Uninspired!!!

I have to admit that with all the rubbish weather recently I have done very little birding. The time I have spent in the field I have carried my camrea and got some varied shots.


Reed warbler trapped on our 2nd CES visit



Male red legged partridge that flew into my

garden nets. Due to the fact that they have

spurs on their legs you can't ring them.







Juvenile oystercatcher ringed at Bircham

Short eared owl on the way to work

The swifts and martins were very low (and fast)

and these were the best I could do.





Juvenile bearded tits as Titchwell. If you look

closely you can separate the sexes...the males

have pale eyes (left) and the females are dark

(right). The top image shows 2 male and 1

female.

CES started

Today was the first visit to our new Constant Effort ringing Site (CES) on the coast. The weather conditions didn't look terribly promising with a strong NW wind and the occasional shower. Despite the lack of any real migration and most of the resident birds incubating and not moving far, we had a decent catch of birds. The highlight was the capture of two Cetti's warblers, a new species for me. 22 birds were ringed including 2 chiffchaff, 1 willow warbler and 2 blackcaps. Hopefully numbers will improve as spring arrives.

Male Cetti's warbler

A walk around the Choseley area in the afternoon included 2 hobbies and several yellow wags but not a great deal else. The news of a female pallid harrier the had been further down the coast made me head for the reserve. If was difficult to decide where the best place was to view the bird so headed for the height of the dunes. The walk down produced a cuckoo (162) and a 1st summer little gull (163) on the fresh marsh. After an hour in the dunes and no sign of the bird I gave up.

Oh deer!

Had a bit of a surprise on the way home from work yesterday. Along the back road just south of Choseley I came across 4 red deer hinds in the road. As soon as they saw me they were through the hedge and off. I did manage to get a photo on my mobile but it is rubbish! It is the first time I have seen red deer this close to the coast. I assume that they are wild and not escaped from Park Farm at Snettisham. 3 birds added to the yearlist today, a nice female redstart (159) on the access road this morning and both whitethroats in the carpark.

This weather is taking the piss now!!!

It is early May, the classic time for spring to start and what is it doing....chucking it down with a poxy northerly wind...fed up with it now. Decided to go out to Thornham Point after work this evening to see if there were any migrants that had braved the conditions. Well it was pretty quiet! 2 willow warbler, 1 chiffchaff and a male blackcap were the only birds in the bushes. A female whinchat (152) was in the scrub on the way back and a late female merlin was chasing pipits. The fresh marsh was pretty good with loads of swifts, swallows and house martins (still only see 3 sand martins) along with 2 common tern, black tern a hobby through but 3 brambling over reminded that winter hans't gone yet. Still managed to add 7 yearticks (158) but that probably says more about the time, or lack of, I have spent in the field recently. Bank holiday this weekend so hopefully the weather will oblige? Two new species added to the garden yearlist yesterday, house martin (43) and cormorant (44).

Pied piper?

Well it did feel like that a bit today. Just after lunch a report came in of a male pied flycatcher the the trees by the main path and as spring males are pretty unusual on the reserve, we went out to look for it. The bird was reported to be mobile and sure enough, it had moved off. Despite the poor weather for migrants (strong northerly with constant rain) there did seem to be a few birds about. Loads of swifts (100+), swallow and house martins were moving through, there were yellow and white wags on the fresh marsh and a couple of greenshank were reported. David also had seen another osprey moving through west early morning. At about 4pm the pied fly (151)was relocated and we were able to get cracking views as it fed low in the trees. The contrasting brown wings showed it to be a 1st year bird. Fingers crossed the weather will change for the better soon!

Need to pull my finger out!

Not really sure what has been happening recently but I have been missing loads of birds. Probably been a combination being distracted and the poor weather but I need to get it sorted. David was in early this morning and found a black-necked grebe on the sea along and along with spoonbill and the hawfinch he has nearly caught up with me in only 2 months!
From next week (unless it is chucking it down)before and after work birding is a must.

150 up

A singing male grasshopper warbler on the edge of the reedbed takes the reserve yearlist to the 150 mark but it could have been even better. David had a hawfinch in the carpark on his way home but despite searching there was no further sign.
Swallow over the garden moves that list onto 42.