Poachers Pocket

Have had Adam round painting so I treated him to lunch a quick cheesey chips and a pint at the Poachers in Bacton/Walcott Red-Throated Divers everywhere on the Sea were a new Pub bird and not long before leaving I had a Purple Sandpiper on the slipway looking towards Bacton with a single Turnstone.

Also done the Big Garden Birdwatch today and my count was as follow's. Sparrowhawk 1, Robin 2, Long-tailed Tit 7, Chaffinch 11, Wood Pigeon 8, Blackbird 7, Dunnock 3, Greenfinch 27, House Sparrow 7, Brambling 3 (was 10 last week), Collard Dove 2, Blue Tit 2, Coal Tit 2, Goldfinch 6, Great Tit 2.

Work Journey

A pleasent morning as I drove to work, a flock of Pink-feet about 500 strong flew across the rising sun.

A Barn Owl had a golden halo around it as it flew across the road with the sunlight behind it.

At Catfield the 150 Wild Swans were viewable distantly from the main road.

And at Ormesby, Rollesby Broad held many Tufted Duck and the other side on Ormesby Broad Two Goosander sat proud in the middle of the Broad. I turned round fast and went for a second look just in time to see them fly away.

On the Patch

After receiving news of Waxwings at Sainsburys I head down to have a look, I guess this is the same party of Waxwings I saw New Years Eve outside my house. I arrived at around 10am and saw the Waxwings in the distant trees nr the Church but went for a closer look and couldn't relocate them. I did see a Stock Dove though adding my 37th North Walsham bird of the year.

I then decided I could add more so me and Claire went for a small walk around Witton Woods we were there 45mins and we saw a big fat zero of birds. The strong wind seemed to keep them all hiding only hearing Goldcrest, Wren and a Robin we moved on.

A quick stop at Walcott we watched the ad Med Gull the third in 3 years and a different bird each year. Also had a Red-throated Diver on the sea.

Catching Up and Patching Up

Been out here and there on the 3rd Jan I went out with James, Starting at Cantley we watched the Bean Geese but couldn't grasp the Lesser White-fronted Goose in amongst them.

We then headed to Lowestoft where the Iceland Gull showed well. We then went to Breydon and the Eels Foot Inn the later being the best stop. At the Pub we saw Red-crested Pochard, Siskin, Jay and many more.

Later stops at Barton Broad allowed us to see the Drk Smew and a fine Peregrine.

The 4th Jan I got to see some of the Solar Eclipse in a small gap in the clouds.

On the 9th Jan I went to Cley and re-located the American Wigeon for the few others that hadn't seen it that morning. I then went to my new patch well actually two patches full areas of my new patches are on my website. Highlights here were Cetti's Warbler and Kingfisher.

The First of 2011

As with every year for the last 14 I have been out on the first and this was no different, well apart from this time it was on crutches, which was a pain, as on 23rd December I had torn the ligaments in my left foot (a repeat of what I had done to my right foot in October).

Dad said he would drive for me, and Adam also joined us. The first bird was a Barn Owl at Morston at around 6.30 and the second bird was a Wood Pigeon asleep in the Car Park at Titchwell.

We normally walk out to the sea and wait for it to get light but with the slower walking conditions we were able to see more along the way. The usual duck suspects were there, Grey Partridges on the Salt Marsh, and Whooper Swan flew past. 3 Water Rails fed together on the Brackish Marsh. Whilst watching the Sea we saw very little getting Eider and Common Scoter but luckily two Long-tailed Ducks were also there. A Snow Bunting flew over us whilst we watched the sea, and a man told us about the Shorelark further down the beach that I managed to pick out.

Walking back We watched Marsh Harriers fly around and then a Hen Harrier came up, it banked and hovered over the marsh showing its dark back, then came closer to us showing the dark hood and orange under parts it was the Northern Harrier. Other birds of note on the way back were Jack Snipe and Water Pipit.

At the feeders and car park we added the usual and a Marsh Tit also.

We then headed off to Holkham via Chosley and Sculthorpe and we saw a huge flock of Brambling at around 250 a few Tree Sparrows also.

At Holkham we were lucky enough to find the Two Rough-legged Buzzards and White-fronted Geese.

We then went for a quick sea watch at Salthouse with the highlights being many Red-throated Divers and a Great Northern also flew through. The rest of the afternoon was simple get to the roost at Hickling and add a few more species. Here we saw Redwing, Sparrowhawk, Crane and Woodcock and the Woodcock was the 104th Species of the day. This was good as we had missed some really easy birds like Tufted Duck, Pochard, Golden Plover, Redpolls and many more.