Welcome. You have found us. We are a secret group of crack birders who have turned our backs on the machismo, corruption, and backstabbing greed that constitute today's birding scene, and have united together to follow the True Path of non-competitive, collaborative and generally lovely birding-as-meditation-and-spiritual-growth. Consequently, we never see anything.  Birds that land right in front of our noses, and which we can identify with our observer book, are written about here.  Oh, and they have to be seen in - or from - the parish of Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk.

12 May 2013

After the occasional single or small group going through for the last week or so, the local Swifts seem finally to have arrived yesterday evening, a whole week late.

With the advent of Twitter as our primary means of communicating bird news to each other these days, I have been worrying about the lack of records on our blog, which may mean that in future years we may not be able to look back at things like migrant arrival times.  Twitter is a great method of disseminating news but somewhat ephemeral.  So I have embedded a feed of our tweets so they don't get lost in the dustbin of history.

Unfortunately the Twitter feed will not trigger an automatic email for those of you that get the email updates about our blog posts, so I'm afraid you'll have to visit the blog to find out what we have all been up to (or follow us on Twitter of course!).

11 May 2013

Photo of Brambling in cherry tree (thru window)

26 April 2013

A flabbergasting number of Wheatears have made landfall today all along the east Suffolk and Norfolk coast.  In an hour this evening in the North Dunes I counted over 100, between the totem pole bushes and the top of the Warren.  Most were sitting absolutely still, dotting the landscape wherever you looked.  They flew strongly on approach though, so I don't think they are overly exhausted.  Two Curlews also flew south.

24th April 2013

The first Swift seen over the village this evening.

16th April 2013

Well, if I'm putting on a post it can only mean one thing - another Winterton tick.  This time it was a lovely Purple Heron, inadvertently flushed from the Toad Pools on the North Dunes. Sadly it made off to the south west where it no doubt found the vast expanses of Reed much more to its liking.

Also two Ring Ouzels and a Yellow Wagtail south.

14th April 2013

A very exciting day on the patch as the weather finally became warm and spring-like.

Last night in the dark I saw an 'eared' owl with long, rather slender wings go zigzagging over my house and thought it could have been a Long-eared. Today, sure enough there were two, or maybe even three, Long-eared Owls roosting in the valley. There was also a massive movement of thrushes, first Redwings and later in the day it seemed like thousands of Blackbirds, clearly relocating after the seemingly endless cold weather.  Several Ring Ouzels were also in the south dunes, plus a Black Redstart on the Hermanus rooftops, and some very confiding Common Redpolls feeding on the dune tops.  Swallows, Sand Martins and a House Martin were flying through, and other migrants included Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. It was a great day and I got twelve year ticks!

Just out of the parish, in Horsey, a Red-flanked Bluetail was showing off gaudily. We don't want birds like that down here thank you very much (and I'm certainly glad that I dipped it when I guiltily went to look for it late in the evening...).

8th April 2013

Well, it's happened again!  Years can go by without a patch tick and then you get two in three days.  Today it was the turn of a Goshawk to finally make it onto my Winterton list.  A few years ago Winterton became one of those places where it was alleged that if you hung around long enough and stared at the sky over the woods eventually you would see a Goshawk.  Many were duly rewarded but many also (including myself) never quite got satisfactory views.  There wasn't much doubt about the big streaky monster today so onto the list it goes.

Also today 2 Barn Owls and 2 Short-eared Owls.

6th April 2013

Well it was a great day here on the patch and well worth an update on the now virtually moribund blog, an anachronistic dinosaur indeed in the brave new world of tweeting and all the instant instant gratification it affords.

The cause of all the excitement came to light when a small group of Lapwings flew over.  Amongst them was a smaller paler wader which I at first expected to be a Golden Plover but the reddish/orange legs and bill revealed it to be a Ruff - a genuine Winterton tick for me.

The excitement continued when I got home in the form of a group of five, or maybe even six, Great Tits in the garden, easily beating my previous record of three.

The icing on the cake was another brief sighting of the male Reed Bunting in the garden.

Other birds seen today included upto 15 Common Buzzards, 4 or 5 Red Kites and a White-tailed Eagle.

