UK family visit autumn 2024

Yesterday I returned from a nice family holiday in the UK. Our main purpose was to meet friends, and indeed much time was spent catching up with good friends. We were based in Norwich most of the time. Norwich - Norfolk - easterlies - early October... Hmmm... We travelled up to Yorkshire to visit our friends Mark and Amity. Yorkshire - easterlies - early October... You get my idea. So my days were divided between family and friends stuff after 10:00, and whatever birding I could get done before 10:00. Several mornings were spent locally in Norwich, birding city parks for my eBird checklist streak, I enjoyed that, even without seeing much - I like Norwich and its habitats. Admittedly, the habitat always looks better that what it actually holds, especially this time of year when most breeding warblers have gone already. Still, seeing birds I don't see in Israel is fun.

I spent two mornings with Mike Dawson in fantastic reserves in Norfolk - NWT Hickling Broad on September 30th, and RSPB Strumpshaw Fen on our final morning, October 8th. In Hickling the weather was awful but I enjoyed seeing pinkfeet back, and there were Curlew and Wood Sandpipers. 

En route to Yorkshire we spent one night in Sheringham with friends. I admired the regular chippy-eating visitors.

The weather was building up, and I anticipated my morning birding at Beeston Bump on October 3rd. That morning easterlies were blowing nicely, and Beeston Bump felt rare. I worked the patch hard but came up with nothing special and few indications of active migration. Scanning the sea produced a few birds I enjoyed - Brent, Common Scoter and Red-throated Diver. Just as I was about to leave and rejoin my family, birds started to appear, coming in-off - some thrushes, finches and mipits. This was thrilling but I didn't have enough time and had to leave when the game was on. Arrgghhhh...

The Pale-legged Warbler at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, the 2nd for Britain, had been found a few days before I arrived in the UK. Had I been a serious twitcher, I could have gone for it from Norwich. However, at my current status I am not a serious WP or UK twitcher. Therefore I decided to wait patiently, maybe it will wait until our planned trip up to Yorkshire on October 3rd. It was still seen on the evening of October 2nd. I was hopeful and persuaded my family that the best spot for coffee in Yorkshire is Bempton. The bloody bird buggered off that night. With negative news on 3rd and slight disappointment we travelled direct to York. York is a beautiful city and we had a lovely time with Mark and Amity.

The Shambles

York Minster

Mark and I escaped early morning of October 4th for some much-needed birding quality-time. The wind was still good but with clear skies we didn't expect a huge fall. We headed to Flamborough, hoping to find a good birding spot and avoid crowds. We were amazed to find Old Fall parking layby empty - were we missing a mega nearby? We walked along Old Fall hedge and quickly witnessed really nice migration - not a huge fall indeed, solid numbers of birds coming in and moving along the hedge and into the plantation. Halfway down the hedge a small bunting jumped up and flew off strongly. Mark fired off a few flight shots and I heard a sharp thin 'tzik' - Little Bunting! A few meters further down we flushed a Woodcock. We positioned ourselves at the southern side of Old Fall plantation and had a great couple of hours in beautiful weather, waves of migrants coming in and heading towards the mainland - Goldcrests, warblers, finches, thrushes. We were joined by another local Yorkshire birder Paul who had nearby another Little Bunting, maybe even two. A Richard's Pipit flew over calling, a Firecrest joined the goldcrest and tit flock, a Red-breasted Flycatcher rattled from the plantation, several Yellow-browed Warblers were very active in the sunshine, often chasing each other - magic. 

Coming from a goose-deprived country, I appreciated the incoming flocks of Pink-footed Geese.

Incredible that Mark, with his mighty photographic skills, managed to take such a lousy selfie.

Wonderful morning birding Old Fall, #Flamborough with brother @yoavperlman. Waves of migrants moving through in warm sunshine, inc Richard's Pipit, two Little Buntings, RB Fly, Firecrest, Pied Fly, 5 Yellow-brows, Bramblings, thrushes, lots of Goldcrests. A privilege and a joy. pic.twitter.com/1O0aJaTSv7

— Mark James Pearson (@Markthebirder) October 4, 2024

Inside the plantation there was lots of activity. We had fleeting views of an unidentified Acro, a nice Pied Fly, Redstart - thoroughly entertaining. Listen to all the bird calls in the Old Fall sycamores. Bliss.

Then it was back to Norwich. I refused to twitch the Winterton Asian Desert Warbler - I am so mature and responsible. I was strongly motivated to find an inland Yellow-browed. I tried very hard every morning without success, until the final morning. RSPB Strumpshaw Fen looked glorious in the sunshine. Just as Mike and I left the carpark I heard the anticipated 'Tswee'. Love the shape of this sonogram.

