A sprint for a Sandpiper and other Norfolk tales

Luckily nobody else was up early enough this morning to see me running back to the car to collect my scope at Church Marsh, having just spotted 2 Waders at the lagoon edge just to distant to ID. Certainly a test of the leg, which held out. On returning to the lagoon having worked up a sweat I was able to positively identify 2 Common Sandpipers, telling myself how much I liked Sandpipers and how much that could mean when the end of year patchwork challenge points are added up. Elsewhere on the reserve, I encountered singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Perhaps they are setting up a territory for winter or maybe just singing because they can. Kingfisher (regularly seeing at least one in the last couple of weeks) Sparrowhawk and 2 Little Grebe the best of the rest. In recent weeks Little Owl, Green Woodpecker and calling Tawny Owl are all of note.

Today Debs and I grabbed a few hours round Waxham before heading for dinner at my father in law's. We walked from Waxham Sands down to the pipe dump, and it was at the dump that we found Redstart, Whinchat, a beautifully crisp Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Wheatear, This was as good as it got but a really exciting half hour or so when it felt like almost anything could drop in. Hard work out there and as usual I wish I had more time. A move to the coast would sort this.......

I have been persisting with Caister the previous 2 weekends but to very little avail. I'll be honest- I do just prefer Waxham-Horsey! I still feel like there is more to discover in these areas I have birded casually for a good few years.

Little Egret at Church Marsh, one of two that landed briefly during the week

Me searching for rare at Waxham

Local Stonechat still a popular bird

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Everything is about edge

Hardley, where it is often confusing to define where the garden ends and the marsh begins. Tumble-down houses and rickety shacks, away from any bus route and Team Sky sorts wrapped in lycra, this is a village that by choice is cut off. The secret is out, and pre-storm Ciara as many as 10 large lenses littered the river bank firing at will. Their target- Winter ghosts. First, the classic Scooby-Doo type, as a Barn Owl responds to an ill-advised squeak in the grass and heads towards the onlookers. Another quickly joins the hunt, their formation a picture of double-edged stealth. But these year-round residents are not the key objective today, that honour is given to the Short-eared Owl. 3/4 of these can be seen from the staithe at the minute, floating like giant moths over the tussocks and edges. In a recent article in The New Yorker, Jake Fiennes states "Everything is about edge". Hedges, ditches, scrub, forgotten tracts of land that link nothing and no-one. Fiennes, now ...

Grey Phalarope- a new patch bird

The 7th of April was another bitterly cold Spring day, hats and gloves in prime position on pegs and in bags ready to be deployed. A few brave Garganey have been reported north of the river, but it was a bird from the north itself that had me rushing for the thermals and the telescope late in the day. I was thankful for the local Whatsapp group who were quick to report that a Grey Phalarope had been seen on Rockland Broad. This tiny Wader would have come in on the northerlies over the last few days, although to grace one of the broads is a real surprise, since most stick pretty close to the coast before moving on. Indeed, my experience of the birds has usually been on a sea watch in the Autumn, waves crashing and foam flying, my eyes straining to pick them out as they fly low just above the surf. They are fantastic birds, and now one was here on the patch. I had a brief panic when I realised my scope was in my car at the garage (thankfully I do have a much older spare) but once th...

Claxton-on-sea!

Although it was not quite the Christmas we wanted here in the valley, the rain has bought its own gift. A grim vision of the future, perhaps. But right now, the patch is peaking and is alive with birds, and for that I am thankful. On Christmas eve, it was a job to navigate away from the village due to standing water that had left abandoned cars and undelivered presents in its wake. The rain had been persistent and unforgiving, the ground, saturated. Over on the marsh, where there had once been a muddy puddle amongst the pasture, a city had sprung from the leak, with a plethora of new occupants noisily laying claim to a patch of sodden marsh. Wigeon and Black-headed Gulls in their thousands now wheeled and whistled over and amongst the newly formed pools, accompanied by smaller numbers of Teal and Shoveler. A flock of two hundred-strong Lapwing enjoyed feeding on the less damp spots where green grass was still exposed, and thrown in for good measure have been a couple of Ruff, the ...

Notes from the valley

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