A quick tour of Lincolnshire and Norfolk

It's fair to say that, twitching aside, there have been rather too many gulls cropping up in my birding in autumn 2017. It's a bit boring, admittedly - but when you live within the boundaries of Zone 2 on the Tube Map, there's generally not much else to look at. I'm happy to admit that I don't have the patience to sit and hope for (at best) a Hawfinch in a several-hour vis-migging session in Chiswick Park, when I can go and feed the gulls on the Thames.

For once this weekend, I found myself outside of the M25 yet not twitching. I visited my old patch, Baston & Langtoft Pits, and saw little more than a scattering of returning wildfowl. I dipped a Bee-eater on the south side of Peterborough. Then I went to Norfolk, where a blasting northerly gave hope of a decent seawatch. I should have known better than to try the exposed position of Salthouse beach, yet I could see plenty of Gannets, auks, gulls and a few Great Skuas passing by as my scope shook in the gale. The light was pretty nice, though.

Salthouse beach, 29 October 2017

A walk along the beach with my father and his dogs was bracing and birdless, but walking back along the landward side of the shingle bank produced the usual Stonechat at Gramborough Hill and, more excitingly, a single Shore Lark, which bounded westwards low to the ground, out of the wind and almost landing on a couple of occasions, before continuing past the beach car park and seemingly dropping in some way to the west of there. As far as I can recall, this is a self-found tick for me - not an easy bird to find if you live away from the east coast.

In Cromer, the first-winter Caspian Gull performed beautifully on Sunday morning. After only showing briefly a couple of times in four hours on Saturday afternoon, I had to go back for better photos. In terms of views, it's the best Casp I've seen in Britain. It's no exaggeration to say it virtually walks round your feet. It's also a really smart bird plumage-wise, bearing more than a superficial resemblance to a first-winter Common Gull - check out the scaps and coverts.

From Saturday ...

... and from Sunday:

1cy Caspian Gull, Cromer, Norfolk

Caspian Gull XDFE relocated in Norfolk!

The 4cy Caspian Gull I saw on the River Thames in Fulham on 6 January was seen yesterday in Thetford, Norfolk, by Dawn Balmer. It's unequivocally the same bird - the bill pattern has several unique features that are easily recognisable and plumage looks identical too. No doubt they'll see it again and find I read the ring wrong ... :-) here's XDFE as a first-winter at Dungeness in August 2014.

Kudos to social media and the hyper-connected contemporary birding scene for this coming to light.

Caspian Gull 'XDFE', Thetford, Norfolk, 12 January 2017 © Dawn Balmer

Chlorantha Bee Orchids

I've been wanting to see the beautiful white form of Bee Orchid - chlorantha - for some time, and they really didn't disappoint. At least seven seen, along with three 'normal' Bees, at a site to the south of Norwich at the weekend, the chlorantha including a particularly robust specimen which towered well above all others in the vicinity.

And, just for the sake of comparison here's a regular, run-of-the-mill Bee from the North Norfolk coast a little later in the day.

Great Knot at Titchwell

Absolutely brilliant scope views on Titchwell beach - so, so much better than the Breydon bird. If this bird hangs about, someone with a big lens is going to blow it away. I had views down to about 50m and could have got far closer; some of the Knot were half that distance from me. Unfortunately the tide pushed it off before that could happen - my feeble efforts with the 400mm lens below:

King's Lynn Iceland Gull

The drizzle was falling and the light absolutely atrocious when I called in at Fisher Fleet, King's Lynn, late morning on Saturday. The Iceland Gull was on view instantly so I fired off a few shots before jumping back in the car. Barely more than records, the flight shots were taken ISO 1000 and probably should have been higher - though this bird could be great for pics if we ever get a properly sunny day.

Shore Larks

Like many other scarce British birds, I don't actually remember the last time I saw a Shore Lark in Britain, so it was a real pleasure to spend a little bit of time with this trio - never alone, but you wouldn't expect that in Norfolk, even on a Friday afternoon.