28 January 2013

An abortive attempt to prove that the Great White Egret that has been in the Horsey area for some time occasionally penetrates Winterton airspace did however result in finding a Short Eared Owl perched on a fence post.

27 January 2013

Five Waxwings attended Josh the Hamster's funeral in our garden this morning. RIP Josh.

1 Jan 2013

The big patch effort kicked off today with some half-hearted attempts by members of the collective to get off to a flying start. Little Egret and Hen Harrier seem to have been the top birds of the day, although not all news is in as I write... Outrageously Ryan has told us we have to all have separate lists, which goes entirely against our collective spirit, but what can you expect in this acquisitive, individualistic era. Worse still, it means we will all have to leg it to see the birds Pete and Tim find, rather than stick to our preferred method of sitting at home and relying on them to preserve the patch reputation. Bah!

2 December 2012

A Short-eared Owl flew south by Swift Bomb Hill this morning. Nearby on the beach nine Snow Buntings were busy feeding and avoiding dog-walkers.

Patch Map Update

I got some feedback from the Committee about my previous patch map and consequently have amended it to include the crucial cowshed on the Holmes Road, the hedge in the middle of the corn patch on the western edge of the parish, half of the chalet park, and Bullfinch corner.  By the entirely honorable method of tracing around the edges of the Pallid track footpath rather than including the fields next to it (which can be seen from the patch, so we can include birds on them, but which are out of bounds to walkers) we have technically kept our patch well below the stipulated 3km2 max - it is now coming in at 2.706km2. I cannot state with absolute certainty that this will be the final instar of our patchmap, but this version should really allow us to sock it to the competition.

Patchwork Challenge

Well our friend and honorary Collective member Ryan from down in Hemsby is organising a national (or even international, or maybe even Pan-Galactic) year-listing competition for next year.

See the details here:  http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.

So we are keen to have a crack, but there was some debate about our patch being unfairly large (all patches have to be 3km square or under).  So we took to the internet, and using the web 2.0 tool that Ryan himself provided (http://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm) we have conclusively proved that our parish, or at least the birdable bits, come in at just under 3 square kilometers.

Here's the map that proves it.

We will therefore be aiming to whup the young Scottish upstart's birding backside.  We will, of course, fail miserably to do so. After all, we've been looking for an Ortolan for years, and he just breezes into town and finds one after a few weeks... How can we compete with that?

We also believe that certain top-drawer birders from just north of us will be taking part.  Our patch is doomed to become a thorn between two roses... At our next Collective meeting I will propose that to keep in with a chance to save face we become a sort of birding Tour de France Sky team, all supporting our very own Bradley Wiggins, Mr C (our version of Mr T), to take the prize...
.

24th November 2012

Spot the Garden Mega

Also on 25th Short-eared Owl over North Dunes and Velvet Scoter south.

18 November 2012

Eight Waxwings flew south towards the village this morning.  Several Snow Buntings are around.

27 October 2012

Fieldfare in the garden. Photo taken through wet windowpane.

18 October 2012

A friend sent me this. What a birdbrain! Make sure you watch to the end...

14 October 2012 update - Steppe Lesser Whitethroat?

Just received a message from someone with experience of central asian races who says that the Lesser Whitethroat mentioned in the previous post "looks very good for Steppe Lesser Whitethroat [Sylvia curruca halimodendri - also known as Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat]. Quite sandy-grey looking contrasting with greyer hood, whiter throat and dirty buff underparts. Probably Steppe Lesser Whitethroat will be found to be a regular late autumn visitor to the UK in some years, like this year, once they sort out the systematics. It is also a potential split."

Here is another pic of the bird.  Feel free to comment!

14 October 2012

It felt like proper autumn today and there were more birds around, in between bouts of heavy rain.  A fair few Song Thrushes were moving through, and various members of our merry band connected with Firecrest and Brambling in the morning. Lots of Goldcrests around too.  There were a couple of Lesser Whitethroats playing around together below the Hermanus, allowing the odd photo.  Feels like there might be more out there to find, but it's raining heavily again at the moment.

