September 2021 Roundup

September started with a bit of a bang. As most of us locals were pottering about seeing things like a Pied Flycatcher below the Hermanus, a Swift over the village, and brief views by Peter of a possible Wryneck near the Totem Pole Bushes, extraordinary news came out in the afternoon of a staggering haul by an unidentified birder:

Given that nobody seemed to know who the observer was, and the news was emerging over three hours after the observation, there was some degree of incredulity over these sightings, but nevertheless you never know unless you check, so several of us set off into the North Dunes to see for ourselves.  Despite the somewhat easterly winds there wasn't a lot of activity - a few Wheatears on the dunes, but the bushes largely empty, and so we began to conclude that whoever had claimed such a bounty had been either having a hallucination or a laugh. But just when we were all on the verge of giving up another visiting birder did indeed locate (or relocate) a Red-breasted Flycatcher in a clump of bushes south of the East Pool, and Sean, who was closest, was able to get there within a few minutes and send this record shot out:

After a bit of a scramble several more of us and other birders were able to reach the spot and enjoy fleeting views as the lovely little flycatcher moved around in the clump.  Tim came up with his big gun and got the best photo, as usual!

So one of the three species claimed by the mystery birder had proved to be true, but what of the other two? In the absence of more precise location details nobody was able to find a Barred Warbler, and a Pechora Pipit seemed just crazy!  It would have been considerably earlier than any previous British record, and, even more incredibly, not in Shetland!  It was just too much to believe.  And yet...

And yet it turned out that the observer was credible and experienced, just not someone who enjoys being 'on the scene', and he gave a convincing description of the bird to another birder who knows him well, which included the all-important feature of the primaries peeping out beyond the tertials, which rules out pretty much anything else! He watched the bird for 40 minutes in the late morning before he had to leave for work, and although he sent news to another birder immediately, a combination of factors meant it didn't reach the information services until three hours later.  We looked a lot that day and the next, but there was not a sign, and the solo observer didn't take any photos, and I'm not sure if the record will be submitted, but September had certainly started with a bang!

Alas the month did not continue in this vein.  Despite a decent easterly airstream in the following few days, it was such thin pickings. 

Mick found a Purple Sandpiper on the 2nd, and over the following days there were a few Whinchats, a few Redstarts, and double figures of Wheatears . Maynard did a seawatch on the 2nd and had Sooty Shearwater, Bonxie, Arctic Skua and Great Crested Grebe. A few Hobbies were around and a visiting birder had a Grey Partridge in the North Dunes, so presumably the estate had begun to release a few in readiness for the landed gentry to enjoy murdering them in the coming weeks. A few Swifts were still about too, but for the first week in September, with the wind in the east, it was, as one of our neighbouring birders just to the north of us put it, "desperate, desperate stuff".   

On the 5th Sean was tramping through long grass in the North Dunes looking for Pechora Pipits when he flushed up presumably the same Grey Partridge as a few days earlier. He brazenly claimed that it was "extremely wary and obviously wild", just so he could add it to his year list. There were public jibes from various quarters within the Collective, followed up by private messages asking for the exact location... 

Whinchat numbers in the North Dunes reached double figures on the 5th, and on the 6th there were around 200 Mediterranean Gulls over the village mid-morning. 

Into the second week commoner warblers passed through in small numbers, including a few Lesser Whitethroats and Garden Warblers, and one Sedge Warbler. On the 8th the resident Hybrid Hooded Crow was joined by another in the South Dunes, and, in a clear display of avian fascism, both were rounded upon viciously by a group of pure-bred Carrion Crows.  A Red Kite went south through the North Dunes.  

Mick had a Goldcrest at the Plantation on the 9th, and on the 10th Sean had a calling flyover Tree Pipit in the South Dunes, plus Siskin and Cuckoo. The regular Autumn movement of Great Spotted Woodpeckers also got underway, with two flyovers south.  On the 11th Pat had a flyover Grey Wagtail in the South Dunes, Sean a Spotted Flycatcher at the Oaks and Pete another flyover Red Kite circling low near the Totem Pole.  In the evening there were quite a few Sandwich Terns around, and a close Arctic Skua getting its supper from them.

