Sunday 9 September 2012

Confiding Barwit & Ness Point Goodies

Receiving a tweet from Danny, I drove up to Kensington Gardens and it was great to see Danny sitting on the bench between the 2 bowling greens. The winter- plumaged Bar- tailed Godwit was on the western most one, it was walking around and constantly feeding, probing the ground with its mighty bill and walking round in a mostly clockwise direction. At one point it was just 3 feet away from us at the very edge of the green giving superlative views and great for camera and digiscope. All of these pictures shown here (and on the header) are exactly as taken and not cropped or changed in any way! It stretched its wing once or twice and was even tolerant of someone walking across the green. A little later it flew east onto the eastern most green. At Ness Point, I saw Paul & Jane and we briefly watching a Whinchat and Meadow Pipit on the fence just north of the funnel. By the bushes in between the tamarisk, OFB and I saw first a Reed Warbler then a Sedge Warbler and a Wren. When a Lorry drove past, the noise flushed a Redstart which flew across from the Tamarisks by the seawall into the ones bordering Birds Eye factory perimeter, probably the male seen earlier but ut wasn't showing. A quick visit to the Net posts failed to turn anything up save a quick chat with Rob Wil. Driving back, the fine male Redstart, suddenly hopped out from a tamarisk square in the middle of the car park and posed very briefly on a post, it then flew into the foliage and could be seen on the deck in silhouette only. Once it perched in some bushes in the open directly facing me and then flew back to the Tamarisks by Birds Eye seen a couple of times very briefly on the fence here. In the garden at lunchtime, a Small Tortoiseshell on the front Buddlea and a Male Migrant Hawker flew away west from the vegetation by the pogoda. A medium sized Common Frog hopped out from the runner bean plants when I watered them. in the early evening, a Red admiral was seen on the Pogoda and 2 Common Darters, male and female perched on the very apex of the Sweet Pea canes.

14 comments:

Danny Porter said...

Was good to see you too Peter.
Blimmin amazing views of the Bar-wit, I guess it'll be a while before anything comes that close again?!!

Paul Woolnough said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul Woolnough said...

My barwit Mid Yare patch tick was hard to pick out. Hidden amongst the lumps on eastern Cantley Beet Factory lagoon.

Makes it 31 waders along the Strumpshaw - Cantley stretch of the Yare. A lack of habitat in Lizardland for waders. 35 if Breydon South Wall included: only 27 if not!

Peter Ransome said...

Great to see you too, Danny and what a great bird posing well for the camera!
Paul- Lizard Land isn't very good for waders unless you count Breydon S Wall and Burgh Castle BUT they are constructing wader scrapes on Carlton Marshes so it should improve shortly!

Paul Woolnough said...

Cantley BF is not far from the east end of the Waveney Valley. One or two green sands can be found between Oulton Marshes and Haddiscoe Island. Many more in the Yare Valley at the other end of New Cut.

My seabird list for Lizardland is poor. Tend to go to Sheringham.

Peter Ransome said...

Get down to Ness Point Paul, an LT Skua was seen off there today!
Peter

Paul Woolnough said...

Anniversary of 13 Sept seawatch at Sheringham
First species puffin!
Summary
Puffin 2 No Suffolk record
All four skuas including
Long-tailed skua No Suffolk record
Manx shearwater 200 No Lizard record
Sooty shearwater 10 No Lizard record
Balearic shearwater 2 No Suffolk record
Leach's Petrol 2 No Suffolk record

Paul Woolnough said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul Woolnough said...

Date 13 Sept 2009
Other Sheringham birds
Black guillemot 300th Norfolk species
Cory's shearwater
Storm Petrel
No Suffolk record

Shame there are no easterlies. Mid September can be good for seawatching.

Peter Ransome said...

Never seen Puffin or Black Guillemot off East Anglia, unless you count the 2 dead Puffins I found on Lowestoft beach in the early 1980's

Paul Woolnough said...

A friend of mine wished the first Shetland red-eyed vireo was the first for Norfolk.

I saw the Thorpeness bird so need a Lizard tick(!).

1991 BBRC annual report
Quote Red-eyed Vireo
Suffolk Lowestoft, 6th October (P.J.Ransome, R.Wilton et al.)

Peter Ransome said...

Thanks for reminding me, Paul, of the fantastic Red- eyed Vireo that we found on that fateful day 6 Oct 1991, was it my best ever local find?
Maybe not, as a Collared Pratincole I found disappeared but was seen at Breydon briefly then twitched by many at Felbrigg?

Paul Woolnough said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul Woolnough said...

102 collared pratincoles in last 50 years in UK. Surprised that my Norfolk total for the species is seven including 1999 Metton bird. (Suffolk nil!)

Hang on 119 red eyed vireos. Not on the Norfolk list! Moreover outside of the 4 in Sufolk, the nearest REVs are 1 at (near) Spurn in 1990 and 2 at Dungeness in 1986 and 1984!

Collared pratincole BBRC 1997 (deleted message said 1999)
(Same report and page as a Little Crake in Kent - on my list but many gripped when it left before Easter!) I digress...
The pratincole is on page 12/44
Long list from Norfolk - just one line for Suffolk
Suffolk Corton, 29th September (P.Ransome), presumed same as Norfolk.