Easter Lapland Bunting

I don't really see that many Lapland Buntings and this male at Weybourne, Norfolk, on 5 April was the first I've seen in anything approaching summer plumage. This cracker was characteristically confiding yet continuously on the move, shuffling around among the wheat and thus rarely staying still for a good shot. By the time I'd found it the sun was already low and time was against me - images aren't as good as they could be, but I'm still happy to have managed a few given that I hadn't seen any of these birds, present several weeks, published anywhere else.

Black Brant hybrids

My guess is that these birds are probably well known to Norfolk birders but, not spending the timethat I once did in the county as teen, I've lost touch and so it was a pleasant 'surprise' to come across them on the saltings at Holkham. I guess one of these birds is responsible for recent reports of a Black Brant in the Burnham Overy area.

Great Knot!

A brief post to break the duck, here are a few photos of the Great Knot at Breydon Water today. Initially not on show at all, Kit Day and I grabbed an hour-long nap in the sun before the bird happily reappeared on the ebbing tide. It was, as birds so often are at Breydon, bloody distant initially but you could nevertheless make out just about everything you'd want to see - the largely black underparts spangled with pale gold, the black-spotted upper flanks, dark grey head, black chest and white underparts. It was also a hefty bird - as Kit said, a bird that looked familiar but different at the same time. After a while, it flew west and was relocated showing well on the Suffolk side of the channel some 1.5 miles west of the rugby club. Here, views were much better - down to 100m or so - and I managed a few handheld shots below.

If I had a better camera (my old one has been dropped countless times and it should be clear from the below that it has evidently suffered as a result) and a more steady hand, I suspect some half-decent records might have been possible.

Adders

After a fantastic weekend, I'm not entirely sure why I had never previously been keen to see Adders. For years, I've bumbled around various heath and downlands and never seen them, but never been particularly bothered. I was generally too busy seeking out avian year ticks - be it Tree Pipits, Woodlarks, Nightjars, erm... Golden Pheasant...

I guess age (maturity!) plays its part. Becoming a more open-minded naturalist (person) as opposed to mere numbers-driven birder. That and a bag full of nice new camera gear (macro lens, extension tubes etc)..!

 Male Adder, Holt, Norfolk, March 2014

I glimpsed my first Adder near my father's house last July - at Holt Country Park, in North Norfolk. It was really quite exciting, but frustratingly brief - a matter of seconds as it slithered off in to a dense patch of gorse and heather. Since then, I've wanted to see them well and, knowing that this time of year is best to connect as the snakes make the most of the first warming rays of spring sunshine, I've spent a bit of time looking over the past couple of weekends.

First up was Sunday 16th. Sunny and strangely warm for mid-March, I was rather too hungover to search properly - much to the amusement of Marc Read and Kit Day - and a day around Dunwich and Minsmere produced no more than a single Grass Snake. Dartford Warblers, a pair of Garganey and singing Firecrest were pleasant distractions, though.

The following weekend - i.e. the one just gone - I was due to be up in Norfolk, looking after my Dad's dogs. The weather forecast hadn't been good all week and I didn't hold much hope for a successful reptile hunt. As the weekend drew nearer, the forecast slowly improved and, as it turned out, it was actually a decent enough couple of days - while not as warm as the weekend previous, there were enough bright spells to coax out snakes. I must have seen a dozen Adders, perhaps more, during the course of the weekend. I quite enjoyed how predictable they were and, by Sunday lunchtime, I was beginning to know each individual by its physical features and, more importantly when considering photography, their behaviour too! Some were no-go's, clearly already too awake (and wary) to allow a close approach. Others would just sit there lazily, no more than a metre or two away, soaking up the sun. Occasionally they'd shuffle round to assume a more effective position, but most of the time they just lay there, motionless.

The most frustrating thing was that none were ever truly out in the open (or in ideal setting for really killer shots). Nevertheless, I'm happy enough with some of the pics obtained over the weekend. Most were taken handheld with my 400mm stacked with extension tubes (hence sharpness isn't quite there), but some of the 'snake in setting' shots were taken with the macro. I can't imagine going a spring without seeing them again, so plenty of time to improve...

Holt Country Park is as great site. As well as the snakes, Crossbills were ever present (no Parrots from what I could tell), Siskins and redpolls were consistently flying over, Woodlarks were singing and there were also a handful of Common Lizards zipping around.