Around this time in the month we began to notice Guillemots close to shore, like this one which was calling plaintively in the surf.

It quickly emerged that Guillemots were in trouble right up and down the east coast, and we saw increasing numbers along the shore, sadly including quite a few corpses on the beach. However lots of them seemed to be fishing successfully despite being so close in, so hopefully they’ll make it. 

On the evening of the 11th Sean flushed the Grey Partridge yet again and sent out highly detailed directions for the champing Collective yearlisters 😁.

As the middle of the month approach it was difficult to keep spirits up.  The patch was dead, despite some light easterly breezes. There was no vismig going on, and the Whinchats had departed.  Attention turned largely to the sea, where Sooty Shearwaters and Bonxies passed in tiny numbers. A fairly decent duck movement on the 15th included a few Pintails, and a Redstart and Cuckoo on the same date were new arrivals. 

On the 16th Sean went through the South Dunes in the morning and noticed a considerable increase in Phylloscs in the valley, which was encouraging. He messaged Barry and noted "Nothing rare but lots more birds". However, Barry was shortly going to tell him that he'd lied, because later in the morning Colin also took a walk through and found something he wasn't sure about... Mick arrived within a few minutes and was able to confirm that Colin had found himself a juvenile Common Rosefinch! For posterity, here is the first picture Mick sent out of it:

Luckily the bird stayed for everyone to catch up with it and more photos and even video were taken. Here is a selection:

A great find and a continuation of Colin's good year...

Hirundines started moving in numbers from around the middle of the month, with a very large flock of House Martins and some Swallows moving south on the 17th, and around this time the resident Tawny Owls on the western edge of the village were making themselves heard (and seen) more frequently.

Also around this time the first Autumn flocks of Meadow Pipits were beginning to appear, and more Siskins were moving too, albeit in very small numbers compared to this time last year.

On the 18th Tim had a Redstart at the Plantation, and 4 Hobbies were still around. On the 19th Barry had a Redstart and two Wheatears in the South Dunes. On the 20th Colin had a Great White Egret over his house, and double figures of Wheatears and a Whinchat remained in the North Dunes. 

On the 21st, after spending several preceding afternoons skywatching in the dunes in the hope of raptors, Sean had arranged to meet an old friend and do some birding at Rainham Marsh on the outskirts of London.  He had a worrying feeling about going away from the patch on such a good date for birding and his fears were confirmed when in the early afternoon Barry and Colin had an Osprey circling over the Hermanus. Oh well, Sean thought, there's always the next few days for another...  On the same date Mick had a Tufted Duck from Bramble Gap. 

The 22nd saw Sean return to skywatching and for a moment his heart nearly stopped when he thought last year's lightning had struck again! 

In other nature news, on the same date three Vagrant Emperor dragonflies were found by a visiting group near the car park, and this marked the beginning of an unprecedented influx of these rare beasts which are primarily found in Africa.  In the coming days there were over 10 seen and this is definitely a conservative estimate. Males were not as frequent as females but at least two copulating pairs were seen on the wing. 

The 24th saw the first sizeable arrival of Pink-footed Geese, with several large, high skeins coming in over the North Dunes.  

On the 25th there was a report of a Yellow-browed Warbler in the North Dunes but nobody who looked could find it and we are as yet unaware of the observer's identity. On the 26th Maynard messaged to say he had seen a Wryneck in the North Dunes, but sadly once again it proved very elusive to everyone else who looked for it, including Barry who was close by.  What a poor year it has been here for Wrynecks - apparently the weather conditions pushed the majority onto the south coast this year.  On the same date at about 11am Drew and his group of visiting birders, plus Tim and Ted had ANOTHER Osprey, this time over the North Dunes, just after Sean had returned home after several hours' birding. He immediately ran back out into the dunes, but missed it yet again. His skywatching plans had really paid off this year!

On the 26th the first Brent Geese of the Autumn were seen - Mick had 11 going north and later Sean had 9 going south, as well as the excellent sight of a flock of 6 Herons coming in off the sea (he was skywatching again but with a sea view this time). A bit later Mick had another 24 Brent Geese south. 

The next day Patrick had a close Manx Shearwater south (they've been extremely rare this year) and Sean had three Pintails going north.

The 28th saw a really substantial movement of Jays going south, with several flocks of above 20 and a total of around 75 birds in an hour. This must be related to the cold, wet spring which disrupted Oak tree flowering and has led to a really poor crop of acorns - there are hardly any on the trees in the valley.  There was also a Garden Warbler in the valley on the 28th, and 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers moved through, including one which stopped over in Colin's garden. 

On the same date Mick saw a Balearic Shearwater and on the last day of the month Sean and Pat had a fairly close juvenile Pomarine Skua, to finish a basically disappointing month with a flourish. 

At the end of  September we have collectively recorded 197 bird species on the patch, compared to a total of 209 for the whole of last year.  Will we manage a higher score this year?  It seems unlikely but we'll continue to try.  

Happy patch birding everyone!

August 2021 Roundup

First of all an apology and a correction for last month. On 22 July Peter, with huge excitement, informed us all that he had rediscovered a species he has only seen here a very few times since he first found it 15 years ago.  So huge apologies for missing it out to Peter, and here is his original finder's photo of Matt-grass, Nardus stricta, in all its glory, including the subliminal message which suggests Pete may well be a spy for the Chinese government...

The birding action for August began shortly after midnight on the 1st, when Pat popped out into his garden to check on his moth trap and heard a Little Ringed Plover calling as it flew over.

However for much of the month decent birding was in short supply, so for many of us attention turned to other taxa. In early August one particular patch of the dunes was still full of Six Spot Burnet moths. It was strange how concentrated they were in this patch, with few elsewhere. There were thistles in other places but way fewer moths. 

On the dragonfly front several of us saw Lesser Emperors in the North Dunes, and over the course of a few days in early August there were suddenly hundreds of Small Red-eyed Damselflies.  

On the butterfly front various species such as Grayling, Gatekeeper and a few Ringlets were putting on a good show, and there were reports of Purple Hairstreaks around some of the oak stands.  Later in the month Painted Ladies looked rather wonderful feeding on the Sea Holly. Sadly however it really doesn't seem a good year for Dark Green Fritillaries. 

This Essex Skipper in the North Dunes was impressively identified by Murray without him even looking through his binoculars! 

Back to the birds, on the 2nd Tim connected with a Marsh Tit in one of the places we regularly look for but rarely see this increasingly scarce species. I suspect quite a few of us will fail to get it onto our year lists this year, sadly. 

On the 3rd, shortly before their departure, a Swift finally went inside one of the nextboxes on Sean's house, hopefully prospecting for next season, which bodes well if it manages to survive its incredible migration and return to us in May 2022. 

On the 5th there was a steady passage of Swallows through the morning and Mick saw an immature Cuckoo by the North Pool. Pat had a Ruff fly over his garden.  We were still seeing quite a lot of Whimbrel at this stage in the month too.  

Pat's garden skywatching venue continued to produce the goods the next day too, when he had a Green Woodpecker fly over. 

With the birding rather quiet, insect watching remained enjoyable in the South Dunes, with Hornet Hoverflies, Spotted Longhorn Beetles, Giant Tachnid flies and other interesting species around. 

Seawatching started to pick up a little on the 7th, when Barry had 5 Arctic Skuas and 1 Great Skua and Sean had a moulting adult Black Tern fly south.  The next day there was another Black Tern on the beach at dawn, seen by Will the night warden, and later on Lottie, another of the tern wardens, found several more. 

To the tern wardens' concern, the local Hobby family had done well this year principally on a daily diet of young Little Terns, and the adult Hobbies and four young were seen regularly throughout the month. On the 9th Sean saw all six of them chase down and catch a single unfortunate Swift, all working in unison; presumably the adults teaching the young how to hunt in the air. Mick had several Arctic Terns go south on the same day.

On the 10th Murray had a Common Sandpiper on the beach, and another Black Tern was sitting on the beach on the morning of the 11th, when Colin also flushed another Common Sandpiper from the East Pool. That day was a flying ant day, which meant significant numbers of Mediterranean Gulls hawking above the village in the afternoon.

At around 4.30pm on the 11th a visitor asked Mick, who was wardening on the beach, about an unusual wader on the shoreline. On investigation Mick saw that it was a fine Curlew Sandpiper, a species which although very occasionally noted in flight here, has never been seen 'on the deck'.  It was a fantastic bird and we were all super pleased to get a chance to see it.  Lots of photos were taken and here are just a few. 

On the 13th Colin had a Cuckoo in the valley and Sean a Green Woodpecker in the North Dunes, whist in the evening Maynard had a Greenshank on the sand bank, plus another Arctic Skua and several Black Terns. Cuckoo and Green Woodpecker were both noted in the North Dunes on the 14th too, along with 5 Swifts (the majority have now departed). 

Green Woodpeckers continued to give fleeting views (mostly like this one) in the North Dunes until the month's end. 

On the 18th there was a steady passage of Swallows in the morning, all moving north! 

The first returning Wheatears of the autumn were on the 19th, when Barry had two in the South Dunes. 

On the 20th at 5.50am Pete saw a Common Sandpiper feeding in puddles along North Market Road in the village.

Apart from the odd Arctic Skua, seawatching was still uneventful around this time, although the occasional Red-throated Diver was noted, and Fulmars started to be seen, even flying over land up the valley. They seem to do this each autumn: are they looking out for nest sites for next year??

Passerine passage was very slow in mid August although on the  morning of the 22nd the valley held a Garden Warbler and a few more Lesser Whitethroats and Blackcaps, but still no Pied Flycatchers. Where were they?  The local hybrid Hooded Crow took up residence in the car-park/fishing huts area around this time, where it could be found until the end of the month.

In the afternoon of the 22nd Pete flushed a Wryneck in the North Dunes, which proved highly elusive for the rest of us. However whilst looking for it a number of us finally saw the first patch Pied Flycatcher of the autumn, in the clump that the Wryneck had disappeared into. Chris, one of our regular visitors, noted the first Whinchat of the Autumn on the same afternoon.

On the 23rd Murray saw the Whinchat near the East Pool, then later he and Sean had two more near the Birdless Bushes, where there was also a Pied Flycatcher, with another near the concrete blocks. As Sean and Murray walked back towards the village, Sean had a brief but clear view of Pete's Wryneck, which flushed up from exactly the same place as Pete saw it the previous day, and flew over the ridge into exactly the same clump of bushes too. And once again, despite several of us arriving and searching for it, again we couldn't relocate it. Sean and Murray also had a Redstart on their walk back to the village. Tim found another Whinchat near the cable station and also three Wheatears in the North Dunes, whilst later on in the evening Mick had 2 more Redstarts at the Plantation and 2 more Pied Flycatchers in the Totem Pole Bushes. Birds were obviously arriving, albeit slowly.

The excitement was short-lived however, and the next day the dunes were almost totally devoid of birds, although the 2 Redstarts remained at the plantation. And despite the excitement of Graham E's Greenish Warbler appearing tantalisingly close to our patch, the birding for passerines remained very hard going over the next few days. On the 25th 1 Redstart remained at the Plantation, and a single Swift had a flyround to look at Sean's nextboxes. 

There were potentially good seawatching conditions on the 26th, and in the morning the first 2 Sooty Shearwaters of the Autumn were seen by Mick, Tim and Murray, as well as 3 Pintail, 6 Arctic Skuas and a smattering of waders.  On land, Colin had a Whinchat just east of the village.  In the afternoon news came out of a (the) Black-browed Albatross flying east past Sheringham, so Sean, Mick and Barry headed down to the sheds for a just-in-case seawatch.  Several hours later, and with no Albatross seen, things nevertheless brightened up when Barry picked up a small distant skua near the Cockle. He lost it, but seconds later an Arctic Skua appeared a little to the south, so we all assumed it had been that.  However, in another moment there it was again, alongside several Arctics. Significantly smaller, less bulky and with a quite different flight style. Zoom in the Swarovski... and bam! The tail was visible! it was an adult Long-tailed Skua!  I'm extremely wary of claiming LTS at sea and know that Arctics can appear light, tern-like etc, but there was no doubting this one and we were all happy with the ID, Barry even doing a sort of brief Mo Farah dabbing celebration over it (not a sight I'd wish on anyone else). Interestingly, as we watched it move a long way south, it was joined by at least one other structurally very similar skua, but by then they were way too far away to make anything of it.  On the same seawatch were 9 Pintail, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 9 Arctic Skuas, 3 Great Skuas, Kittiwakes and a couple of Guillemots. Not a bad afternoon's work. 

Seawatching produced the only other highlights for the rest of the month too.  On the 27th there were 4 Arctic Skuas, 3 Red-throated Divers, and a Great Crested Grebe, and on the 28th 2 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Manx Shearwaters, 8 Arctic Skuas, 6 Great Skuas, 5 Kittiwakes and good numbers of Gannets. 

August ended with a couple more Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts, but very little else.  It is a sad truth that we are involved in a hobby which has the capacity to frequently remind us of the ongoing deterioration of our planet's natural resources, and this August, with so few migrants for most of it, was definitely one of those times.  Then on the 29th we learnt with huge sadness that Keith Dye, a stalwart of the local birding scene since forever, had passed away.  RIP Keith, and RIP the many avian migrants that no longer fly in our skies.  

July 2021 Roundup

Birding on the patch in July generally requires a level of dedication which really "sorts the men out from the boys". So since most of us are well into our second childhoods don't expect a lengthy roundup this month!

One exception to our lethargy was Mick who, due to his role as a volunteer tern warden, was out in the field quite a bit more than most of us.  So a lot of the best birds (and insects) this month were down to him spotting them, then alerting the rest of us that it might be worth taking the knotted hankies off our heads, hauling ourselves out of our deckchairs, and struggling along to see his latest find.

This process began on the 1st with a Black Tern on the beach, but at that stage we were all too casual - a party of schoolchildren on an outing scared it off before any of us managed to arrive. 

Pat saw another Black Tern during a brief seawatch on the 6th, along with a couple of Manx Shearwaters, which have been rather thin on the ground so far. 

On the 8th Mick had an Arctic Tern fly past, and Maynard saw two Spoonbills flying from the Concrete Road in the early morning.  There were a couple more Arctic Terns flying around the beach the following evening too, which enabled Sean and Pat to finally connect with them for the year (don't tell anyone, but both of them are too unsure of their tern skills to identify them at anything but very close range 😁). 

On the 10th Mick struck yet again with the best Tern of the lot - a superb adult Roseate Tern on the beach.  This time we didn't have to be told twice and several of us were down there like a shot.  It was a really superb bird and a patch tick for most (all?) of us.  Amazingly, about an hour later it was joined by two more!  Here is a selection of shots of at least two of them. 

Whilst a number of us were enjoying the Roseate Terns, this Arctic Skua did a nice flyby close inshore going south.  

The terns hung around for Pat and Ted to get them later in the afternoon, but all had departed by the evening. 

After all that excitement we needed another rest so attention turned back to our gardens. Pat enjoyed continued views of the Peregrine on and around the church tower from his, and Sean was encouraging Swifts to discover his new triple story nest box in his, and although they were interested they seemed to be having trouble finding the entrance holes, and continually landed on the top of it.  Next year hopefully they'll have figured it out...

Common Scoter began to appear on the sea again in reasonable numbers around the middle of the month, with Barry seeing around 250 on the 13th. The next day Sean saw a similar number, along with a (fairly unusual for July) Red-throated Diver in summer plumage and a male Tufted Duck heading north. 

Returning waders were increasingly in evidence too, with most of us encountering Whimbrel, Curlew, Knot, Dunlin and Bar-tailed Godwits in small numbers on most days. 

On the 15th Mick had another Black Tern feeding offshore distantly, and a Great Skua south.

