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.

29th October 2011.

39 Snow Buntings south beach,Great Skua,Little Gull Tim.

Friday 28 October 2011

A few hours in the north dunes this afternoon during a flying visit back home produced 2 Northern Wheatears, at least 800 Pink-footed Geese, a handful of Reed Buntings in the dunes scrub, a Coal Tit and, frustratingly, a fly-over 'tick' bunting that came in off the sea, called 3 times and headed west towards the wind turbines.25 Snow Buntings south beach,one male Black Redstart south dunes,200 Little Gulls Tim.

27th October 2011.

Pallas's Warbler north dunes,Black Redstart south dunes,three Snow Buntings south beach Tim.

26th October 2011.

Four Lapland Buntings south dunes,two Black Redstarts in Hermanus Tim.

25th October 2011.

Firecrest in lighthouse garden,Black Redstart in Hermanus,six Snow Buntings in north dunes,large no's of common thrush's Tim.

16 October 2010

The Yellow-browed Warbler was still below the Hermanus (here is a nice pic of it from Tim's blog), and a Black Redstart was on the roofs of the monstrous houses now built at the start of the valley.  A nice adder was catching the last rays before heading towards the land of nod for the winter.

15th October 2011.

Yellow-Browed Warbler and Ring Ouzel in south dunes,two Bearded Tits,two Grey Wagtails,four Med Gulls, one 1st winter one 2nd winter two ads Tim.

13th October 2011.

2 Short Eared Owls in the north dunes,Ring ouzel south dunes,Bramblings Siskins Lesser Redpolls Mistle Thrushes south,Large no's of common thrushes,Woodcock Tim.

14 October 2011

At last some signs of an Autumn on the east coast. Tim had a good day with a Great Grey Shrike and two Yellow-browed Warblers in the Valley. After work I flushed this Short-eared Owl from the Totem Pole Bushes, which then landed for a quick photo,Two 2nd winter Med gulls in chalet park,three Wheatears in the south dunes Tim.

7th October 2011.

Woodlark north dunes,4 Wheatears Tim.

30th September 2011.

Male common Redstart south dunes,Tree Pipit,13 Crossbill's south,Yellow Wagtail,Siskins and Redpolls south,7 Med Gulls in chalet park 2ads,4 2nd-winter,1 1st winter Tim

29th September 2011.

3 Med Gulls in chalet park,2ads,2nd-winter,Whinchat north dunes,yellow wagtail,Siskins and one lesser redpoll south Tim.

18 September 2011.

Pied Flycatcher below restaurant,2 Redstarts,3Yellow Wagtails,GardenWarbler,Wheatear,Ad Med Gull in chalet park,Redpolls and Siskins flying over,Bonxie south Tim.

17 September 2011.

Common Redstart south dunes,3 wheatears,Yellow Wagtail Tim.

15 September 2011

The first Goldcrests of the autumn were see-seeing through the garden this morning.  In the evening a phone call from Keith set off a mass scramble, as a Fea's Petrel had been reported flying north from Lowestoft at 6pm.  Alas despite watching from 6.15 to 7.30 it was not seen here.

13th September 2011

A short stroll along the beach at dusk proved surprisingly productive with Hobby, Med Gull and juvenile Black Tern all seen in just ten minutes. Also still good numbers of Common Terns heading south. Peter

2 Whinchats, Redstart,Lesser Whitethroat Tim.

7th September 2011.

Hobby caught house martin over restaurant,5 Wheatears,Whinchat,Spotted Flycatcher,all in the south dunes Tim.

1st September 2011.

Red-Backed Shrike south dunes by chalet park on bank but very elusive Tim.

31st August 2011.

Red-Backed Shrike still south dunes on bank by chalet park+2 Yellow Wagtails Tim.

30th August 2011.

Red-Backed Shrike south dunes by chalet park on bank+Yellow Wagtail Tim.

24 August 2011

This Red-backed Shrike was in the valley today. Also a Greenshank flew past, and a Hobby was over the village.

Whinchat Garden Warbler Yellow Wagtail

3 Lesser Whitethroats also Tim.

21st August 2011

The Wryneck was seen again this morning (and yesterday) although fellow Collective members seem not to have had much luck so far.

19th August 2011

A lovely and very obliging Wryneck in the Valley this morning. The finders kindly allowed me to look through their scope allowing amazing close up views of the tongue disappearing into a crack in a branch then coming out with a spider on the end!

15th July 2011

An Arctic Tern flew north this evening.

19th June 2011.

Golden Oriole briefly at south end of chalet park in poplars Tim.

14 June 2011

Another trip out of the parish for five of us this evening, but this time just a quick trip over the border to Horsey to see the wonderfully showy and acrobatic 1st summer male Red-footed Falcon, which enthralled us with stunningly close fly-pasts and somersaulting raids on the poor local dragonflies. Another Marsh Warbler was nearby too, apparently, but we didn't get a chance to look for it, as the falcon was so spectacular.

12 June 2011

Four of us went on a collective trip to see the Golden Orioles at Lakenheath today, and were promptly rebuked for our profligate waste of fossil fuels when Tim called and said he had good news and bad news, and that the bad news was that we were at Lakenheath. We bravely slogged on through the day, racking up some decent birds (heard the Orioles, saw Stone Curlew) but eventually the drizzle, and the agonising thoughts of dipping out at Winterton forced us back to the parish and after about half an hour we managed to hear and see the Marsh Warbler Tim had found earlier. An excellent songster, it gave homages to Nightingale, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Linnet, lawn mower and Tommy Cooper in its versatile vocal performance, and at one point, after it had been hidden and silent for a while, a great tit called and it promptly mimicked it exactly, before launching off into another eclectic jumble of references. An excellent end to a comradely day.

30th May 2011.

South dunes,2 Cuckoo,1 Whinchat,1 Spotted Flycatcher,1 Reed Warbler, Tim.

13th May 2011

Friday 13th proved to be very lucky for myself as a charming and confiding Short-toed Lark was watched for five minutes in the hummocky dunes about 300m south of the Beach Cafe. Sadly, it must have soon slipped away as it was not seen again inspite of a couple of Collective members arriving within 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, although this news was phoned in as usual it did not seem to make it onto the various news services. Probably just as well though given its rapid disappearance.

Also a Hobby was seen over the village.

12th May 2011

Two Hobbys over the North Dunes in the morning. One definitely seemed to be chasing the other away so maybe it was trying to establish a territory. Also six Golden Plovers on farmland just inland from the dunes.

In the evening Colin found two Spotted Flycatchers in the Valley.

7th May 2011

They're Back ! Part 2

Yes, after an absence of several weeks it was good to see several Black-headed Gulls back in the Parish. In fact there were 28 altogether, all moving south but appearing to have initially arrived from more of a north-westerly inland direction so it is possible they may have been visiting from a nearby colony. However, as the majority were 1st Summers, I prefer to think they were genuine migrants but who can tell with this enigmatic species?

Hobby high barn farm this afternoon Tim.

6 May 2011

After an anxious week, the Swifts are here, four of them materialising this evening around the house and across the garden at the tip of a long scream, then settling higher in the sky to feed.

"They've made it again,
Which means the globe's still working..."

They are a week later than last year, when they arrived on 30th April. What brilliant birds!


Meanwhile, earlier today, another delightful annual Winterton ritual was played out as a Red-rumped Swallow passed briskly through heading south.

2 May 2011

A Whinchat was braving the gale next to Beach Road this morning.

From 2011-05-02

1 May 2011

Pete re-found the Hoopoe in the paddocks this morning, feeding contentedly in a far corner. Note that there is a new link on the right to Tim's Winterton migration counts, so for a fuller picture of what's about you should also check his blog.

From 2011-05-01

The Hoopoe. The broad, rounded 9th primary tip so obviously visible here clearly shows this bird is an adult.

30th April 2011

A charming female Whinchat provided some compensation for those of us who were still asleep when the elusive Hoopoe was making one of its brief appearance in the Valley.

29 April 2011

In common it seems with the entire rest of the country we had our own Bar-tailed Godwit today, feeding in the horse paddocks. As you can see it was dressed in its finest royalist celebration plumage, and was feeding in a field right next to an albino pheasant. Today's national Godwit Pageant has gone curiously unnoticed in the mainstream media, which seems to be far more concerned with some other pair of animals, one dressed up in flashy red and the other sporting full albino plumage.

From 2011-04-29

A Buzzard was also in the air, and Pete finally saw his first parish Yellow Wagtail of the year.