Bursting To Life

 April 2nd Whitlingham Broad

My first trip out in April and it was a dull one. There was not much out of the ordinary and not a single swallow in sight. The broad was mostly dominated with black-headed gulls and a few tufted ducks and great crested grebes and a couple of blackcaps. Not a visit to remember.

April 3rd Morston to Stiffkey, Cley & Salthouse

I had a surprise invitation to go out with my former Reception Hide partner, Tricia. She was going to check on her boat in Morston and wondered if I wanted to go with her and and spend the day birding along the North Norfolk coast. Of course, I accepted.

After the quick boat check, we walked from Morston harbour to Stiffkey Fen, where a dusky warbler was about. It was a long walk, but produced plenty of things along the way. This included a large flock of probably 100+ linnets, a red kite, 2 buzzards, 2 kestrels, 2 stonechats, many brent geese, shelducks, redshanks, curlews, black-tailed godwits, knot, golden plovers, a grey plover and marsh harriers.

Eventually, we reached this path along the edge of the fen where the warbler was supposed to be. Not far down the path beside a ditch, I heard a strange 'tsck' call and glimpsed the potential bird in question. I then noticed a group of twitchers further up in a clearing. Turned out we had found the warbler and they were looking in the wrong place. We took them to where we heard it last and it wasn't long until we came across it again.

Dusky Warbler, Avocet & Wheatear (April 3rd) & Garganey (April 11th)

We had a few more glimpses until Tricia decided to leave me to fetch the car back at Morston so that she could return to pick me up and have lunch. While I waited, the warbler was showing itself a lot more, including one very brief moment being on a branch in the open right in front of me. Annoyingly, it was impossible for me to photograph as it was constantly on the move and obscured by foliage.

A dusky warbler was basically a chiffchaff but browner with a pale supercilium and is from Serbia and Asia. It made itself easier to locate when it made its call which is short and sharp, but could easily be misheard as it was very subtle at times. This was my first ever dusky warbler and though I had decent views, I could not get a single photo. A tick to my list, but not a tick to my photo bucket list challenge.

Next up was a visit to Cley, where we saw another red kite, avocets, ruff, oystercatchers, ringed plovers, curlews, godwits, shelducks, wigeon, a little egret and a turnstone. Then we made a quick stop at Salthouse marshes before heading home and saw a handsome male wheatear to end the day on.

April 4th Strumpshaw Fen

After a very sunny and beautiful day out with Tricia, the next day at Strumpshaw couldn't had been any more different. It was a bit drizzly and grey. Thankfully, it did brighten up by the afternoon. During my walk, I had a snipe fly over and that was about it. While at Reception Hide, there was a bittern fly by, a sparrowhawk, marsh harriers and bearded tits.

April 9th Whitlingham Broad

Another uneventful walk around Whitlingham. Again, mostly black-headed gulls and a few tufted ducks and still no swallows.

April 10th Norwich

While making my way to Carrow Road to watch what became a rare Premier League win against Burnley, I walked along river hoping to see a grey wagtail. I was successful! I found one singing on a fence post behind the Playhouse theatre. It took me to 122 birds for 2022!

April 11th Strumpshaw Fen

A sunny morning and a good one that saw my list boost up by three. First to be added was a willow warbler and then a sedge warbler during my walk. Then, at Reception Hide, I finally got my first swallow!

On my pre-shift walk, I visited Tower Hide, seeing just black-headed gulls, a few tufted ducks, a pair of pochards and shelducks. Then, on the way back, a pair of garganey by the bench overlooking the Accidental Broad near the sluices. I also saw redshanks, marsh harriers and an early nomad bee (Nomada leucophthalma). There was a brief visit to Buckenham, but nothing much other than lapwings, greylags, a few Chinese water deer, little egrets and a flock of linnets.

April 18th Strumpshaw Fen

An overcast Easter Monday, but a very good day over all. I had a quick walk to the sluices and back and saw a pair of bearded tits, a marsh harrier carrying nesting material, my first whitethroat of the year and heard a green woodpecker and a couple of grasshopper warblers reeling.

