The Boost

 Oct 2nd Cley

I went to Cley to try and boost my list up again. I started with a spot of sea watching and managed to add only one bird; an eider. Four eiders in fact. But it was mostly red-throated divers (with one close to the shore), 4 brent geese and a wigeon following behind them, great black-backed gulls, 2 dunlin and a seal.

From the main hides, it was largely just lapwing, wigeon, 2 ruffs and 2-3 marsh harriers and heard some pinging bearded tits. Nothing out of the unusual. After that, Dad and I popped over to Walsey Hills to look for a yellow-browed warbler, but found nothing other than goldfinches, greenfinches, etc.

Oct 3rd Strumpshaw Fen

It was a nice clear day and a good one for bearded tits and bitterns. The bearded tits were extremely lively from Fen and Reception hides as they formed large flocks of 10-30 and were constantly flying from reedbed to reedbed in a cacophony of pinging.

From Fen Hide, I saw a bittern flying in the distance heading towards the Reception and when I got there, I found it at the edge of the reedy islands. It then climbed to the top of the reeds, poking its head out with bearded tits surrounding it. A second bittern also appeared and landed in the reedbed behind the first. Eventually, both left their hiding spots, though the first returned sometime later.

Also seen this morning, which started very misty, was a skein of pink-footed geese, a fleeting glimpse of a kingfisher, 6 meadow pipits, a flying snipe, herons, marsh harriers, swans, cormorants, a kestrel, a sparrowhawk and a Chinese water deer.

Bittern, Sparrowhawk 
 & Spider Web (Oct 3rd), Great White Egret &
Marsh Tit (Oct 10th) & Migrant Hawker (Oct 15th)

Oct 10th Strumpshaw Fen

A horrible start of the day as it rained heavily. I walked in the woods looking for fungi, but I just got really wet. I did find a fly agaric, but not much else. Absolutely soaked, I made my way to Fen Hide to shelter. Once I got there though, the rain stopped!

It was a fairly quiet day wildlife wise, though the highlights was a great white egret hanging by the reedy islands by Reception Hide, a sparrowhawk mobbed by crows, a kestrel being mobbed by meadow pipits, redwings with fieldfares, marsh harriers, bearded tits and a pair of tufted ducks.

Oct 15th Titchwell

Mum and I spent the morning at Titchwell. It was a nice yet windy day out and on the way there, we had several red kites and 2 kestrels flying by the roadside.

At the pools, large flocks of golden plovers and godwits huddled together in separate groups with the plovers forming golden carpets on the strips of land and the godwits sleeping together close to the main path. There were also small numbers of avocets, dunlin and brent geese.

On the saltmarshes left of the main path, we could see curlews, redshanks, little egrets, a Chinese water deer, starlings, lapwings, a snipe and a couple of bearded tits.

The main highlight of the day, however, was a flock of 10-15 snow buntings on the beach. They were foraging on the dunes and by the strandline. Amongst them were a pair of turnstones, but out at sea, nothing much at all.

Black-tailed Godwits, Golden Plovers
& Snow Buntings (Oct 15th),
Death Cap (Oct 17th), Black Bulgar & Treecreeper (Oct 24th)

After lunch, we had a quick walk to Patsy's reedbed, seeing 5 or so tufted ducks, a pochard, a little grebe, gadwall, a marsh harrier and a pair of kestrels. On the way home, we passed by a few more red kites and another kestrel.

Oct 17th Strumpshaw Fen

Another wet start to a Monday morning and I got a lift in. By the time I got to Strumpshaw, however, the rain stopped and was just dull and grey. I had a quick look around the woods for fungi, finding a deathcap and not much else. The broad was rather empty other than 3 swans, a cormorant and an otter that I saw making a lap around the broad as soon as I opened a window to the Reception Hide. Other than that, it was kind of uneventful by the time the otter left.

