Monday 30 December 2013

Post-christmas birding - 29 Dec 2013

Had a great day out at Great Yarmouth, where I ended up taking more than 2000 photographs, mainly of Med Gulls and two Shorelarks that I found in the dunes behind the boating lake.
I started the day with a quick stop at Buckenham Marshes where there were still at least 25 Taiga Bean Geese still present, best viewed from the east end of the railway platform (view only from the station - don't venture beyond the platform, along the track).

Then I headed off to Gt Yarmouth with a loaf of bread and spent an hour of so photographing the Med Gulls just north of the Wellington Pier. After that I headed to the north denes to check out the boating lake which often holds good numbers of gulls. There were plenty of gulls there, but nothing to set the heart racing! A really nice surprise was two Shorelarks which I saw in flight over the dunes behind the boating lake for a few seconds, which then appeared to land. I spent about 20 minutes hunting around for them, but no sign. I decided to phone the birds out to RBA anyway and whilst I was I was leaving the message they both flew in from the north and landed in the dunes by the cafe. I spent the next two hours carefully stalking the birds and taking photos of them. With a little patients and fieldcraft I managed to get some really nice shots!

I finished my day off at Horsey where there were 4 Whooper Swans midway between West Somerton and Horsey and a Tawny Owl at Waxham. The Tawny Owl was presumably flushed from its roost as it flew out of the trees north of Shangri-la and into the large conifer in the SE corner of Shangri-lar garden. I've never heard Long-tailed Tits go so mental!!

Shorelark, Great Yarmouth North Denes



























Mediterranean Gulls, Gt. Yarmouth


















Tawny Owl, Waxham

Post-christmas birding - 28 Dec 2013

OK, the missus has taken the boy down to her parents house in London, leaving me to tour the Norfolk coast in pursuit of some winter birding. As the north Norfolk coast has been pretty well devastated by the floods, I've been out in east Norfolk, doing the rounds and seeing what I can find.

I started off at Ludham airfield where the usual wintering flock of Whooper and Bewick's Swans were present. I didn't count them all, but the pager said that there were 27 Whooper and 58 Bewick's, so I'll go with that. There were also about 10 Ruff flying around the nearby fields.
I then headed off to Rush Hills Scrape. The walk to and from the scrape was quite good, with nice views of a ringtail Hen Harrier, Marsh Tits and Long-tailed Tit. The Green-winged Teal was still on the scrape with about 500 Common Teal, but always at the back, so I couldn't take advantage of the good light to get more photos.

Whooper and Bewick's Swans, Ludham

Whooper and Bewick's Swans, Ludham

Ringtail Hen Harrier, Potter Heigham

Ringtail Hen Harrier, Potter Heigham

Marsh Tit, Hickling

Marsh Tit, Hickling

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit