February 2022 Roundup

 February began with a small flock of around 15 Snow Buntings still on the beach, and Pat had some excitement as a Tawny Owl visited his newly cleaned out nestbox. Fingers crossed... The inland farmland contained small numbers of waders in the flooded patches - Lapwing, Snipe, Dunlin and the reliable Green Sandpiper. Several large flocks of Golden Plover were seen and the occasional small party of White-fronted Geese could also be found amongst the Pinks. 

The family of three Cranes was also quite reliable in the fields to the west of the concrete track, and Kingfisher was seen regularly through the month on various dykes.

On the 2nd Sean saw the Lesser Whitethroat again in the same area as in January, and on the 3rd Mick saw three Whooper Swans going north and a Brambling in the mixed Chaffinch and Reed Bunting flock feeding in one of the maize patches. Maize will not be planted on the estate  next year as it's stopping shooting, so we are not sure if we'll get similar flocks again. A bit later on Mick and Tim were treated to the fantastic sight (and sound) of a flock of 35 Bewick's Swans, and at least one Whooper, flying south towards the village. 

Sean had a Lesser Black-backed Gull on the Commissioner's field and the Little Grebe put in another appearance on the dyke.

On the 4th Sean found a Redshank in the flooded field, and then spent a long time going very carefully through an extremely large flock of Pink-footed Geese which had, for once this winter, settled at a reasonable distance. Sadly no Bean Geese were mixed in with them, at least as far as he could see. 

On the 5th Pat found 3 Bewick's Swans sitting in the Commissioner’s field (which provided a welcome grip-back opportunity for those of us unlucky enough to miss the big flock).  

On the 6th Pat had a Great-northern Diver on an otherwise unproductive seawatch. Later he and Mick saw a maximum of 6 Gadwall on the flooded field, as well as 11 Ringed Plover. Maynard had a productive walk around on the same day, seeing a Brent Goose, and a first winter Iceland Gull on the beach near the fishing sheds. Pat heard a Bullfinch along Low Road. 

On the 7th Sean took this stunning photo of a male Hen Harrier sitting in a field from Bramble Gap.  Please put a cross to indicate your guess and send it in for a chance to win the big prize jackpot 😂.

On the 8th a female Hen Harrier was hunting near the flooded field, over 7 White-fronted Geese. 

Anyone like to guess what this sound is?  

Click HERE to listen to it.

It's a species which has sadly remained absent from all our patch yearlists until the 9th February 2022...  That morning Sean was at Bramble Gap scanning the extremely distant geese. Despite the huge distance there was no heat haze and the light was excellent. Suddenly, even further back, he thought he saw a Bittern land in a reedbed, far off on the other side of the Horsey Road. He couldn't entirely rule out something like a Short-eared Owl though so continued scanning. His messages to the group show what happened over the next 10 minutes. 

Considering the extreme distance, Sean's second and third views were excellent; he could see the neck, the lighter brown wing coverts etc, and was elated! Although it was not actually ON the patch, our rules allow birds seen FROM the patch too, so it was a full patch life tick!  However, it was not in fact the first Bittern Sean has recorded here.  The above sound recording is of a Bittern which flew around his garden calling every thirty seconds or so, for about three minutes on the night of 24 April 2020, just after 9pm.  But unless we actually hear a bird with our own ears, our rules forbid us from adding such recordings to our own patch lists.  For completeness, there is another fairly recent sight record of Bittern here, seen by our ex-neighbour Ryan, who had one fly over the south dunes and out to sea a few years back.

On the 10th Mick saw three Red Kites drifting south from Bramble Gap, and Sean and Colin picked therm up on the edge of the village. 

Sean also heard a Curlew flying high over the North Dunes that morning but annoyingly couldn't see it (which doesn't matter for the year list though!).  Later that evening 2 Tawny Owls calling and showing in the Duffle's Pond/paddocks area were Sean's 100th species for 2022 - the 10th February is a new record for the yearlist 'ton', 8 days earlier than Maynard's last year.

On the 12th Tim photographed this excellent male Sparrowhawk in his garden. 

On the 13th Maynard saw the Little Grebe again and shot this nice video of the obliging Green Sandpiper on the flooded field. 

On the 16th Chris, our regular visiting birder from Bedfordshire, saw a Peregrine from Bramble Gap, and on the 18th he saw a Shag in a brave short seawatch during Storm Eunice. A few days later he had a singing Treecreeper at the ruined church.  On the 21st Sean had a flock of 12 Knot and 2 Grey Plovers going north, and there were many Kittiwakes moving south.  On the 22nd Barry counted 40 Snow Buntings on the north beach. 

Dunlin numbers in the flooded field began to climb towards the end of the month, with Mick recording 14 on the 24th and Sean counting 30 on the 27th. 

Pat had a Tundra Bean Goose fly north on the 26th, and Barry had a Long-eared Owl in the south dunes.

On the 27th a message from Tim A, our neighbour to the north in Sea Palling, alerted us to a Raven heading south, and Sean was lucky enough to get on to it half an hour later as it came through the dunes then headed out to the beach.  Thanks Tim!

Interestingly a Raven was also recorded at Caister, to the south of us, some three hours later, so if it was the same one it must have stopped off for a rest somewhere!

On the 27th Mick saw this pair of Eider float north.  A female has been around for most of the winter so perhaps it's been joined by the male.

Colin had a Peregrine hunting again at Commissioner's on the same day, and Meadow Pipit numbers began to build around this time too, with Sean counting 50+ that evening in the North Dunes.

On the 30th the Dunlin numbers on the flooded field started to subside, with 27 recorded (down from 30 the day before).  There were also a pair of Gadwall on Commissioner's Dyke that morning and a couple of small flocks of Siskins appeared to be on the move, with 5 going south at the concrete blocks and a few more heard from Bramble Gap. 

At the end of February we have collectively recorded 117 species on the patch, and are looking forward to spring migration getting underway in earnest next month.  Already birds are on the move - the geese numbers are declining as they head off, more Ringed Plover and Lesser Black-backed Gulls are around, and winter thrushes are starting to appear in little flocks as they prepare for their own incredible journeys.  

Happy patch birding everyone!