Notes from the valley

A trip to the North coast on Saturday with friends was largely uneventful, but we did enjoy good views of some of the best Norfolk has to offer. Bearded Tits at Cley, Pink-feet regularly passing overhead and some Grey Partridge at Wareham. Cley aside, saw barely any birders at all; no doubt waiting for Monday morning! Driving to work I just knew it would be buzzing out there. More than just compensation was a high-speed chase on the A11 involving a Sparrowhawk and a presumed Blue Tit; I do not know if the latter survived, but what a scene it was, the prey twisting and turning above the traffic to avoid being just another victim. I managed to leave off work at the earliest opportunity today to see if the Thrush fall had impacted on my patch. It was evident that Robins were in abundance,I counted 18 around the reserve. The hoped for Redwing and Fieldfare were present too, conservative estimates of 15+ for each in one berry-laden hot-spot.. Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagatil, Lesser Redpoll an...

A couple of weekends following the same routine (Hemsby, Winterton South Dunes and the sea) have proved rather uneventful, as has been the case elsewhere in Norfolk. This weekend did feel more like Autumn though, particularly at Hemsby where many Redwing, Song Thrushes, Blackbirds and Robins flicked in and out of bushes, alluding to something rarer. A trawl of likely looking habitat turned up nothing scarce, let alone rare. Regardless of the destination, my track record of finding anything of note is getting worse rather than better! It turns out Waxham had Ring Ouzel, YBW and some commoner bits and pieces. Why not Hemsby?! Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat were in the oaks beneath the Hermanus restaurant at Winterton but that was as good as it got! This has been the poorest October in terms of quality and quantity of migrants that I can remember. To further my case, I have actually been out looking for stuff. The birds aren't there, not for me. And if they are around el...

Enjoyed an excellent Bat walk led by Matt from Strumpshaw RSPB. The small group had amazing views of Noctules over the Yare, what impressive beasties they are. It has been a long time since I actually watched this species, and at first I thought I had seen a Snipe, such is their size and manoeuvrability. We continued round the trail, Soprano and Common Pipistrelle feeding and seemingly chasing one another above our heads. Brown Long-eared in there too, and I am fairly sure I picked up a Natterers with the detector around an hour after dark. Plenty of mixed woodland around, which would suit this species. Desperate to know more- the thought of missing out on a parti-coloured or Barbastelle genuinely frightens me! Looking forward to becoming more involved on a local level next year. On Sunday I went in search of migrants, a walk down to the much abused Pipe Dump at Waxham. Very few Passerines anywhere despite much bush bashing. Of note though were 100s of House Martins hawking over ...