Back in our gardens mothing was happening, and on the 21st Pat caught this unusual micro called a Dark Bordered Pearl.  It's a migrant with few records in Norfolk until very recently. Amazingly, Pat had another one four days later on the 25th too.  As with many insect species, it seems the heating climate is having an effect on this one's range too. 

Red Kites were also around in July, and on the 22nd Barry had 5 in the north dunes, while Mick had 3 at Commissioners Dyke. On the same day Colin finally caught up with Cuckoo at the Double Pool and Mick had a juv at the Coot Pool too. 

In the North Dunes there's a nice big patch of bushes which we all know as the Birdless Bushes, since their promise has always exceeded what they deliver.  However this year they have been a bit better, with Grasshopper Warbler, Bullfinch and a smattering of other half-decent birds. On the 22nd Sean noted a Willow Warbler in them, and wondered if it was the first returning warbler of the autumn.  As he was looking at it another Willow Warbler began calling, but the more he heard this second bird the more it sounded to him like a Redstart!  Surely this couldn't be the case, and it was another Willow Warbler - the date was just too wrong. The bird was calling low down in the back of the large clump and just would not show.  In desperation Sean recorded the bird on his phone and put it through the notoriously erratic Birdnet app.  Here is the result:

However, despite the app's almost certainty, it would be such an unusual record that one can't go on the app alone (which has got some hilariously wrong nocmig results in the past). The bird never appeared and so we can't rule out a slightly odd Willow Warbler...  Nevertherless, the Birdless Bushes were back in the game!  The following day, in the very same bushes, Barry had a Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff and a pair of copulating Willow Warblers, casting further doubt on the 'Redstart' and also suggesting that far from being a returning migrant Sean's Willow Warbler was more likely to be a late attempting breeder. 

On the 25th Mick was returning from a wardening stint on the beach when he discovered this Lunar Hornet Moth walking across Low Road, so several of us took the opportunity to twitch it and Ted arrived to confirm the ID and take the unfortunate moth into care before releasing it in more suitable habitat at Duffles Pond. 

On the 26th a large flock of Mediterranean Gulls gathered above the village to hawk insects, and around this time of the month a Hobby could be seen above the village each evening trying to outwit the Swifts. 

On the 28th Barry saw a Green Woodpecker in the North Dunes and later that morning Sean saw one and heard up to three, in widely dispersed locations across the North Dunes.  You wait ages for a year tick then three come along at once!  Was this one bird on the move or some juveniles dispersing?  Views were not good enough to tell.  

Dragonflies were very active at the end of the month, including some rarities such as Lesser Emperor and Small Red-eyed Damselfly, and this Scarce Chaser which Sean saw near the Holmes Road was possibly a first for Winterton.  

Also on the 28th the Birdless Bushes gave even more evidence of their purple patch when Sean flushed an immature Nightjar from their inland edge. 

Again on the insect front towards the end of the month there was a mass emergence of Six-spot Burnets in the North Dunes near the village, as well as good numbers of Gatekeepers and steadily increasing Grayling numbers. 

Two Green Woodpeckers were also seen by Colin and Mick in the North Dunes on the 30th, and Colin also had another Red Kite over the north woods. 

Later on in the afternoon of the 30th, Colin and Gemma both had good views for around five minutes of a bird they are pretty certain was a Black Kite over the North Dunes.  This is very interesting because the day before Sean had had a two second glimpse of a bird over the north wood which he immediately thought was a Black Kite, but it disappeared before he could be certain.  There were no other reports of a Black Kite in the area but Colin is convinced it was one.  On the same day Pat had a Greenshank over his garden, calling, and on the 31st he saw 2 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Skuas, Redshank, Curlew, Grey Plover, Whimbrel and Turnstone during a morning seawatch in the returning north easterly wind. 

At the end of July the total number of bird species which we have collectively seen stands at 182, and we are eagerly looking forward to see what August will bring.  Pat, on 162, is pulling away in the yearlist non-competition, but several of us remain within striking distance, and it's not over until it's over. Tim always bides his time, and there's the new boy Maynard, who has already shown what he can do...🙂

Happy patch birding everyone. See you next month!