Oct 24th Strumpshaw Fen

Yet another rainy start. Thankfully, after getting an early lift in, it had stopped and was sunny though a bit windy. Despite the improvement in the weather, it was a bit quiet with very little to see, only a couple of marsh harriers, a cormorant, 3 swans, a distant kestrel, a treecreeper in the woods and heard a kingfisher and that was about as exciting as it got.

The real enjoyment of the day was admiring all the fungi in the woods. There were many and I don't know what they all are, but I still enjoyed discovering all the shapes and colours. It really felt like I was walking in a kingdom of fungi today as they were everywhere. One of the highlights was being shown a stump full of strange black buttons on a stump, which I believe were black bulgar. I don't think I've ever seen it here before.

Oct 30th Salthouse & Cley

The weather was awful to begin with, but I really wanted to find a rare bird and there just happened to be one at Cley. A long-billed dowitcher had been seen switching between Cley and Salthouse for the past week and a half and I really wanted to see this rare American wader. 

First, we stopped at Salthouse in the pouring rain. No sign, but I did get to add razorbill to my list, two in fact with about 3 red-throated divers out at sea close to the shore. 

Next, I was dropped off at Iron Road car park. This was where it was seen the previous day. I met a group of birders and they told me it was just seen further up the road towards Cley at the Babcock Hide. I followed them there, but only to find dunlin, one black-tailed godwit and meadow pipits. The dowitcher was gone. But at least the rain had stopped.

News was spreading of a desert wheatear had just appeared on the beach at Cley. So I gave up on the dowitcher and began the long walk to East Bank. I had a quick detour on the way to the pool next to Walsey Hill where a birding group was looking at a jack snipe bouncing in the middle of it. My 170th British bird!

Red-throated Diver, Razorbill,
Jack Snipe
& Long-billed Dowitcher

Back along East Bank, Dad joined me for the walk to where the huge group of twitchers were. I also missed out by a fraction of a pallid harrier swooping over the reserve! Another rare bird missed!!

Eventually, we arrived at the crowd and annoyingly the wheatear had disappeared into hiding. It was nowhere to be seen. Frustrated, I joined Dad who was sitting behind the crowd for lunch. While munching on a sandwich, a familiar face came up to me. Rachel, an ex-Strumpshaw staff, recognised me on the beach and was asking me if I had seen the wheatear and pallid harrier and apparently, while I was eating, they were seen again apparently. I scanned and scanned, but nothing. I was starting to feel like I was cursed. 

However, I wasn't going to give up on seeing the dowitcher and I decided to give it one more try. Dad went back to the car while I made my way to Babcock Hide. On the way, I met a man who had just seen the bird and it was at a pool along Iron Road where I was dropped off at from the get go! So, I skipped Babcock Hide and made the long return walk to Iron Road car park. Another group of birders marked the spot, overlooking the pool. After scanning the dunlin, godwits, snipe, teal and wigeon, I finally found the bird I wanted to see! It looked like a dark snipe with no markings. It was a bit distant though on the far side of the pool, but I didn't care. My curse felt like it was lifted for at least until the next rare bird shows up. This takes my British list to 171 and 214 for my overall list now.

Oct 31st Strumpshaw Fen

Halloween at Strumpshaw had a few treats in store. At Fen Hide, there were marsh harriers, a flock of fieldfares and redwings in a couple of trees and a couple of stonechats. Further along the Sandy Wall, I got close to 4-5 bearded tits. At Reception Hide, a kingfisher circling the broad three times.

Pheasants fighting, Bearded Tit,
Upright Coral & Green Elfcap

At the end of the shift, though, I was shown a couple of beautiful fungi in the woods. First, some upright coral between the pond-dipping pond and the Gnarly Oak. I've been looking for it in the Dell area, where I've seen it several years ago now, but I've clearly been walking past it many times without noticing it this whole time. Then, I was shown something really colourful on a log in the Dell area itself. This log had specks of bright turquoise. These were green elfcaps. Absolutely beautiful.