Back at Reception, a cuckoo was calling from a tall silver birch and later moved to other trees and shrubs in view from the hide. Common terns have also returned from migration, as were reed warblers, which joined the other 6 warbler species that I could hear from the Reception (sedge, willow, Cetti's, chiffchaff, blackcap and grasshopper). I also saw swallows, coots with 8 chicks, a shelduck and red mason bees. My list was now at 130 bird species!

My parents showed up for lunch and an afternoon walk through the woods, pass the pumphouse, along the river, a quick visit to Fen Hide and back for an ice cream at Reception Hide. We had an encounter with a mole pushing up soil (though we didn't see the mole itself), a vole, marsh harriers flying low over our heads, hearing a grasshopper warbler by Fen Hide and ending the walk with an otter in front of the Reception Hide.

April 24th Thornham, Titchwell & Choseley Barns

It was my turn to organise a trip out with Tricia and we went to the North Norfolk coast in the hope of finding a ring ouzel or two as well as anything else we can find. We began at a field outside Thornham where three dotterel had been reported. After a short walk down a country track sandwiched between hedges and farmland and passing many people on a sponsored walk wearing yellow Norwich shirts, we came across a group of twitchers who quickly pointed them out these colourful plovers to us. 

Early Nomad Bee (Nomada leucophthalma) (April 11), Red Mason Bee (April 18th),
Dotterel, Little Ringed Plover
& Temminck's Stint (April 24th) & Raven (April 30th) 

The views were really effected by heat haze, but they were charming birds with one stunning male and two females. These birds were only stopping here momentarily before they head north to breed on the mountains of Scotland, in which it is the male that does all the brooding. We spent about an hour to admire them and I tried to get some good photos, but sadly the heat haze was just awful and I had to settle with what I've got. While fighting my camera and the haze, two ring ouzels flew over. I missed them, but Tricia saw them. However, she wasn't satisfied as they were like two distant black dots. We had to settle with a female wheatear instead. The search continues!

Our next and main destination was Titchwell. It wasn't ring ouzels we wanted to see here but a Temminck's stint. This was a very tiny wader and one I haven't seen before. It took some time and a short trip to the beach until we finally managed to get the best and closest views of it from the Parinder Hide. Even then, my camera was battling to focus properly. The stint itself wasn't the most exciting to look at, just a small brown and white wader, but the way it moved was pretty interesting as it swayed its head from side to side as it searched for food.

Not only did I add dotterel and Temminck's stint to my list, I also added spoonbill, spotted redshank (a very dark and distant one), house martins and common sandpipers. On top of that were little ringed and common ringed plovers, avocets, ruffs, turnstones, sanderlings, oystercatchers, red kites, marsh harriers, greylags with goslings, common terns, linnets, swallows, pochards, a great white egret and a large red damselfly.

Our final stop was at Choseley Barns. This is usually a good place to see corn buntings, but we didn't see any this time around. But we did get lucky in finding two grey partridges and flocks of yellowhammers. And as we drove towards Docking, a hare ran in front of Tricia's car before darting into a hedgerow. My list was now only 2 away from 140!

April 25th Strumpshaw Fen

Similar to last Monday, but not quite as good. However, I did hear 2 grasshopper warblers, had a kingfisher briefly perch in front of Reception Hide, finally added a sand martin to my list and saw a cuckoo, a great crested grebe, a juvenile great black-backed gull, marsh harriers, a very pale buzzard and many, many black-headed gulls. 

April 30th North Norfolk

I was given a tip off that ravens were nesting at a site in North Norfolk. Ravens are a rare sight in Norfolk, so to have a pair nest here is quite something special. It wasn't hard to locate the nest (which I will keep hush hush for now) and one bird was sitting on it, while the second provided all of my attention as it sat in full view in a tree nearby. It sat there preening the entire time my mum and I were there and it kept calling every now and then. I couldn't ask for any better of a view and took many photos of it. A great bird to make as my 140th species for my 2022 bird list!

High above the raven, we watched 2 red kites and 2 buzzards circle over us. There was another red kite by the lake and was trying to catch one of the many ducklings on the water. There were many ducklings and goslings (of greylag and barnacle geese), oystercatchers, tufted ducks, swallows and a pair of shelducks also seen today.