12th October 2012

A quick seawatch before work off Hemsby saw 10 little gulls fly north and 5 south. There was also a bit of wildfowl passage, 81 brent geese, 32 common scoter, 21 wigeon, 14 teal, 2 shoveler and 2 pintail all mainly heading south. Adult med gull over the dunes. Ryan

Later in the afternoon a lone Brent Goose (maybe injured?) was feeding at the top of the beach just north of the cafe. Sean

9th October 2012.

Firecrest in the small oaks, south dunes.Lapland Bunting on the north beach.

7th October 2012.

3 Bearded Tits through the south dunes this morning Tim.

6 October 2012

Lots of Mediterranean Gulls flying around the village and dunes this morning.



In the afternoon, after a tipoff by Colin, Ted and I took our cameras down to photograph a Lapland Bunting in the South Dunes.  This gave me the opportunity to compare the difference between the FZ150 which Ted used and the GH2 which I used.  I am currently agonising over whether to crack and buy a Canon DSLR with the 400/5.6 lens to lump around instead of the diddy micro four thirds or superzoom setup.  I would REALLY like to be able to photograph flyover passerines better, but I do enjoy not having backache too.  The GH2 is a good camera but it is not much cop for birds in flight.  Here are the Bunting shots - can you tell which camera is which?

2 October 2012.

3 Lapland Buntings 1 male on the north beach,2 Med Gulls in the chalet park,Wheatear Tim.

1st October 2012.

3 Lapland Buntings in the south dunes,Spotted Flycatcher below restaurant,4 Med Gulls in chalet park Tim.

30th September 2012.

 3 Lapland Buntings in the south dunes 2 Med Gulls in chalet park Tim.

26 September 2012

1 yellow browed warbler at Hermanus 1 willow warbler at least 3 common redstarts  2wheaters blackcap and lesser whitethroat all in the valley

26th September 2012

The bushes held far fewer birds this morning but luckily interesting things were going on up above.  All heading south were one Grey Wagtail, 12 Jays and three Great Spotted Woodpeckers.  The woodpeckers were in a group, quite high up and virtually over the beach.  It definitely didn't look like a daytrip to Hemsby.

25 September 2012

5 Wheatear north dunes

25th September 2012.

2 Yellow-Browed Warblers,Redstart,Pied Flycatcher,3 Med Gulls,all in the south dunes,Tim.

24th September 2012.

Yellow-Browd Warbler below restaurant ,2 Redstarts,Ring Ouzel ,5Wheatears,4 Med Gulls,all in the south dunes.Tim.

23th September 2012.

.3 Med Gulls in chalet park.

18th September 2012.

2 Spotted Flycatchers this morning south of public steps,Little Gull 2nd winter in chalet park Tim.

17th September 2012.

Spotted Flycatcher this evening,4 Med Gulls in chalet park,Lesser Whitethroat Tim.

16th September 2012.

5 Med Gulls in the chalet park this morning Tim.

20th September2012

The intensity of the birdlessness in East Norfolk continues to deepen and was only relieved this morning by the comforting presence of 41 Med Gulls and 18 Golden Plovers on the fields south of the village.

15th & 16th September

1 Crossbill heading south over South Dunes on 15th & 2 on 16th. Reed warbler and 2 willow warblers, South Dunes (15th). Yellow wag and whitethroat, South Dunes on the 16th. Out at sea a Manxie flew south early on 15th and a sooty shearwater flew north early on 16th.

9 September 2012

A quite exciting day morning with a Red-backed Shrike in the North Dunes, along with a Redstart and quite a lot of Whinchats. Then in the afternoon Ryan, our new neighbour down in Hemsby, found an Ortolan Bunting in the South Dunes. Colin and I rushed down for it, but it proved to be pretty flightly and we only had a rather brief, though close, view of it before it flew high into a tree on the bank and then, presumably, off on its way. Well done to Ryan on his first decent bird on his new patch, and thanks for getting the news to us so quickly - it was a patch tick for both of us.

5th September 2012.

3 Yellow Wagtails in chalet park,Tim.

4th September 2012.

Whinchat,Lesser Whitethroat,7 Yellow Wagtails,White Wagtail,2 Med Gulls,Arctic Skua,south dunes,Hobby North dunes Tim.

3 September 2012.

Common Redstart ,Whinchat,Lesser Whitethroats 2,Yellow Wagtails 7,Wheatear,Med Gull,all in south dunes, Tim.

3rd September 2012

Once the sun came out there were several Southern Emerald damselflies (Lestes barbarus) at the pool north of the blocks.

13th August 2012.

Pied Flycatcher in south dunes by small oaks,8 Med Gulls.Tim.

4th August 2012

A female Crossbill spent 5 minutes in the garden this afternoon.

30 June 2012

Red Veined Darter on Blocks pool this afternoon. Pair of Broad Bodied Chasers (female ovipositing) + Emperor on large pool 300 meters south.

17th June 2012.

Velvet Scoter south,Short-Eared Owl north dunes Tim.

1 June 2012 - double Shrike!

A lovely male Red-backed Shrike in the North Dunes this evening.  I cycled up to see it and on my way back bumped into Ted, who had also cycled up.  He then saw it, and on his way back bumped in turn into another birder, a friendly Glaswegian, who had just seen a Woodchat Shrike! They went back and refound it together, and then Ted cycled back to my house to tell me the news, and we both hacked back up on our bikes in the fading light. After a while Ted (superbly) found it again in the distance, and we sneaked up and secured a couple of record shots, as you can see below.  A very nice way to kick off the half term holiday, and our thanks go to the unknown birder from Scotland!

30 May 2012

Three! Red Kites over the garden at 1145 this morning.

22 May 2012.

Ring Ouzel by chalet park,Orange Tip.

21st May 2012.

Ring Ouzel by chalet park,Wheatear.

20th May 2012.

Grasshopper Warbler north dunes by B.T.station,Ring Ouzel by chalet park,Cuckoo.

16th May 2012

Sedge Warbler in the garden briefly this morning.

14th May 2012.

2 Spotted Flycatchers,Garden Warbler,Reed Warbler in the south dunes Tim.

15th May 2012

One Ring Ouzel in the North Dunes.

2 May 2012.

6 Common Cranes over low road Ring ouzel in paddocks,male Redstart south dunes in small oaks 4 Common Cranes over south dunes,4 Wheatears Tim.

1st May 2012.

1 Ring ouzel in paddocks low road,2 Ring Ouzels in north dunes,Hooded Crow landed in village,Female Redstart in south dunes by small oaks,3 Wheatears Tim.

30th April 2012.

South dunes,4 Ring Ouzels,1 Male Redstart,11Wheatears Tim.

24th April 2012.

S.E.Owl 2 Ring Ouzels north dunes,2 Wheatears south dunes.

23 April 2012.

One Ring Ouzel south dunes.

22 April 2012.

One Ring Ouzel south dunes,3 Wheatears,Lesser Whitethroat.

21 April 2012

Ted and I went for a walk in the North Dunes this morning.  The first exciting moment was when a low Peregrine drifted over.

Next along was a fairly sizeable Grass Snake, and a solo Wheatear.

Then we saw four Ring Ouzels (there were five of them on our return walk).

As we walked North we next encountered a Short-eared Owl which had been disturbed by walkers, and then five Cranes made their way overhead and out to sea, making a lot of noise as they went.

When we got to the Holmes Road the ringers were just finishing, and admiring a Belgian Goldfinch they had retrapped:

The ringing team ringed THREE Treecreepers this morning. Since this is Ted's parish bogey bird he was naturally rather irritated by this news, but as luck would have it his irritation was short-lived because shortly after, having taken a quick walk up and down the first part of the track, we connected with this fine, smart individual, presumably recovering from its earlier ordeal:

17th April 2012.

9 Ring ouzels in north dunes 4 Wheatears,2 Ring ouzels in south dunes 1 in chalet park.

16th April 2012.

9 Ring ouzels 1Wheatear in north dunes,1 Ring ouzel south dunes, S.E.Owl.

15th April 2012.

3 Ring ouzels 1 Wheatear north dunes,1 Ring ouzel in chalet park,1 in south dunes.

6th April 2012

Male Ring Ouzel and Short-eared Owl on North dunes this morning, also 2 White Wagtails on the paddocks

28th March 2012

Seven Common Buzzards south at midday plus 2-3 resident birds.

20th March 2012

A Woodcock on the North Dunes this morning.

16 March 2012

At least 3 Wheatears on the north dunes this afternoon

11 March 2012

A male Black Redstart on the Hermanus roof today.

10 March 2012

A Woodlark in the North Dunes today was a nice find.  Lots of Buzzards wheeling about.

5th February 2012

Gardens were the hotspots today.

A Fieldfare in Sean's.

A Woodcock in Colin's.

41 House Sparrows in mine - double my previous highest count.

Peter

Wednesday 31st January

A new Winterton species for me - or had it still been alive it would have been. One of three reported by a dog walking friend on Tuesday. I could only find the one pictured.

Boundary Issues - a three church approach

 

Surely you saw the Duffle's Pond unblocker Kingfisher Ted? 

In any case Marsh Tit is another problematic species which would become much easier with the boundary revision, as well.  I think your church argument clinches it assuming it's correct -after all parishes are based around churches aren't they? So if we can prove that after the ruination of St Mary's church the poor folk of East Somerton had to traipse all the way to Winterton on a Sunday rather than nip over the road to the other St Mary's in West Somerton, then we can all praise the lord for several armchair ticks.  We simply need to appoint a Collective Historian to check out the dates etc, then follow up to ratify at an Extraordinary General Meeting, where we can also take advantage of the library special offer on DVDs and screen "The Big Year".  I'll offer my house as the venue and provide nibbles...

Boundary Issues

With reference to recent blogs concerning our recording area there is a precedent for the inclusion of East Somerton in the collective patch -

White's Directory of Norfolk (1836) quotes:

East Somerton is a small but picturesque hamlet and parish, now united with Winterton (not you will note with West Somerton) its own church having long been an ivy-covered ruin.

I have to admit that this change would allow me to include Kingfisher on my list as well as the aforementioned White-spotted Bluethroat

28th January 2012

A genuine Winterton tick this morning in the form of a Peregrine. Although I have seen various dots and hybrids/escapes in the past this long overdue gap was duly filled this morning. Once again it was the Raptor Rich Pallid Track area that came up trumps.

14 January

After hearing word of an expansionist plot (see previous post), I hopped onto the next flight back from Beijing to investigate what all the fuss was about. After walking the controversial concrete track I could see the temptation to expand Winterton's boundaries. I counted 9 Common Cranes, at least 50 Fieldfares and, most exciting of all, 5 Tree Sparrows in the forbidden lands.

Despite these potential gains, I shall be voting (assuming the Collective is still a democracy and hasn't been taken over by a crazed dictator - Pete?) to resist calls for an invasion, I mean merger. According to my straw poll of local citizens (I asked a bloke walking his dog on the public footpath), East Somerton wishes to remain independent. As he said to me, "for now it's East Somerton but where would it end? Hemsby? Horsey? Poland?". Wise words.

And as if to remind me that Winterton has it all, the birding gods arranged for me to luck in on a Treecreeper along Holmes Road. Who needs East Somerton, eh?

2nd January 2012

A bright and bracing morning saw three Collective members undertaking the The Concrete Track walk round the back of the dunes. Although fairly unremarkable birdwise (highlights being a Little Egret down Low Road and a single Common Buzzard) this route has apparently provoked a move to include the adjoining westward parish of East Somerton in the Winterton Bird Spotting Collective recording area. This would naturally require an Extraordinary General Meeting to approve the renaming of the Collective as The Winterton and East Somerton Bird Spotting Collective, which, as I'm sure everyone would agree, would turn us into a laughing stock - it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue does it? It would also risk souring relations with the East Somerton Collective (if they exist) as they might not want to be merged even though it would open the floodgates to a greatly increased list for them ie Gannet is still a very rare bird in East Somerton. On the other side of the coin we could only think of White-spotted Bluethroat as being a gain for Winterton.

