Weather: murkier than earlier, increasing breeze. From 12pm.
From the car-park & visitors centre: Robin, Pheasant, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Long-Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Collared Dove.
I didn't stop in any of the hides as I was intent upon sea-watching, but all along either side of the path, on the marshes, water or flying over: Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Coot, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Little Egret, Redshank, Shoveler, Marsh Harrier (I apparently missed a female hen harrier next to the marsh harrier which was spotted by a couple of other birders who told me when they passed), Herring Gull, Great Black-Backed Gull, Mallard, Lapwing, Teal, Meadow Pipit, Black-Tailed Godwit (2), Pintail, Shelduck, Ruff, Reed Bunting (heard), Black-Headed Gull, Curlew, Starling, Avocet, Snipe (~20) a large flock flying to & fro over the water, easily the largest group I have seen together, Greylag Goose, Crow, Brent Goose (2), Little Grebe (2), Oystercatcher, Cormorant.
On the beach: Turnstone groups very close to the viewpoint; Snow Bunting group further up the beach; Bar-Tailed Godwit, on the shoreline; a lone Sanderling came very close & squabbled with the turnstones for food, there were also a couple on the shoreline; Pied Wagtail also on the beach; Goldeneye (~6), Great-Crested Grebe, Common Scoter (ones & twos fairly close to the shore then a large 'string' much, much further out) all on the sea.
On the way back: Common Gull, Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Moorhen, Goldfinch.
53 species, none new.
A quick visit to Choseley barns yielded next to nothing though I did see 3 Corn Bunting on the hedgerow on the way back plus a couple of Kestrel & a Weasel which scampered across the road.
Showing posts with label chosely farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chosely farm. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Gore Point - Thornham Harbour - RSPB Titchwell - Holkham Nature Reserve, 06/10/2008
A full day out with Andy Brown, Chief Bird Specialist of Natural England who very kindly accompanied myself, Kim, Claire & Rob around some birding hotspots in North West Norfolk.
Gore Point - bright & sunny, crisp with a slight southern breeze.
A new location for me, one recommended for getting close to waders at high tide, unfortunately it was out when we got there so the sandbanks were not overly crowded: Cormorant, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Great Black-Backed Gull on the shore-side; Pink Footed Goose in the distance in growing skeins; Redshank, Curlew, Black-Headed Gull, Herring Gull, & a nice group of Gannet flying east; heading back to the car & some good visible migration of Meadow Pipit as well as a Rock Pipit which was heard from the bushes around the golf course, & Pied Wagtail.
Thornham Harbour.
Yet another new location, some excellent mixed agricultural land adjoining rough areas of grassland & marsh on the eastern fringes of the Holme reserve: Sparrowhawk above the nearby trees; Pink-Footed Goose & a small group of distant Brent Goose near to the shore-line; a nice group of ten Grey Partridge blending into the field; Skylark & Rock Pipit overflying; Teal, Wigeon, Redshank on the exposed mud of the creek & Bar-Tailed Godwit, Little Egret, Herring Gull further out towards the beach; Reed Bunting on nearby bushes; Curlew &, Grey Plover again nearer the shore; a lone Snipe went up high & quickly away.
RSPB Titchwell - still sunny & quite warm, later some light clouds moving in.
From the visitors' centre: Robin, Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Magpie, Blue Tit & Long-Tailed Tit; along the path for Dunnock & Cetti's Warbler (heard) low-down in the undergrowth; Chiffchaff (heard), Coot, Water Rail (heard) from the first reed beds.
Just after the rail was heard a Bearded Tit darted up from the reeds & flew for 20 metres or so low over the reedbeds, an unusual sighting of these normally elusive birds. However, something even more unusual followed when six bearded tits then flew straight up & over the path seemingly headed off the reserve in some irruptive behaviour. However there was a breeze which seemed to push them back or they thought better of it & quickly dived back down into the reeds on the other side of the path. Quite a spectacular & most unusual sighting!