There were a few more quality birds including Bearded Titlings and Bittern.

I am amazed how quickly Great Egret transformed from a rarity to a common bird in the UK. I saw them at several sites in Norfolk, including Strumpshaw.

And that was that. eBird trip report here. Till next time. Thanks to all the good friends who make us feel at home in the UK.

Seawatching

Went to Cley this morning for a few hours of seawatching. With winds predicted to be like this, there wasn't really another option:

Got there early to secure a spot inside the shelter. I was first! But the wind was too westerly in the first part of the morning, so rather few birds and pretty distant.  And it was bloody freezing. From about 08:30 the wind became a bit more northerly and birding improved somewhat. Still, less than I had expected though things did improve in the afternoon and are expected to be even better tomorrow morning. When I will be at work.

So what did I see? Highlights were one Little Auk, one Arctic Skua and 11 Bonxie, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, 11 Red-throated Divers and one possible Great Northern, and almost 40 Snow Buntings flying west in a few groups along the shingle without stopping. Here's my eBird checklist with the full list. Sadly I was so cold that I did not notice my camera settings were completely wrong. I screwed up a few seaduck shots.

 Great Skuas

8 Snow Buntings flying to Blakeney Point

Had to leave early for family commitments. On the way out looked for brents but couldn't find any viewable from the road. Had a very quick scan through pinkfeet for something else but found nothing:

Seawatching at Cley is funny. It's actually two (or more) separate seawatches. Those inside the shelter and those outside the shelter, using the shelter as a shelter from the wind... Funnily, a good friend stood outside all morning, 5 meters away from me, and we both didn't know. Even inside the shelter some people stick their eyes in the scope and never call out birds or at best mumble something undecipherable - I wonder what those people saw today.

No pain no gain

What an exhausting day, both physically and emotionally. A day that everything that could go wrong, did. But there was a happy ending to the day. Yesterday evening my mate Stu exploded with a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler (aka PGTips) at Burnham Overy. I could not make it yesterday, so this morning I met up super early (again) with James to get to the spot before dawn. We searched for the bird for a couple of hours with a few more tens of people, without success. Dave and I did our very best, alas without reward. It was very windy and cold, and things really did not look good. After the relatively clear night, we all thought the bird had made a move. James had to make a forced early departure, so I thought I'd be a responsible adult, return early to Norwich and go to work. Fail.

Of course, as soon as I got back to Norwich news came of the bird been seen. And again. Another friend, Robin, was heading out there, so I made the quick decision to return to Burnham Overy just few hours after leaving there, demonstrating again that I am not a responsible adult. Arrrgh. While we were on our way, we got some gen that those earlier reports might have been unconfirmed. Noooo! But it was too late to turn around, so we headed on and decided first to visit the Arctic Warbler at Wells Woods and wait for the pgtips to get nailed. The little arctic sprite was easily located by the hordes of twitchers looking at it. It kept high in the treetops, and was pretty mobile, but it did show alright and I even got some half-decent pics:

Smart little bird, but not the one I came for

Everybody look up!

I wondered off with some mates to search for more birds but it was really quiet in Wells Woods. Then I returned with Robin to the pgtips site. We were greeted by quite a large crowd gathered there - gotta love Norfolk birding:

For a couple of hours we saw nothing. Then we saw even less. Things were looking very bad. Had the bird really disappeared? A total fiasco was looming. The wind was still blowing strong, and there were few birds to be seen. I walked and worked very hard with another mate, Ashley, and we didn't produce much more than this Reed Bunting:

But then Ashley saved the day, spotted THE bird briefly, and madness began. Over the next hour or so a handful of us had some brief views of the bird. It did give us the runaround, and never gave itself up. Personally I saw it twice - once in flight, just enough to appreciate its large, dark tail. Then I saw it again in the reeds - I had a good head-on view from very close (3m?) - I saw well the bold supercilium, spotted breast on a yellowish background and streaky back. Phew. I was so pleased with this WP tick - one of my most wanted birds. I hoped for better views, or even a photo? That will wait for the next one. For the time being, celebration time.

It was nice to welcome back the Pink-footed Geese. I estimated 3000 birds. Welcome winter.

What a day. Now, good night.

Birding Barbara

Had a great day in N Norfolk with James, Terry and Marie. Our main focus was geese - the large pinkfeet flocks attracted some quality geese over the last few days. We set an aim to see 14 goose taxa today but ended up with only eight... We started early around Syderstone and Docking. Scanning our own flocks produced little more than a few Tundra Beans, some Euro Whitefronts, a wild-looking Greylag, and a couple of funny hybrids. But hey, we didn't get bogged which was an achievement. As normal in these conditions, birds are distant and the best one can expect is crap digiscoped record shots. 