As mentioned above the suggestion to incorporate East Somerton comes not from aggressive empire building but merely the fact that The Concrete Track and the Pallid Track both straddle the border requiring observers currently to pocket their pencils when they leave the avian paradise of Winterton. To my mind the obvious and surely infallible solution is simply to carry two separate pieces of paper in the field and record the Winterton birds on one and the Somerton birds on the other...

The debate, as they say, is sure to run and run.

PS Apologies to any hard working and diligent employees of bird information services who may have had a bit of shock when seeing White-spotted Bluethroat in bold earlier on in this post. Whoops, just done it again!

18th December 2011

A return visit to a bird-packed Low Road this time produced a Rough-legged Buzzard showing well until enveloped by a passing blizzard.

17th December 2011

A lovely male Bullfinch put in a couple of brief appearances down Low Road.

12 November 2011

A whacking great falcon which I think was a Saker was being mobbed by crows and even a Marsh Harrier in the northern fields today.  There were also one pretend and one more real looking Hooded Crow up there.

9th November 2011

A Lesser Whitethroat this morning in the North Dunes. Unfortunately it was not seen well enough to determine which race/"species" it was.

6th November 2011

A rewarding seawatch between 07.00 - 11.00 produced the following all going north:

Brent Goose 110

Shelduck 420

Wigeon 570

Gadwall 3

Teal 310

Mallard 9

Pintail 18

Shoveler 1 South

Pochard 7

Eider 59

Long-tailed Duck 1

Common Scoter 26

Velvet Scoter 4

Goldeneye 7

Red-breasted Merganser 16

Red-throated Diver c20 mostly north

Gannet c50+

Great Crested Grebe 1 South

Oystercatcher 1 South

Avocet 2

Lapwing 8

Knot 35

Sanderling 2

Dunlin 275

Common Snipe 1

Bar-tailed Godwit 1

Curlew 3

Great Skua 1 South

Black-headed Gull c30

Little Gull 3-4 feeding well off shore

Common Gull c5

Herring Gull

Greater Black-backed Gull 3

Kittiwake c10

Common Tern 1

Guillemot c5

Little Auk 2

Snow Bunting 16 South

There was also a Blackcap in the garden and a walk along the beach to Caister produced another Little Auk and an Arctic Tern.

5th November 2011

A Swift sp flew south along the beach at 08.10. In the murky drizzle it was impossible to pick up any features to suggest which species though. Other than that just a few Gannets, Red-throated Divers and one Turnstone.

In the afternoon 25 Redwings landed briefly in the garden and there were about 50 in the South Dunes.

3rd November 2011

No bird news today but Muntjac Deer was a mammalian garden tick.

2nd November 2011

A Short-eared Owl in off the sea this morning and Ted saw the Rough-legged Buzzard which has been lurking erratically since last Saturday.

1st November 2011

Single Swallow, House Martin, Lapland Buntings and two Brent Geese all south.

30 October 2011

A wander along the dunes behind the village this morning produced an unusually late Swift which, as I observed it, came low over the houses and appeared magically to transform from a typically plumaged individual into a lovely sandy colour.  As I watched it it did this trick several times, until I was totally confused.  I didn't have my phone on me so I ran back to Pete's house and he came back with me, in his slippers, and I took my camera to try to get some shots.  We relocated it and had a good look.  Half the time it looked like a bog-standard Swift and half the time looked much more suggestive, but out of context, and having not seen any Swifts for over a month, I was beginning to doubt my own vision.  After about ten minutes we were still not sure what we were watching and so we phoned Tim, who arrived on top of the Hermanus and decided to put out the news as a possible Pallid Swift, in the hope that that we could con some proper birders into a visit so they could identify it for us.  The bigwigs duly arrived and, typically, some were in the Pallid camp and some in the Common.  As it stands at present we don't know, and people are making convincing arguments either way.  Here are my pictures (µ43 rules!) which have only been cropped, not altered in any other way.  You can click on them to see the larger versions.  What do YOU think?

PS Just been out for another look and found out that Dick Filby took a decent shot of the underparts which he is going home to study.  So we might have a conclusive identification soon...

Publish Post

Update - here are Dick Filby's photos.  Still not conclusive - but he's leaning more towards Common Swift.