Further along the path, overflying &/or visible on the first scrape: Cormorant, Starling, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Teal, Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck, Linnet, Egyptian Goose, Ruff, Avocet, lone Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Shoveler, Mallard, Moorhen, Pink-Footed Goose on the agricultural fields adjacent to the reserve, lone Golden Plover & lone Grey Plover, Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Tailed Godwit, Wren.
Further along the path near the saltmarsh area: Meadow Pipit, Turnstone, Herring Gull.
At sea or along the shore: Eider, Oystercatcher, Common Gull, Sanderling, Bar-Tailed Godwit. As I watched the sea a curious grey plumaged & large bird flew directly towards the shore & only when it reached the beach did it swerve to fly westwards parallel to the shore: a confused juvenile Gannet.
Heading back to the car: Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Kestrel.
Choseley Drying Barns.
A few days earlier Andy had seen a great grey shrike on the barn roof, obviously worth a look to see if it was still there, but unfortunately the intervening few days of heavy rain had apparently sent it on its way. However whilst we scanned the area we came across Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Robin, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove & in the far distance towards Holme a lone Marsh Harrier over the fields & a couple of Buzzard over trees.
Holkham Nature Reserve.
From the George Washington hide: large numbers of Pink-Footed Goose across all the fields from the hide & those leading up to the hide; a lone Barnacle Goose was also amongst the pink-feets; Wigeon also & a lone Marsh Harrier drifted across the reserve & behind into the woods towards the beach; back along the path a group of Long-Tailed Tit.
Back to Thornham Harbour for dusk & a Barn Owl, just as Andy had said there would be.
An excellent day, yielding 64 species, which may be a one-day record for me in Norfolk, none new though.
Gore Point - bright & sunny, crisp with a slight southern breeze.
A new location for me, one recommended for getting close to waders at high tide, unfortunately it was out when we got there so the sandbanks were not overly crowded: Cormorant, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Great Black-Backed Gull on the shore-side; Pink Footed Goose in the distance in growing skeins; Redshank, Curlew, Black-Headed Gull, Herring Gull, & a nice group of Gannet flying east; heading back to the car & some good visible migration of Meadow Pipit as well as a Rock Pipit which was heard from the bushes around the golf course, & Pied Wagtail.
Thornham Harbour.
Yet another new location, some excellent mixed agricultural land adjoining rough areas of grassland & marsh on the eastern fringes of the Holme reserve: Sparrowhawk above the nearby trees; Pink-Footed Goose & a small group of distant Brent Goose near to the shore-line; a nice group of ten Grey Partridge blending into the field; Skylark & Rock Pipit overflying; Teal, Wigeon, Redshank on the exposed mud of the creek & Bar-Tailed Godwit, Little Egret, Herring Gull further out towards the beach; Reed Bunting on nearby bushes; Curlew &, Grey Plover again nearer the shore; a lone Snipe went up high & quickly away.
RSPB Titchwell - still sunny & quite warm, later some light clouds moving in.
From the visitors' centre: Robin, Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Magpie, Blue Tit & Long-Tailed Tit; along the path for Dunnock & Cetti's Warbler (heard) low-down in the undergrowth; Chiffchaff (heard), Coot, Water Rail (heard) from the first reed beds.
Just after the rail was heard a Bearded Tit darted up from the reeds & flew for 20 metres or so low over the reedbeds, an unusual sighting of these normally elusive birds. However, something even more unusual followed when six bearded tits then flew straight up & over the path seemingly headed off the reserve in some irruptive behaviour. However there was a breeze which seemed to push them back or they thought better of it & quickly dived back down into the reeds on the other side of the path. Quite a spectacular & most unusual sighting!
Further along the path, overflying &/or visible on the first scrape: Cormorant, Starling, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Teal, Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck, Linnet, Egyptian Goose, Ruff, Avocet, lone Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Shoveler, Mallard, Moorhen, Pink-Footed Goose on the agricultural fields adjacent to the reserve, lone Golden Plover & lone Grey Plover, Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Tailed Godwit, Wren.
