gutted! We waited for a bit to see if the bird would return and in about 10 minutes it did. A bit further away and again skulking about, low to the ground, but great views were had with the bird feeding and even doing a bit of preening. The bird then seemed to disappear behind a clump of bracken and vanish. It was at this point that we decided to cut our losses and go for the next bird(s).

We drove to Wells Woods, parked up and paid the rather pricey sum of £3 for 2 hours (I thought it was a bit dear anyway!). We walked to the drinking pool where a 1st-winter/female Red-flanked Bluetail had been showing and after a bit of a wait and several Goldcrests later the bird showed on the far side from us, always on the move and in dark cover, but the blue tail was unmistakeable. Unfortunately photography was not an option at that distance and with very poor light and so I contented myself with views of the third lifer in a day. Someone announced that the Hume's Leaf Warbler was showing and so we all moved off along the main track, perhaps I will get my fourth lifer I thought! A small group of birders were standing just off the path, but the group kept going, but we stopped and asked what these people were looking at, a Pallas's Warbler came the reply. There in the top of an evergreen oak was a gorgeous Pallas's Warbler, flitting in amongst the foliage, calling occasionally and showing its rather fine central crown stripe, with it even hovering and showing the yellow rump. Again, I had to be content with views. We then made our way the short distance to the Hume's site and there, in amongst a Hawthorn bush was the bird, calling, but never showing that well. Five out of five! This was definitely a day to remember! The only 'dip' was the Blyth's Reed Warbler, a notoriously skulky bird that was definitely not showing itself whilst we were there, it may have done if we had more time, but the two hours were almost up and hunger got the better of us. We left Wells Woods and went into the town of Wells where fish and chips were enjoyed.

Quite a day, the sort of day that makes Norfolk famous amongst birdwatchers. When will it be repeated, I wonder?!

I am afraid that the only photos I have for your perusal are those of the rather fine Olive-backed Pipit, a superbly marked individual and my 'bird of the day'.

Isabelline Shrike at Beeston Common in Norfolk

Over the past couple of weeks the wind has been coming from the east and with it all sorts of birds. The Norfolk coast has been littered with rare and scarce migrants, a lot of which I have never seen before. Pallas's Warblers, a couple of Hume's Leaf Warblers, a Blyth's Reed Warbler, several Red-flanked Bluetails, an Olive-backed Pipit and at least 3 Isabelline Shrikes were all on the radar and with Lisa having a rare weekend off and Sunday being free for me as well, we decided to visit the county in order to try and see some these eastern beauties and even treat ourselves to an overnight stay in Little Walsingham.

The first bird I had my eye on was a very obliging Isabelline Shrike that had been showing all week at Beeston Common just outside Sheringham. We arrived at the site with drizzle in the air and a thick grey sky, but that hadn't deterred other birders as the rather large parking area was full with cars. Luckily someone was pulling out just as we got there, so we managed to pull in and make our way to the birds' haunt. Where was everyone, we wondered and more importantly, where was the bird?! We saw a large group of birders in the distance all staring intently at a row of hedges, ah, that must be the site I thought, but no, the Shrike duly appeared on top of a hawthorn bush not 40 yards in front of us. Lovely views were had, the bird even ventured forth to catch a few wasps, but the group of birders still continued to stare into the aforementioned hedges. A couple of birders walked past us and I mentioned the fact that the Shrike was showing in front of me, but they weren't interested in this rare bird from the east, they had come to see a Long-eared Owl that was roosting nearby. That's what the group were looking at! It seemed quite strange to me that there were far more birders staring at a brown blob in a dense hawthorn hedge than there were at this very showy Shrike. Now don't get me wrong, a Long-eared Owl is a great bird, but a non-moving, brown blob can only keep me entertained for so long, especially when an Isabelline Shrike is flying about, hunting various insects, causing panic to the local Robins and Blackbirds and being thoroughly entertaining.

We stayed for a while watching this 1st-winter bird and then decided to venture west in order to 'bag' the other birds that were on show. That tale, dear readers will follow shortly, but for now I will leave you with some other images of the Isabelline Shrike.

Marsh Warbler at Narborough in Norfolk

This bird has been present for a few days now close to the village of Narborough in Norfolk. It has taken up residence in a reed bed mixed with nettles and other weeds with surrounding alder and elder bushes and so on Sunday myself and Mike Weedon paid a visit to catch up with this noted songster.

On arrival the bird was singing out of view and sounded like a Reed Warbler, not very exciting we both thought, but as the bird warmed up he started mimicking other birds, most notably Blackbird, Marsh Tit, Goldfinch, Swallow, Nuthatch and the call of a Chiffchaff. This was mostly done out of view, but occasionally the bird would give tantalising glimpses and on a couple of occasions perched in full view, but others at the twitch considered themselves to be more important than the rest of us and barged me out of the way in order to obtain 'the' photograph they so desired. I am afraid that you, dear reader are left with these glimpses.

Short video of the two Desert Wheatears

For those of you bored with Desert Wheatear images, I can only apologise at this latest post. I took a few little videos of the two birds, but for some reason couldn't load them onto here, that has now been rectified.

I promise that there will be no more, that's unless another bird turns up closer to home!

Desert Wheatear at Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk

I have decided to do a couple of posts regarding the Desert Wheatears on the east coast due to the sheer number of images that I have of the birds. They will be posted in the order that I saw the birds, so this first post will show the female that was present at Gorleston-on-Sea.

I started the day with plans to go and see the rather showy male that was at Lowestoft in Suffolk and so left the house looking forward to a nice autumnal day with sunshine and no wind and images in my mind of a nice confiding male Desert Wheatear and after seeing that I would make the short trip to Gorleston-on-Sea to see the female. This was not how it panned out.

The rain started falling upon reaching Kings Lynn and as the journey progressed the rain became heavier, the roads more flooded and to top it all, upon reaching Lowestoft there were road works everywhere, with roads closed and even worse, the bird had not been reported! I was growing more and more frustrated and so upon checking Birdguides I saw that the female bird had been reported at Gorleston and so I decided to cut my losses and go for this bird first.

I arrived at the birds location, Pier Gardens, parked up and saw 3 more birders through the rain and gloom looking around, I assumed for the bird. There was no sign! We carried on regardless, walking further along the promenade when the lady amongst us saw the bird on the beach. Hurrah! It wasn't looking too happy to say the least, being extremely wet and shabby looking, but she was seen feeding and didn't seem too perturbed about our presence. I managed some okay shots considering the conditions, with the bird being pretty confiding, more interested in feeding than with my ugly mug looking at her.

I went back to the van in order to dry out and have a drink where I checked Birdguides and saw that the male at Lowestoft had now been reported as being present and so I dried out a bit and then made my journey south where the male Desert Wheatear was awaiting me with hopefully better weather!