Hoopoe along Sizewell beach

After missing several Hoopoes recently at North Walsham, Thorpe cum Haddiscoe, Stubbs Wood, Gunton and realising I would be too late to see it at Thorpeness yesterday. I was very keen on Sunday 17th November, to see the Hoopoe at Sizewell. So once I heard it was still at Sizewell, I drove there, but there was no free parking available by Sizewell village so I tried to another spot I knew where there were a couple of spaces and I took the footpath to the beach, by the caravan park I heard a Stonechat calling 'chack chack.' and wandered down only to be greeted by the news that the bird was showing well 5 minutes earlier but a dog walker had thrown a ball at the bird (!!!) and the bird had flown north, I walked north with no luck and no sooner had that happened then we heard the bird had been seen in flight again in the same original spot by the same lady I had just been talking to. Matthew D, strolled along and as soon as I saw him I saw the excellent Hoopoe fly up near us, wonderful butterfly like flight and then right over out heads before it flew down the beach and appeared to fly up into the small trees on the cliff. We walked down and again we saw the Hoopoe fly up and again into the cliff trees. Matthew saw it fly again. We were then joined by John G. and photographer. I then walked up to the cliff top where we heard the bird had been sighted ten minutes walk away I walked south along the cliff top path skirting Sizewell hall grounds, we saw Rob Win and Julie and then we heard the bird had been sighted back in its original spot so we headed back again. The bird was then seen flying around the cliff and then a little further north into scrub and gorse. Rob, Julie & Matthew all left. Fortunately for them they didn't witness the behaviour of 3 specific individuals who were constantly hassling the bird getting far too close and causing the bird to fly frequently. Which was very disappointing to see, to say the least. This also put paid to me getting really good photos so these are really OK shots only. When I got to the beach, a younger birder, perhaps influenced by this behaviour, was edging far too close to the bird, that was sighted feeding along the edge of the gorse areas. I told him to stop and fortunately he did and the others were temporarily reigned in too, so now finally with a little common sense, we managed to view this bird at mid range for some twenty minutes. The bird was constantly feeding (but always in the shadows) until a family walked towards it (not deliberately), it stopped feeding then raised its crest and then flew north and into some bushes. The bird was seen in flight a couple of times and I last saw it in a bush, it was the other side of the bush and I didn't want to disturb it, I was close to it and I was waiting and hoping to see if it would drop down onto the path and feed. But, inevitably other birders walking south towards the bush, hadn't seen it perched in the bush their side & had inadvertently flushed it and it then flew over the cliff top. A female Stonechat was seen too. The sun was getting quite low and it was my time to leave, having been there around 3 hours.

Desert Wheatear = Birthday bonus

On Friday 15th November, after receiving a very welcome phone call from Jane F saying both her and Paul was watching the Desert Wheatear at Winterton, just after 12.15pm, I drove stright over there and from the triangle sign along the North beach I saw Mick D who was a Seal Volunteer with other volunteers and he said the bird was around 200 metres further north with 4 people, 2 people I knew very well and a photographer who was 'on the bird'. I reached them to see Paul & Jane F and another birder plus photographer Jim L lying down quite close to the bird. The bird was perched on a small sand hill, it was the fine female Desert Wheatear. I almost joined him and took a few pics but unfortunately my camera setting was still on ISO 1600 which was too much for this now bright day. I quickly changed the setting to auto ISO meaning the camera selected ISO 100 which gives the best quality. I then joined Paul & Jane F. saw the bird which was often on the move and now moving north, I went into the Dunes and crawled up to the Dune edge and saw the bird reasonably close then the bird flew towards me and perched on a pebble where I obtained my closest shots, again without disturbing the bird. Also on the beach were around 15 Grey Seals the closest one , but still by the shore/ sea edge, I took pictures of one of their number from the edge of the dunes. It then flew onto the beach and then flew a little way south again. I could see Tim H walking up and I walked and joined the throng of birders where we saw it perch on a tree stump and then it flew again. Drving back past the Casietr bypass dual carraigeway a Buzzard closely followed by a Kestrel flew east across the road. A great trip and only my 3rd female Desert Wheatear having seen previous females at Heacham Hunstanton and a fabulously showy bird on Gorleston beach.

Winterton dip but productive seawatch (for a change!)

On Wednesday 13th November, a day off work meant I could twitch the Winterton Desert Wheatear, only problem was I missed it by 5 minutes as I had walked around 900 metres north of the beach car park and the bird had moved to the beach opposite the car park walking back I could see a group of people watching it but by the time I got there I had missed it by just 5 minutes. It didn't reappear. A seawatch was quite productive from the car park revealed 6 Eider flying north (1 adult male leading the 6), plus a female Goldeneye flying north. 2 single Red- throated Divers flew north, 3 waders- a Knot and 2 Dunlin flew north, 1 female Goldeneye on the sea.

Long-eared Owl viewed from the Pier

On Tuesday 12th November, at 2pm I was finally able to take a lunchbreak and drive to Gorleston Pier walking out I saw Dereham Paul just leaving but there was also Paul & Jane F.,John R. and Rene B. all trying to photograph the bird in windy and rainy conditions. From the end of the Pier we looked north and saw the Long- eared Owl perched on defence rocks at the very edge of Yarmouth Harbour, the bird was distant but you could see most of the bird and its ear tufts though the scope that Jane kindly let me look through, by 2.10pm I had to leave, a really good lunchbreak twitch.