Further along the path near the saltmarsh area: Meadow Pipit, Turnstone, Herring Gull.
At sea or along the shore: Eider, Oystercatcher, Common Gull, Sanderling, Bar-Tailed Godwit. As I watched the sea a curious grey plumaged & large bird flew directly towards the shore & only when it reached the beach did it swerve to fly westwards parallel to the shore: a confused juvenile Gannet.
Heading back to the car: Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Kestrel.
Choseley Drying Barns.
A few days earlier Andy had seen a great grey shrike on the barn roof, obviously worth a look to see if it was still there, but unfortunately the intervening few days of heavy rain had apparently sent it on its way. However whilst we scanned the area we came across Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Robin, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove & in the far distance towards Holme a lone Marsh Harrier over the fields & a couple of Buzzard over trees.
Holkham Nature Reserve.
From the George Washington hide: large numbers of Pink-Footed Goose across all the fields from the hide & those leading up to the hide; a lone Barnacle Goose was also amongst the pink-feets; Wigeon also & a lone Marsh Harrier drifted across the reserve & behind into the woods towards the beach; back along the path a group of Long-Tailed Tit.
Back to Thornham Harbour for dusk & a Barn Owl, just as Andy had said there would be.
An excellent day, yielding 64 species, which may be a one-day record for me in Norfolk, none new though.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Chosely Farm Outhouses, Norfolk, 12/04/2008
A quick drive to & stop at the barns near Chosely to check for any new spring arrivals, or even to just pick up the residents. There were plenty of noisy Chaffinch, also plenty of Yellowhammer in the hedgerow. Corn Bunting was also heard & was assumed to be amongst a group of birds that was flushed from the hedgerow. A large flock back down towards Titchwell then grabbed my attention, a nice group of Golden Plover, before Stock Dove & Pied Wagtail on the outhouses.
Monday, 24 March 2008
King's Lynn to Great Yarmouth on the A149, Norfolk, 24/03/2008
Weather: Occasional bright spell interrupting frequent, wintry, snowfalls.
Heading onwards from 1pm with the Easter birding extravaganza & leaving base in King's Lynn to head towards East Norfolk & Great Yarmouth via the A149 coast road.
I had been reading about an organised birding trip that took in barns at Chosely so I decided to head there first, just of the A149 in Thornham. Before getting there a nice view of a Sparrowhawk in a pine-treed garden was had as well as Blue Tit & Great Tit in the hedgerow by the road & Kestrel in typical roadside hover.
The Chosely Farm Outhouses weren't too hard to find & I was instantly rewarded with the reknowned Corn Buntings that many go there to see. Also good numbers of other passerines: Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock & several pairs of Yellowhammer. In the fields & overflying the area: Red-Legged Partridge, Stock Dove, Pheasant, & ubiquitous Woodpigeon.
Back on the A149 motoring up through Burnham-Overy-Staithe & a large raptor soaring initially looked like a simple Buzzard but after looking, & observing leg-trailing it might well have been a Marsh Harrier, although I came away still favouring Buzzard simply for the time it spent soaring, behaviour I've never seen with Marsh Harriers. Whilst observing the Buzzard a Curlew was spooked & flew over the road.
Into Wells-Next-the-Sea, a lovely village, with a huge salt-marsh facing the quay, upon which skeins of Brent Geese regularly shifted position; also in the mud on the quayside: Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Little Egret, Black-Headed Gull (another ubiquity), Redshank, Grey Plover. Scanning further onto the marsh I could pick out Herring Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Common Gull & the odd Carrion Crow.
Further along on lakes outside Stiffkey: Greylag Goose, Mallard, Shelduck, & in the village, Collared Dove.
Blakeney had impressive numbers of Jackdaw as well as flocks of Starling.
Making it to Cley & the seemingly vast expanse of reedbeds there, it was unfortunate that I had no time to park-up & join the numerous other birders' cars & venture onto the reserve, nevertheless in the marshes & creeks alongside the road: Moorhen, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Coot.
