Wednesday 18 November 2020

20201118 Siberian Chiffchaff Beeston Regis Common

 


20201118 Siberian Chiffchaff
Bird rapidly moved through Common high in trees with Long-tailed Tit flock.

20201118 Common Chiffchaff
P. collybita. 5 birds stayed low down in the Dusky's willow clump.
Dusky called, about 3 short bursts, but has proved to be a difficult bird to view.


20201118 Common Chiffchaff
Sunning collybita with bluebottle that took a wrong turn.
1 Brambling on deck here.


Tuesday 17 November 2020

20201117 Desert Wheatear, Salthouse Beach. Caspian Gull & Peregrine Falcon

 


20201117 Desert Wheatear


20201117 Desert Wheatear



20201117 Caspian Gull
Off Salthouse Beach road.
Probably a male on body size and hefty bill. Adult winter plumage.

20201117 Peregrine Falcon
By Meadow Lane. Hefty adult female.
Appears to be a length of wire beneath the left eye...


Sunday 8 November 2020

20201108 Greater Yellowlegs, Dunwich Sea Pools

20201108 Greater Yellowlegs


20201108 Greater Yellowlegs


20201108 Greater Yellowlegs


20201028 Lesser Yellowlegs
NWT Cley on Keepers Marsh.
Slim and well proportioned compared with Greater.

20201108 Greater Yellowlegs

20201108 Greater Yellowlegs



20201108 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail, Dunwich Quags & 20191228 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail, Sedgeford dung heeps


20201108 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail

20201108 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail

 
20201108 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail

20191228 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail
Sedgeford bird for comparison. Note taken in overcast dull conditions.


20191228 Alaskan Yellow Wagtail
This Sedgeford bird shows an stronger supercilium behind the eye.
Black lores and bleed onto ear-coverts is the same in both.


Monday 2 November 2020

20201102 Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Hempton Marsh

 

20201102 E. Sparrowhawk
Juvenile Female reflectively scratching,
 having crashed through centre of willow and berry bush thicket, 
flushing Redwing and Blackbird in all directions and failing to strike.

20201102 E Sparrowhawk
Looked about for further prey...


20201102 E Sparrowhawk
Then focused on lens and shot off.
Bullfinch and Redwing abundant along path.


Wednesday 28 October 2020

20201028 Lesser Yellowlegs, NWT Cley

 

20201028 Lesser Yellowlegs
Keeper's Marsh

20201028 Lesser Yellowlegs
Often a confiding species. Will dig out Hayle and Exeter birds... And the Titchwell sketch.


Saturday 17 October 2020

20201017 Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Stiffkey saltmarsh

 

20201017 Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin


20201017 Rufous Scrub Robin
Eastern subspecies syriacus 

20201017 Rufous Scrub Robin
Looking a bit exhausted at times.

20201017 The Twitch
A scene reminiscent of an Emperor Penguin colony but on mud.
c500 in distance with steady stream back and forth.
Note guy in wheel chair....  
2 policemen were staggering out to the colony as 'jump start Eric' and I left.

20201017 Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

20201017 Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin 
Biro sketch of the bird of the year. Could not resist....
Interesting to note that the Salt Marsh is a SSSI,
so the local NT's had called out the police on at least two days of the twitch sighting damage to the site and to a farmers ploughed field.
The NT's take no action with holiday makers or dogs running over the marsh throughout the year....?? Even fail to stop the Norfolk harrier pack flush and hunt hares over the site...??

20201017 Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin
Acrylic ID plate in progress...



Friday 9 October 2020

20201009 Bearded Vulture, Moulton Chapel, Lincolnshire

 

A red letter day...

20201009 Bearded Vulture
1st summer female in roost tree at Cowpit
much to the dismay of the local Rooks.
About 100 birders here early morn much to the dismay of the socially distanced villagers.


20201009 Bearded Vulture
Flying away from the village escorted by a mobbing cloud of Rooks.
She then turned back to the SE and went down on fields to South of Moulton Chapel.




20201009 Bearded Vulture
Rapidly moved to intercept the birds Southward drift at Queens Bank Farm...
 It got up and glided directly at a small group of birders on the bund...



20201009 Bearded Vulture
Dropped down to feed on small carcass by the bund...!!


20201009 Bearded Vulture
The death stare...



20201009 Bearded Vulture
Lift off was quite an effort.

20201009 Bearded Vulture
Feathered legs and small feet and talons, compared to a similar sized Eagle.

20201009 Bearded Vulture
Bird then flew at telegraph wire height over our heads...!?
 and examined each birder for any signs of frailty and weakness.
This shot demonstrates the drawback of a 1200mm set up and large target overhead...

www.birdguides.com/news/origins-of-wandering-bearded-vulture-confirmed-by-genetics/

https://www.birdguides.com/news/bearded-vulture-heads-home/

20201009 Bearded Vulture & Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Raptors of the British Isles are just not big enough....


Wednesday 7 October 2020

20201007 Eurasian Hoopoe, Wighton

 


20201007 Eurasian Hoopoe
Confiding bird attracted to a dung heap in corner of arable field... as ever.





20201007 Eurasian Hoopoe
Following afternoon nap sheltered in the weeds the bird had a good stretch with crest up.

20201005 Eurasian Hoopoe
Shots taken on 5th in dull light and rain.

20201005 Eurasian Hoopoe


Saturday 26 September 2020

20200926 Little Gull wreck, Grey Phalarope & Arctic Tern, Kelling WM

 The large water meadow South of Kelling Quags appears to have been sold to a 'wildlife trust',
a wish expressed by the owners!?!
Hopefully the NWT... and not the national dog park trust. 
Whether the NOA got involved is unclear.


20200926 Little Gull
Note black leading outer web of leading primary.
Great winds NW29-35 and sea-watch.

20200626 Little Gull
Loosing juvenile plumage.

20200626 Little Gull & Grey Phalarope

20200626 Grey Phalarope

20200928 Arctic Tern
Juvenile spent several days over water meadow.
Faster swoops to surface than Little Gulls.

20200928 Arctic Tern
No secondary bar and very compact.

20200828 Cetti's Warbler
Meadow Lane Kelling WM.
Juvenile bird with pinkish legs and short tail.
Ranks as my top Cetti's shot to date.

Kelling WMs is a great all-round bird site, aided by the freshwater flowing through it and the total absence of nature reserve paraphernalia.  
To secure the whole site the freshwater pool meadow will need to be obtained by a 'wildlife trust' from  Kelling Estate ownership...

20200928 Mediterranean Gull
Adult winter just offshore with Gull flock. A few Meds were wrecked on the WMeadow on 26th.

20200928 Sheringham RNLI
On search for missing persons today...