Amur Stonechat at Trimley Marshes

After an interesting Eastern type Stonechat had been typically found the previous Sunday and having to wait all week, albeit I had a few days off but there was the small matter of attending 2 Deep Purple concerts one in Birmingham at the BP Pulse Live arena on Monday (driving back Tuesday) and going down by train on Wednesday to attend a show that night at the 02 Arena at Greenwich, travelling back Thursday and working Friday meant I had to wait until the following Saturday 9th November to twitch this bird. The weather was on my side as it had been misty and murky all week and this weather pattern continued for the first part of the weekend at least. Amur Stonechat is the Stejneger's Stonechat of old with the last one seen (a first for Suffolk at the time) in Suffolk in October 2016 at Landguard and typically it did a bunk by the following weekend. Having not visit Trimley since the Whiskered Tern/ Little Bittern celebrated double bill in 20--, I had to look up where to go vagually remembering heading for Trimley St. Mary then crossing the railway line (where I had to wait for 6 minutes whilst a seemingly neverending goods train trundled past! At the end there was parking for around 15 cars and luckily there was one spare space so parking up I took the very long 1 mile + walk through farmland. Around a 1/4 of the way down an immature or female Black Redstart was seen flitting around in a large Oak tree not the usual habitat for this species but very welcome nonetheless. I carried on walking turning a corner right past some agricultural machinery and then following the track winding first one way and the next before a large bush was seen on the right, just past this was a load of Umbilfers set in a long strip of set aside by the edge of the field and the vehicular track plus 3 birders. I quickly got onto the bird, a fine Amur Stonechat, which appeared to be a 1st winter, it was flying and perching up onto the top of the umbilifers or perched half way up or even sometimes on the ground. The bird was incredibly confiding at times it flew past flycatching just above our heads and on 2 occasions it flew past me just a foot away. It perched on around a dozen times in vegetation on the very edge of the road just a couple of feet away. It had a black face, white throat, brownish streaked crown with a rusty streaked back, rusty rump with rusty uppertial coverts and a pale creamy wash on the underparts. It had a black bill and legs. As time went on more people arrived and was especially pleasing to catch up with Justin Z, Ellie Z & Justin's son having not seen them for several years. Equally pleasing was seeing David W, Roy M, Lee W from the Ipswich area and closer to home Rob W and James W. The bird continued to show well for all until one perosn went out to collect faecal samples (to confirm the bird's ID but given the showiness of the bird and all the photos taken that might not be necessary. Sadly, this action spooked the bird a little and it moved to the further side of the set aside strip for the next 30 minutes or so. As I walked back I saw the Black Redstart in the same area, this time flitting in the large trees the otherside of the road. Again typically elusive but occasionally seen. Please note some of the accompanying photos have been lightened.

A 'Serindipitous' occurrence

On Tuesday 5th November hearing of Rob M spotting a female Serin at Corton OSW, I walked down the west side couldn't see anything in the fading light as it was about 4pm, as I walked around the east side aside from 3 Linnets, Goldfinches and Greenfinch I spotted the shape of a smaller dumpier bird with domed head and short deeply forked tail flew up and it flew to the south- east corner of the OSW, presumably to roost in the Tamarisks. I suspected it was the female Serin. The very next day, Wednesday 6th November, I walked around around the west side of Corton OSW & at 7.50am I saw a bird fly into a bush near the north-west corner of the OSW from the compound, it looked very promising. It then flew again with some 4 Goldfinches and flew to the Rosebay Willow herb tall weed stems on the west side of the path. It was the fine female Serin. In flight it showed a deeply forked tail and noticable and prominent lemon-yellow rump. When it feed it showed a deep streaked body (above and below) only becoming unstreaked with the underparts near the undertail coverts white and unstreaked. It showed 2 faint wingbars. The pale breast, there was a tinge of yellow on the middle of the breast. Crucially, there was no yellow in the tail. It often spent time feeding behind the tallest stems and was obscured for most of the period of observation. After only 3 minutes for no reason the entire flock flew east towards the sewage works compound and sadly the female Serin wasn't seen again. About 20 minutes, later Andrew E arrived, then Paul & Jane and Maurice and finally Jeremy, but despite the additional observers present we couldn't relocate the bird. POSTSCRIPT: Later on amazingly Rob M found a female Serin at beach farm Benacre, was it the same bird that had moved on?

A quiet weekend with a showy Kestrel

On Sunday 3 November I parked up at the bridge nothing along Corton OTR although I did see James B and as we were talking a Green Woodpecker flew up and onto the left side of the trunk of a tree the other side of the road Stirrup's Lane, asI looked around Corton very little about save for a family of c12 Long- tailed Tits in St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, Corton included Blue & Great Tits and a Coal Tit. I heard the "tseep" of a Redwing and walking to Corton OSW I saw one fly out from the carvan park, nothing around Corton OSW save for 4 Greenfinces, 3 Goldfinches, a pair of Chaffinches and a male Blackbird by bushes by the dyke. As I walked back I saw a Great- spotted Woodpecker flew west. I looked around the parks inc. Arnold's Walk, Sparrows Nest nothing there but as I walked around the Netposts, I saw a male Kestrel perched up and over the next hour or so I got a few pics as the bird was quite confiding and allowed a close approach with care. It was pleasing to see the bird hunting and catch a mouse/ vole which it dispatched and fed from a post. I walked up to the seawall and I saw a Rock Pipit perched on the newish wooden ramp it flew up to the Birds eye with 2 other Pipits. Looking from the seawall to the ledge below opposite the wooden ramp I saw 1 Purple Sandpiper amongst the 3 Turnstone, my first of the winter. I then went back to look at the male Kestrel again. Before I then looked around Ness Point where a grey Black Redstart with white flash on its wing flew from the turbine yard and by the defence rocks just south of the Point. A dog walker somewhat inevitably flushed just a minute after I found it, I then bumped into Rob H for a chat. Looking at the pictures of the Kestrel, I could see it was rung with a silver ring with a partial read of '725' and from a different angle '0 (or 8)944' &'4323'. So, I think it is 7250 (or '8')944323 maybe??