At Salthouse, Wigeon, at Kelling, Rook & Grey Partridge.
After reading of a few of my previous visits to Weybourne I decided to leave the car & venture out onto the pebbly beach there, hoping to observe sea ducks or if I got really lucky a very early tern. How wrong I was! Apart from a Meadow Pipit in the car-park, nothing but the usual gulls were seen in the storm-tossed & impressive-looking sea. I think it must have been the wildness that caused family outings to stop there in days gone-by because the bird-life (or lack of it) would not have been a draw, & it won't be in future.
Cutting inland to head south to Great Yarmouth, & just before Rollesby, another raptor flew over the road, inital thoughts were a Sparrowhawk but I had an impression of a white rump, however I'm not sure enough to say that it was a Hen Harrier if the white rump was something other than my mind playing tricks on me.
Then before the light faded & more snow-storms set in, just before Ormesby, on a good stretch of water a couple of Tufted Duck amongst the usual mallard.
Finally I arrived into Great Yarmouth at 6pm.
42 species, none new.
Heading onwards from 1pm with the Easter birding extravaganza & leaving base in King's Lynn to head towards East Norfolk & Great Yarmouth via the A149 coast road.
I had been reading about an organised birding trip that took in barns at Chosely so I decided to head there first, just of the A149 in Thornham. Before getting there a nice view of a Sparrowhawk in a pine-treed garden was had as well as Blue Tit & Great Tit in the hedgerow by the road & Kestrel in typical roadside hover.
The Chosely Farm Outhouses weren't too hard to find & I was instantly rewarded with the reknowned Corn Buntings that many go there to see. Also good numbers of other passerines: Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock & several pairs of Yellowhammer. In the fields & overflying the area: Red-Legged Partridge, Stock Dove, Pheasant, & ubiquitous Woodpigeon.
Back on the A149 motoring up through Burnham-Overy-Staithe & a large raptor soaring initially looked like a simple Buzzard but after looking, & observing leg-trailing it might well have been a Marsh Harrier, although I came away still favouring Buzzard simply for the time it spent soaring, behaviour I've never seen with Marsh Harriers. Whilst observing the Buzzard a Curlew was spooked & flew over the road.
Into Wells-Next-the-Sea, a lovely village, with a huge salt-marsh facing the quay, upon which skeins of Brent Geese regularly shifted position; also in the mud on the quayside: Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Little Egret, Black-Headed Gull (another ubiquity), Redshank, Grey Plover. Scanning further onto the marsh I could pick out Herring Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Common Gull & the odd Carrion Crow.
Further along on lakes outside Stiffkey: Greylag Goose, Mallard, Shelduck, & in the village, Collared Dove.
Blakeney had impressive numbers of Jackdaw as well as flocks of Starling.
Making it to Cley & the seemingly vast expanse of reedbeds there, it was unfortunate that I had no time to park-up & join the numerous other birders' cars & venture onto the reserve, nevertheless in the marshes & creeks alongside the road: Moorhen, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Coot.
At Salthouse, Wigeon, at Kelling, Rook & Grey Partridge.
After reading of a few of my previous visits to Weybourne I decided to leave the car & venture out onto the pebbly beach there, hoping to observe sea ducks or if I got really lucky a very early tern. How wrong I was! Apart from a Meadow Pipit in the car-park, nothing but the usual gulls were seen in the storm-tossed & impressive-looking sea. I think it must have been the wildness that caused family outings to stop there in days gone-by because the bird-life (or lack of it) would not have been a draw, & it won't be in future.
Cutting inland to head south to Great Yarmouth, & just before Rollesby, another raptor flew over the road, inital thoughts were a Sparrowhawk but I had an impression of a white rump, however I'm not sure enough to say that it was a Hen Harrier if the white rump was something other than my mind playing tricks on me.
Then before the light faded & more snow-storms set in, just before Ormesby, on a good stretch of water a couple of Tufted Duck amongst the usual mallard.
Finally I arrived into Great Yarmouth at 6pm.
42 species, none new.
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