Meagre returns

A look around the Parks, the Oval, North Denes & Corton revealed little after work on Thursday 1st October. On Friday 2nd October, a briefly tame female Blackbird with white spots on her head was very tame by the entrance road to Corton OSW, but disappeared when I was retrieving the camera. On the Static caravan site immediately north of OSW were 5 Blackbirds, a dark continental Song Thrush and 2 Robins, almost certainly continental migrants. I tried looking in Broadland Sands camp site but could find neither a brown hut or a wooded copse, all I saw were lines of trees and certianly no YBWs revealed themselves to be either visually or verbally.

Poor views of the Vireo

On Wednesday 30th September, I travelled to Minsmere North bushes for the REV that had been spotted there the previous afternoon. It had been seen at 9.37am, I arrived there and in the middle of the bushes, I was joined by Carl B, Paul & Jane F. and at 1.35pm a mad scramble and a shout saying there it is and I spotted a bulky passerine, with olive green above and silky white underparts of the Red- eyed Vireo fly into a bush, the light was poor and I saw the shape of the Vireo but it was partially obscured and then it hopped out of view. Other people the other side had a much better view. Later on when we were joined by John H. and Mick we walked along the path to the beach and the bushes just east of the North bushes, Mick spotted it in a small Oak and we saw the shape of the bird very briefly before it flew low and left never to be seen again. Walking back I heard the brief 'tsuip' of a Yellow- browed Warbler and on the path to the North hide, I also heard a Marsh Tit, neither of these birds were seen though. I stayed until 4.30pm in the hope I would obtain better views but it was not be, I must have used up all my Vireo luck almost 35 years ago.

Grey Phalarope at Shingle Street

On Saturday 26th September, a Ring- necked Parakeet flew across the road from a park on the 30 m inutes walk from Ilford Tube to Gants Hill Travel Lodge. On the walk back on the 27th September, another Ring- necked Parakeet flew back across to the park. On the train just past and before M5, a flock of Fallow Deer were seen in a field. On the way down to Shingle Street, my first trip here since a Pied Wheatear was here on 19 October 2009 [see blogpost 20 Oct 2009!]. It's been too long since I last visited and I did an unecessary loop around Butley but I eventually arrived and parked up by the Shingle Street parking sign. Immediately ahead were the Battery Cottages and Coastguards cottage but I was very unsure where to go to locate the Pool where the Phalarope was, I am grtaeful to Jane F. and a local lady who gave precise direcxtions where to find it. The pool was not on the beach but heading south up to a Martello tower type home just before that was a wooded copse area and a public footpath was to the right marked going straight through the wooded copse, you were walking down and then turned left along the path, a raised bank and walking around 3/4 of a mile from where I parked the car I arrived at the Pool and instantly saw an immature Grey Phalarope. It was down a dyke and actively feeding barely 10-12 metres away.

Tarzan Diver!

Just after 12.30pm on Wed 23rd September, a tweet from Dale that he had a BT Diver close in by the caravan park, had me driving down to the Lowestoft North Denes/ North Beach, parking at the Swimming Pool Road car park opposite the Sparrow's Nest and walking down to the sea wall. An initial sweep of the sea revealed nothing, but a couple I met said that the Diver had swum north, so we; Rob H. and I walked north as we did so we met up with Paul & Jane. Jane spotted a reasonably close Red- throated Diver which flew south. Just before we got to the Link's Road car park, we saw a Diver close in on the sea, not a Black- throated, but a nice summer plumaged Red- throated Diver. I went onto the beach and only moved into position when the bird had dived. I managed a few pics but the bird was regularly feeding and diving regularly resurfacing tens of metres away at first swimming north and then south where it had swum really fast, even faster than the Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller who had been a multiple Gold medal winner at both the 1924 Paris and 1928 Amsterdam Olympics! Running on the sandy beach, (completely laden with old 500mm lens on my back and a scope and tripod, whilst trying to avoid obstacles such as with shards of rock from the old seawall, was both an exhausting hot and hazardous business, I was trying to keep up with fast swimming Diver! A look at Ness Point afterwards the sea was quiet and it only revealed an Oystercatcher, 2 Turnstone on the Jetty/finger.

At last a decent seawatch!

On Sunday 20th September, just after 5pm I drove to Ness Point, Andrew E., Rob H., and Jon B. were by the funnel seawatching, over the course of a near 2 hour watch I saw a total of 15 Sooty Shearwaters, some singles but groups of 3, 4 and 3 also seen. Also a fine Razorbill was seen half way out on the sea, then a second more distant Razorbill. A fine but distant black/ white Manx Shearwater also sheared over the sea and north, my first since 2021. A couple of Gannets flew north an adult and an immature. Also several Mediterranean Gulls, 2 adults and an immature plus 3 Sandwich Tern flying south. No sign of the Redstart for me.

Benacre bound again!

On Sunday 20th September, I made my way down to the Broad, no Clouded Yellows were seen on the way down, but Rob H. had beaten me to it and already seen the Pec. By the time I got into the hide, Rob was there with Carl B. The Pec was again out of view and again the Scaup wasn't being seen but we made our way down to the Beach. Quickly we saw both the Pectoral Sandpiper and a Curlew Sandpiper on a small island with Gull and the odd Duck (Teal) on it. Meanwhile, we looked north and saw the fine female Scaup just beyond 2 Tufted Duck and a couple of Canada Geese. Carl went back to the Hide and Rob walked south, whilst I remained on the beach, 2 Sandwich Tern flew past over the beach and out to sea whilst 1 Sandwich Tern was on the far muddy bank, left of the hide. 2 Ruff were seen at the far west back of the Broad. I also saw the female Pintail and an eclipse male Pintail too. As I walked back in the grassy area just south of the Broad 2 Clouded Yellows were flying mostly constantly on the move. 1 would often disrupt the other more restful one and I eventually located this fine Butterfly and managed a few pics, albeit with the shadow of a grass stem on it. It was quite tatty on closer inspection.

Very humid at Benacre

I then drove to Benacre as a Scaup had been seen on the Braod. I joined Paul & Jane F. in the walk down, immediately by the top cliff we saw a Clouded Yellow. Walking further down by the grassy area just before the Broad which the path down dissects. We saw an incredible 3 Clouded Yellows, on the grassy area and we managed to get a few pics with the Nikon lens. In the hide, we saw Neville L. who had seen the Scaup and found a Pectoral Sand. but it had flown onto the closer bank, totally obscured by the reeds so it couldn't be seen. The humidity meant it was incredibly humid and very difficult to view anything. Chasing after the Clouded Yellows meant I was already hot & all I could see were around 300 Black- tailed Godwits and a female Pintail. Paul did well to pick up 2 Garganey which he kindly let me see through his scope. I had to leave to cool down and because I had to prepare to see the band King King at thge waterfront at Norwich.