31st March 2012 - Cley

The second day was time to meet up with Andy Stoddart and go and see what could be found at Cley. 

It's always a lovely walk through Cley and despite the cold, this was no different.  We tallied a fair number (47), including another sighting of the lifer we had seen the morning before, a Knot.  Both types of Godwit were around and sightings of both Golden Plover and a Spoonbill were a good end to the morning. 


In the afternoon, we took a trip on a steam train on the Poppy Line, between Holt and Sherringham.  We then went for a gorgeouly sunny, but dismal for birds walk around Kelling Heath and finished off with superb dinner in the Crown Hotel, Wells.
NO birds.
Excellent dinner.
We played bird pictionary before dinner. 
A drink for anyone who can guess what this is meant to be...

1) Greenfinch
2) Grey Heron
3) Goldfinch
4) Pied Wagtail
5) Marsh Harrier
6) Mute Swan
7) Greylag Goose
8) Avocet
9) Wigeon
10) Ruff
11) Common Gull
12) Shelduck
13) Teal
14) Pochard
15) Lapwing
16) Oystercatcher
17) Black-tailed Godwit
18) Pintail
19) Mallard
20) Brent Goose
21) Shoveler
22) Little Ringed Plover
23) Gadwall
24) Black-headed Gull
25) Woodpigeon
26) Cormorant
27) Curlew
28) Jackdaw
29) Linnet
30) Chaffinch
31) Moorhen
32) Skylark
33) Canada Goose
34) Starling
35) Meadow Pipit
36) Redshank
37) Herring Gull
38) Great Black-backed Gull
39) Bar-tailed Godwit
40) Knot
41) Grey Plover
42) Ringed Plover
43) Turnstone
44) Dunlin
45) Tufted Duck
46) Spoonbill
47) Golden Plover

My year list for 2012 comes to 126.

30th March 2012 - Pensthorpe

I'm afraid that there will be two posts per day for some of the days we were in Norfolk, sorry!  It's easier to list the birds that way.  Our afternoon visit was to Pensthorpe, a nature reserve heavily involved in conservation and the venue for Springwatch from 2008 to 2010.  We didn’t take the scope in as we didn’t expect to see many wild birds, but a Little Ringed Plover on the Wader Scrape made us rather wish we had!  Our first encounter as we headed in was with the resident Lady Amhurst Pheasant, a gorgeous creature. 


There were some very inquisitive Barnacle Geese that we made friends with but unfortunately couldn’t be counted as they were feral. 

My new best friend.

I, as ever, liked anything with long legs such as Herons, Cranes and Ibis and so enjoyed the enclosures with these birds in.

Ruff displaying in the enclosure.

At the end of the day we visited the Albatross, a pub/restaurant boat in the harbour at Wells-next-the-Sea and enjoyed some lovely pancakes whilst engaging in a spot of light reading and research for the next day.

Pancake time!

1) Mute Swan
2) Chiffchaff
3) Gadwall
4) Teal
5) Black-tailed Godwit
6) Redshank
7) Coot
8) Moorhen
9) Blue Tit
10) Canada Goose
11) Greylag Goose
12) Black-headed Gull
13) Shoveler
14) Cormorant
15) Kestrel
16) Pheasant
17) Chaffinch
18) Blackbird
19) Mallard
20) Great Tit
21) Long-tailed Tit
22) Jackdaw
23) House Sparrow
24) Little Ringed Plover
25) Coal Tit

My year list for 2012 comes to 125.

30th March 2012 - Titchwell Marsh

We knew our trip to Norfolk was well underway when Pheasant started popping up here there and everywhere.  We had left at 6am to get to Titchwell Marsh on the North Norfolk Coast in time for their last winter walk of the season. 

Plenty of Avocet around.

We set off round the reserve, spotting all the usual characters on the feeders, as well as a lone Curlew out on the field to the left.  Clouds consisting of Brent Geese frequently flew over, the dark bellied kind, as opposed to the light bellied we had seen the week before. 


A Red Kite flew over, causing much excitement from the group, except for Stuart and his mum, who being from the Chilterns, were more interested in the Marsh Harrier in the distance. 

Some more bad digiscoping, of a Sanderling and Ringed Plover.
A great sighting a bit further on was a few Bearded Tit darting amongst the reeds and even posing for a few seconds in the customary field guide picture pose.  Both types of Godwit were present and the Skylark were on top form, as they were all throughout the holiday. 


