2012 Firecrest at last!

After a humdinger of a migraine last night when travelling in the evening I had to swiftly turn back after I had the aura appear and I had go home and straight to bed. I eventually surfaced today, Saturday 8th December, early afternoon with a head that felt it had gone 2 rounds with Mike Tyson. At 1pm, the weather was sunny and I entered Warren House Wood and in the northern side were a flock of Long- tailed Tits plus a Treecreeper and 2 Goldcrests. In the western section were more Long- tailed Tits and a Goldcrest. As I was walking south on the western most path, a male Muntjac Deer crossed onto the path ahead of me and looked back at me, curious no doubt to this human intruder! In the south east section, another (or same) group of Long- tailed Tits plus Goldcrest and then suddenly the excellent Firecrest, a belated first for 2012, appeared right in front of me and barely 3 feet away too, it promptly flicked to another branch then flew past me and into the wood and out of sight. At Links road car park, around 60 Black- headed Gulls here, little else and at Ness Point 3 Purple Sandpipers were seen on the rocks in front of the compass. At Hamilton Dock in the north east corner, a Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Turnstone were seen briefly. At Lowestoft Asda late afternoon, whilst shopping I spied a flock of 30 Starlings flying east joined a larger flock of c1200 Starlings flying around the Lowestoft harbour. Also early Friday 7th December morning, Common Gull seen out the front perched on a neighbours roof. Snow then fell and they was around a covering of an inch of snow, Plus 3 Long- tailed Tits seen in front garden!

Lapwing & Starling flocks

On Monday 3rd December, c70 Lapwing flew west over the A12 just past Hopton Farm on the commute to work, early morning. Several flocks of Starling, c80 and c50 seen flying around the trees west of Great Yarmouth Library much later during the same day.

Wangford Waxwings

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RIP Blackcap

Sadly, today, at 11.30am this morning I found a freshly dead male Blackcap who was found on the pavement in front of Great Yarmouth Library.

Waxwings along the A12

I was absolutely delighted today to find at around 8.40am, 4 Waxwings which were first seen as I was driving north along the A12. They were perched up on some tall bushes on south side of the Rackham's Corner roundabout, just north of Barn Owl Lodge, on the busy A12 dual carraigeway. They were initially seen as I was driving along the A12 approaching the roundabout, I saw 4 birds perched up in a bush looking very much like Waxwings! I parked the car briefly along the layby just north of there and walked back along the pavement. I saw them briefly feeding on the berries on the mid southern section, whilst 1 Waxwing was perched high up in a tall bush along the mid northern section of the roundabout. They were suddenly spooked and flew right over my head trilling as they went, always great to hear them calling. A few minutes later they flew back and settled on a bush on the east side of the road next to the roundabout. It was now 8.50am, it started raining heavily and I had to leave for work.

Diver down

Arriving at Hamilton Dock this morning, I heard a splash in front of me, but I couldn't see what it was, as I would have been looking directly into the bright sunlight. Some other birders wandered over saying it was a good thing it had surfaced and shown well. I didn't know what they were talking about, until I wandered away a bit and looked back and saw a sadly oiled Red- throated Diver sitting on the bank barely 15 feet away. It unfortunately some oil around the base of the bill and quite a lot on the belly, too. No doubt, either a victim of the nonsensical oil transfer policy which is conducted off the coast just out of sight of land, or the oil tankers illegally washing their tanks out at sea. The diver looked in a bad way, especially when it rested its head on some rope. But after a while, it appeared to rally and shuffled around looking quite alert. At such close quarters the red eye and upturned bill could be seen clearly. Chris M and later Dale (who I haven't seen for a long while), arrived, with Chris stating he'd seen an interesting warbler in the Arnold's walk, Whilst I was walking through (from Arnold's walk) to the Sparrows Nest in a sunlit tree in front of us and to the left, a Willow Warbler perched out in the open for a few seconds and continued to feed well around the trees and foliage, always on the move. Andrew E, Rob Wil's & Win, Paul & Jane F were also present. A later walk through the long grass of the Denes flushed a Snipe, Song Thrush and 4 Greenfinch. Whilst on the groynes, an adult Kittiwake seen and 3 flying north. Plus a large flock of c50 female Common Scoter also flew north.

Peregrine Over

A Peregrine Falcon flew west in the mist over WHSmith's today (Saturday 17th November), over Lowestoft London Rd North, where it briefly harried a Feral Pigeon right over the store at 11.10am.