After some time others relocated the Red-breasted and the Todd's Canada side by side, north of Docking (thanks Ben for gen). We headed over there and the birds were on show. A mile away but scope views were good. Photos were, ehmmm... But great to see these two quality birds in the same scope view. This is my first 'wild' Canada Goose in the WP, and only my second-ever Red-breast. By the attention it receives from local birders, it should be 'wild' too. 

The Beauty and the Beast: Red-breasted Goose and Todd's Canada Goose, with Pink-footed Geese

Digiscoped through Swarovski ATX95 with Samsung Galaxy S5 and Novagrade adapter

Non-plastic Greylag? Who knows

Funny pigment-challenged (thanks Dave!) Pink-footed Goose. When I first saw its head, I thought it was a Lesser Whitefront. It clearly isn't. Sorry about the quality - a very long way away.

According to part of our team, the day's highlight was a brilliant breakfast at a secret N Norfolk spot:

While we had a quiet and cosy breakfast, outside things were happening. We moved on to Titchwell for some quality seaducks. When we got there, Storm Barabara had hit the coast and the weather was quite horrible. We were greeted at the carpark by this friendliest Robin, demonstrating pure Christmas spirit. James didn't miss an opp to pap him, and got down and dirty. Hardcore wildlife photography.

Braving the storm, we headed down to the beach. We had a quick look on the freshmarsh, and amazingly James picked up this adult Yellow-legged Gull, despite his frequent declarations that he doesn't do large white-headed gulls. 

One Water Pipit was on the freshmarsh too. On the beach it was pretty awful. The wind was so strong we couldn't stand up. Hunched under the concrete blocks, trying to find some shelter, we scanned the large raft of seaducks bobbing up and down on the choppy sea. The crazy wind had pushed them away from shore so views were less than great. But still it was quite fun with quality. There were over 25 Long-tailed Ducks, 6-7 Velvet Scoters, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 probable Black-throated Diver. I just love long-tails - great birds:

On the way back we paid a visit to the Ferruginous Duck on Pat's Pool. I would not twitch this bird independently, but the others were keen so why not. When we got there we scanned hard through the distant tufted flock and couldn't find the bird! Then we were shamefully told by other birders it was right under our nose, mooching about with the dabbling ducks. The sky darkened then as a result of the fading light and intensifying storm. Another set of excuses for rubbish photos. It was time to head back home.

 Ferruginous Duck 

With Gadwall

'Merry Christmas boys and girls!' says Mr. Fudge

Sand and wax

Had a highly enjoyable day out with Robin at Burnham Overy Dunes. Leaving home early and listening to the skies, and then driving north at night, it was evident that a massive fall of 'Continental' Blackbirds had happened. Big numbers along the country roads heading to BOD, and then at dawn huge numbers flying in off, and in every bush and tree. I must have seen more than 1500 Blackbirds today.

Robin's main aim was to photograph the long-staying Isabelline Wheatear I was lucky to be part of tits finding team. I tagged along and joined Robin for the first hour or so after dawn. When I was there the sandy vagrant was rather timid, surprising after being exposed to so many humans, and fed with mealworms, for almost two weeks now. It did keep its distance from us - when walking it would flush from 30-40 m. When we lay down and waited patiently it did eventually come somewhat closer but didn't really give itself up. I guess Robin's shots are better than mine - he had more success after I had left. Check his website.

 Isabelline Wheatear

After about an hour of laying on our bellies in the sand, my aching shoulder ordered me to leave Robin and start moving. I walked the dunes and down Holkham Pines for several hours. Apart for Blackbirds everywhere there were smaller numbers of Redwing, Fieldfare and Song Thrush. I had two flyover Waxwings and a flyover Lapland Bunting. There were some Crossbills in the pines, a few mobile redpoll that were probably Mealy's, some Woodcock and a few other bits and pieces, but nothing too exciting.

On the way out we spent a few minutes with the geese in the nearby field - pretty Icelandic things:

Pink-footed Geese

The sun even came out for a few seconds:

Hrot! Hrot!

Then we searched for waxwings that were seen in the Staithe. We located four punks - mostly distant and concealed, but they did a brief Hawthorn detour nearby:

Still not satisfied with my waxwing encounters - hope this winter delivers more:

I did challenge myself to see as many species as possible in the few hours of birding I had. Checked ducks, shorebirds etc. as best as I could with my bins only, still had 94 species - not too shabby.