The trip was rounded off with a viewing of my first Blackcap of the year, although unfortunately Stuart and his mum missed it.  We had lunch at Briarfields, which we all thought was excellent and would recommend.
To finish, a friendly Gull on the beach...
...and a fat little robin.

1)      Pheasant
2)      Dunnock
3)      Great Tit
4)      Chaffinch
5)      Greenfinch
6)      Moorhen
7)      House Sparrow
8)      Curlew
9)      Mallard
10)  Brent Goose
11)  Robin
12)  Carrion Crow
13)  Marsh Harrier
14)  Red Kite
15)  Chiffchaff
16)  Shoveler
17)  Avocet
18)  Coot
19)  Tufted Duck
20)  Pochard
21)  Kestrel
22)  Little Grebe
23)  Black-headed Gull
24)  Greylag Goose
25)  Oystercatcher
26)  Bearded Tit
27)  Great Crested Grebe
28)  Redshank
29)  Lesser Black-backed Gull
30)  Shelduck
31)  Teal
32)  Wigeon
33)  Lapwing
34)  Ruff
35)  Canada Goose
36)  Black-tailed Godwit
37)  Skylark
38)  Gadwall
39)  Grey Plover
40)  Pintail
41)  Ringed Plover
42)  Bar-tailed Godwit
43)  Herring Gull
44)  Dunlin
45)  Knot – NEW FOR LIFE LIST!
46)  Little Egret
47)  Sanderling
48)  Meadow Pipit
49)  Turnstone
50)  Reed Bunting
51)  Cormorant
52)  Linnet
53)  Snipe
54)  Wren
55)  Song Thrush
56)  Collared Dove
57)  Blackbird
58)  Blue Tit
59)  Red-legged Partridge
60)  Wood Pigeon
61)  Starling
62)  Long-tailed Tit
63)  Goldfinch
64)  Blackcap
My year list for 2012 comes to 124.

28th March 2012 - Dungeness

Today was Dungeday again and I have returned very freckly with a hint of sunburn.  But mainly freckly.  Dungeness carried on being weirdly warm and I was actually able to remove 3 of my 6 layers as the day progressed.  We met up with Jono and The Hairy Birders at just before 7 (although they had gotten there a bit earlier) to do a bit of seawatching.  It was quite productive as lots of different birds were off on their travels and Stuart finally got to see a Red-throated Diver.  I was very excited about seeing a Porpoise, it added to my mammal list for the day of lots of bunny rabbits.  A spot of a Chiffchaff was great as it confirmed our earlier sighting on The Rye, but I'm going to count the one today as my first for the year.  We wandered over to the RSPB reserve to see what we could spot there and immediately got devoured by midges.  It was horrific.  However, we got a very decent list, including two of my favourites, Ringed Plover and Marsh Harrier.  A new lifer was seen high up in the sky, two Raven with their diamond shaped tails and at the same time our second Cetti's of the week (and life) made an appearance!  The day was rounded off with another lifer over at the ARC pit, a Water Pipit.


Cormorants doing nesty things.



Dungeness Beach
Dungeness RSPB
1
Meadow Pipit
Tree Sparrow
2
Great Crested Grebe
Reed Bunting
3
Red-throated Diver
Shoveler
4
Brent Goose
Magpie
5
Cormorant
Green Woodpecker
6
Pintail
Cormorant
7
Oystercatcher
Tufted Duck
8
Curlew
Black-headed Gull
9
Common Scoter
Lesser Black-backed Gull
10
Gannet
Shelduck
11
Mediterranean Gull
Gadwall
12
Teal
Long-tailed Duck
13
House Sparrow
Coot
14
Starling
Goldeneye
15
Linnet
Common Gull
16
Sand Martin
Oystercatcher
17
Tufted Duck
Pied Wagtail
18
Reed Bunting
Meadow Pipit
19
Chaffinch
Teal
20
Chiffchaff
Ringed Plover
21
Sparrowhawk
Wigeon
22
Carrion Crow
Lapwing
23
Black-headed Gull
Ruff
24
Magpie
Greylag Goose
25
White Wagtail
Chaffinch
26
Stonechat
Marsh Harrier
27

Canada Goose
28

Mallard
29

Buzzard
30

Little Grebe
31

Great Crested Grebe
32

Goldfinch
33

Pochard
34

Moorhen
35

Chiffchaff
36

Mute Swan
37

Raven – NEW FOR LIFE LIST!
38

Cetti’s Warbler
39

Linnet
40

Redshank
41

Little Egret
42

Water Pipit – NEW FOR LIFE LIST

My year list for 2012 comes to 119.