Fozzybear
Ich bin ein Vogelbeobachter
I've just returned from a week in north Norfolk, staying in Blakeney and walking and bussing about to visit Cley (and Cley Marshes), Morston, Burnham-Overy-Staithe and the walk from there through the dunes to Holkham woods, Titchwell and Wiveton Downs. Had a lot of early mornings and late nights, got up at 2am to see Nightjars at Wiveton heard two, one of which flew out of a gorse bush right in front of us (10 feet away) and circled around to land in a nearby tree and start churring again (my brother got it on video and says he can hear the wings on it!) and we went out walking on the Morston coast path late in the evening to watch Barn Owls.
As well as the birds we saw lots of insects, especially on the heathy sections of the dunes where there were lots of blue butterflies, wasp and bee burrows, grasshoppers, sand wasps, robber flies and ichneumon wasps and we also saw moths, Hares (and a pair boxing in a field near Titchwell), Rabbits, Deer (didn't see which species but appeared to be a Red), Bats, Toads, Common and Grey Seals (on the same boat that the next night appeared on Springwatch - Kate and Chris went out on it the week before and sat at the prow, where we sat too getting a bit wet in the process!).
I saw six new birds (Spoonbill, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sand Martin, Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Nightjar) and over eighty species in total, which I thought was good going considering we didn't drive so didn't chase all the hotspots and I wouldn't say I'm a very accomplished birdwatcher, more a rather casual local patch guy. The RSPB volunteer in the Island Hide was a great help, now I know some of the tricks to separate Black and Bar tailed Godwits and don't need to rely on seeing their tail! Was great to finally look closely enough to separate House and Sand Martins too, beautiful birds and one I'd really wanted to watch. I saw lots of Avocets courting, mating, nesting and defending young (very vigorously!), some unusual Swallow courtship behaviour and mating (male diving right under the water) and there were also an awful lot of young birds around, I made a note when we saw chicks.
The birds I encountered...
Avocet (plus young)
Bar-tailed Godwit
Barn Owl
Bearded Tit (plus young)
Black-headed Gull
Black-tailed Godwit
Blackbird (plus young)
Blackcap
Blue Tit (plus young)
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Cetti's Warbler
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit (plus young)
Collared Dove
Common Tern
Coot (plus young)
Cormorant
Cuckoo
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
Dunnock
Gadwall
Goldfinch
Great Crested Grebe (plus young)
Great Tit (plus young)
Greater Black-backed Gull (not 100% sure though)
Greenfinch (plus young)
Grey Heron
Grey Plover
Greylag Goose (plus young)
Herring Gull
House Martin
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Knot
Lapwing (plus young)
Lesser Black-blacked Gull
Linnet
Little Egret
Little Grebe (plus young)
Little Ringed Plover
Little Tern
Long-tailed Tit (plus young)
Mallard (plus young)
Marsh Harrier
Meadow Pipit
Moorhen (plus young)
Mute Swan (plus young)
Nightjar
Oystercatcher
Pheasant (plus young)
Pied Wagtail
Pochard
Red-legged Partridge
Redshank (plus young)
Reed Bunting
Reed Warbler
Ringed Plover
Ruff (male in breeding plumage!)
Sand Martin
Sandwich Tern
Sedge Warbler
Shelduck (plus young)
Shoveler (plus young)
Skylark
Song Thrush
Spoonbill
Spotted Redshank
Starling
Swallow
Swift
Teal
Tufted Duck
Turnstone
Whitethroat
Wigeon
Willow Warbler
Woodpigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer
All in all a great week and as ever it's lovely just walking about around the Blakeney/Wiveton/Cley area and popping out on the bus here and there. I doubt it would suit someone needing to 'do' all the hotspot sites (especially Snettisham which I think is a bit of a trail to get to by bus!) but it still makes for a really enjoyable and productive holiday and getting out around the little villages often turns up some great wildlife. The main places like Holme, Titchwell, Blakeney, Cley, Salthouse and Kelling are all on the main coast road though so it's easy to visit those on the Coasthopper bus - you see a lot of birdwatchers on the bus as well as some local characters. |
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As well as the birds we saw lots of insects, especially on the heathy sections of the dunes where there were lots of blue butterflies, wasp and bee burrows, grasshoppers, sand wasps, robber flies and ichneumon wasps and we also saw moths, Hares (and a pair boxing in a field near Titchwell), Rabbits, Deer (didn't see which species but appeared to be a Red), Bats, Toads, Common and Grey Seals (on the same boat that the next night appeared on Springwatch - Kate and Chris went out on it the week before and sat at the prow, where we sat too getting a bit wet in the process!).
I saw six new birds (Spoonbill, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sand Martin, Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Nightjar) and over eighty species in total, which I thought was good going considering we didn't drive so didn't chase all the hotspots and I wouldn't say I'm a very accomplished birdwatcher, more a rather casual local patch guy. The RSPB volunteer in the Island Hide was a great help, now I know some of the tricks to separate Black and Bar tailed Godwits and don't need to rely on seeing their tail! Was great to finally look closely enough to separate House and Sand Martins too, beautiful birds and one I'd really wanted to watch. I saw lots of Avocets courting, mating, nesting and defending young (very vigorously!), some unusual Swallow courtship behaviour and mating (male diving right under the water) and there were also an awful lot of young birds around, I made a note when we saw chicks.
The birds I encountered...
Avocet (plus young)
Bar-tailed Godwit
Barn Owl
Bearded Tit (plus young)
Black-headed Gull
Black-tailed Godwit
Blackbird (plus young)
Blackcap
Blue Tit (plus young)
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Cetti's Warbler
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit (plus young)
Collared Dove
Common Tern
Coot (plus young)
Cormorant
Cuckoo
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
Dunnock
Gadwall
Goldfinch
Great Crested Grebe (plus young)
Great Tit (plus young)
Greater Black-backed Gull (not 100% sure though)
Greenfinch (plus young)
Grey Heron
Grey Plover
Greylag Goose (plus young)
Herring Gull
House Martin
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Knot
Lapwing (plus young)
Lesser Black-blacked Gull
Linnet
Little Egret
Little Grebe (plus young)
Little Ringed Plover
Little Tern
Long-tailed Tit (plus young)
Mallard (plus young)
Marsh Harrier
Meadow Pipit
Moorhen (plus young)
Mute Swan (plus young)
Nightjar
Oystercatcher
Pheasant (plus young)
Pied Wagtail
Pochard
Red-legged Partridge
Redshank (plus young)
Reed Bunting
Reed Warbler
Ringed Plover
Ruff (male in breeding plumage!)
Sand Martin
Sandwich Tern
Sedge Warbler
Shelduck (plus young)
Shoveler (plus young)
Skylark
Song Thrush
Spoonbill
Spotted Redshank
Starling
Swallow
Swift
Teal
Tufted Duck
Turnstone
Whitethroat
Wigeon
Willow Warbler
Woodpigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer
All in all a great week and as ever it's lovely just walking about around the Blakeney/Wiveton/Cley area and popping out on the bus here and there. I doubt it would suit someone needing to 'do' all the hotspot sites (especially Snettisham which I think is a bit of a trail to get to by bus!) but it still makes for a really enjoyable and productive holiday and getting out around the little villages often turns up some great wildlife. The main places like Holme, Titchwell, Blakeney, Cley, Salthouse and Kelling are all on the main coast road though so it's easy to visit those on the Coasthopper bus - you see a lot of birdwatchers on the bus as well as some local characters. |
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