20170404 Titchwell Marsh Field Sketching Course

rspb.org.uk/Titchwell

Many thanks to Carrie Carey Designs Ltd.

20170423

Field Sketch & Notes, Patsy's Reedbed Pool.

20170331 Great White Egret Bayfiled Estate & Cley Marshes

Great White Egret

Non-breeding bill and leg colour.

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

No elongated plumes.

Great White Egret

Bird arriving on reserve high from the East.

Went down West side of Main Reedbed.

20170331 Great White Egret

In flight by Bayfield Lake.

20170328 Gargeney Salthouse Marsh & Little Grebe by East Bank

Gargeney

Male about the East end of the reserve for several days now.

Little Grebe

In Dyke by East Bank.

20170327 Red-flanked Bluetail RSPB Titchwell

Red-flanked Bluetail

Adult female...?

Re-located early on 27th near ground in mossy willow carr.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Fly catching around Dragonfly pond once the day had warmed up by afternoon.
Paul Eele's comments:
I was just on my way back to the visitor centre when a radio message alerted me to say that a red-flanked bluetail had been reported from the Meadow Trail! I was rather surprised by the news and if I am honest, I expected to find a robin. When I got to the Meadow Trail there was a small bird flycatching from the willows. I raised my bins to find there was indeed a RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL!!
The bird was showing really well and I managed to get some signal on my phone to enable me to broadcast the news. Before long people started to arrive and watch the bird performing well.  It is a migrant species breeding in mixed coniferous forest in northern Asia and northeastern Europe, from Finland east across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in southeastern Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The breeding range is slowly expanding westwards through Finland (where up to 500 pairs now breed), and is a rare but increasing vagrant to western Europe. However, the local robins were not as pleased to see our special guest and started to chase it about causing the bluetail to become more mobile and elusive but still favouring the Meadow Trail. Having only seen them in autumn hopping around on the ground, I was rather surprised to see it flycatching from the tops of the willow bushes.
2016 was an excellent year in the UK for bluetails and Norfolk didn't miss out with two records of its own in the autumn. This represents the first record for the reserve after the single observer record in September 2008 was unproven.

Wren

Passing the time of day waiting for a Bluetail to show.