Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary

Siberian Stonechat, Caister, 23 October 2015

A mid-afternoon exit from work in Mattishall enabled me a little time to streak along the A47 to see this little beauty.
Showing almost straight away with a winter male Common Stonechat for company and comparison. Despite seeing many of these in spring in Kuwait over the years this has to be the best looking one I've ever seen. A real frosty pale and contrasting 1w male of the race 'maura'. And of course, since my last one Siberian Stonechat is now a species in its own right!

Borneo Frustration!

OK, it's rant time!

Belinda and I are off to Borneo (Sabah) in March/April next year and one of the must visit areas is the Danum Valley. There are only 2 accommodation options - the Danum Valley Field Centre and the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. DVFC refuse to answer emails even though I've tried 6 different ones (they are renouned for this apparantly although most people eventually get a response). Alternatively the price I've been quoted for BRL is a mere £2200 for the 2 of us for 4 nights!!!!! WTF! And that's tagging onto another group and their guide. For that price I want a personal guide available 24/7 who even wipes my arse upon request!

Time to think again about that phase of the itinerary me thinks...

Holkham Meals, 20 October 2015

Today was my first chance to get up to Wells and it was just my luck that there had been a bit of a clear out of migrants following a starry night.

Nevertheless I managed some good stuff in the 4 hours my carpark ticket allowed me. The Red-flanked Bluetail was showing nicely around the drinking pool and I saw it on both my walk there and my walk back. It was being constantly hassled by a Robin though so rarely settled for long. I then managed to re-find the Olive-backed Pipit about 200 yards further west but as I was watching it in an spindly oak some marauding idiot birders ran up to me and flushed it. Later on it was seen in flight and calling over the drinking pool. Other than those 2 goodies it was all common stuff - still loads of Goldcrests, lots of Redwings and a few Skylarks over, Siskins, 2 Redpolls, 2 Song Thrushes, a late Tree Pipit that showed nicely and my first Pink-footed Geese of the winter.

Comma and Migrant Hawker were the only insects.

Feeling Twitchy in North Norfolk, 15 October 2015

Finishing work at lunchtime meant I could at last spend an afternoon birding - yay!

My primary aim was to see the Daurian Shrike of the last few days at Beeston Common and after the drive up there and a very short walk it was showing very well upon arrival. Despite being oput out as an Isabelline sp it looks a dead cert for Daurian to me. It continued to show really well for the whole hour I was there. A single Chiffchaff and a Common Buzzard where the only other things seen.

While talking to Dave Norgate the news came through of an Olive-backed Pipit at Muckleburgh Hill and despite initial scepticism it seemed to be pinned down. I dashed there to find it missing but within about 15 mins it was re-found and it showed nicely albeit briefly low down in a single isolated oak. A lovely bright and clearcut individual - boom!

I finished my unashamed twitchy afternoon with a Great Grey Shrike on the marsh at Salthouse looking west from Beach Road. A couple of close Little Egrets and the first of the winters Wigeon were also by Beach Road.

Not a bad 3 hours!

Orwell Estuary, Shotley Gate - Chelmondiston, 11 October 2015

More of a hike than a birding walk but with 18.5km covered we felt good about ourselves afterwards!

A few good bits and bobs were seen en-route with the best being reserved for the stretch between Shotley Gate and Chelmondiston - 2 Kingfishers on rocks at the waters edge, 2 Rock Pipits, Grey Wagtail, c6 Black-tailed Godwits, loads of Redshank and Lapwings and a Peregrine that shot through going up river were the pick of things. Into the bargain there are still no shortage of Goldcrests in coastal bushes, the first few Brent Geese have arrived and the stretch also held c12 Little Egrets. A couple of Red Admirals and a single Comma plus Common Darters and Migrants Hawkers were also braving the October sunshine.

Kessingland etc, 1 October 2015

From my lack of blog posts you may have guessed I've been a bit busy! I finally got a day off today though and headed to the coast to see what I could find.

At Kessingland Sewage Works it was quite hard work but I eventually managed to winkle out a Yellow-browed Warbler which called from thick ivy but refused to show. A Cetti's Warbler burst into song briefly whilst 4 Grey Wagtails flew over. Other than that c4 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap, a few Goldcrests and a nice photogenic Great Spotted Woodpecker were all I could muster.

At Gunton Wood there had been another YBW and several Firecrests reported but despite my best efforts all I could muster were c20 Goldcrests and a Blackcap!

After doing some other bits and bobs I finished the afternoon in Yarmouth Churchyard where I found the Yellow-browed Warbler in holly by the gates to the cemetry and got some nice views of this active and vocal individual. A few more Goldcrests were in the cemetry too. There has certainly been an arrival of those.

I'm on Twitter at last!

OK, I've given in to the 21st century and signed up for Twitter! I'm gonna keep it to just bird and other nature stuff so it's pretty relevant to this blog.
Follow me at @Chris_Lansdell

Bluethroat and another Wryneck, 30 August 2015

Despite not making a very early start and then getting caught in every hold up possible Belinda and I eventually made it to Winterton late morning. Not before bumping into Jus at Martham on the way where he had 7 Mediterranean Gulls in a field.

After a walk up the North Dunes at Winterton the male Bluethroat showed surprisingly quickly around one of the ponds but despite several nice views it steadfastly refused to come out in the open so no photographs. Being so scarce in recent years it was nice to catch up with one again.

After a coffee at Winterton Beach Cafe we headed for Caister for some more unashamed twitching. The Wryneck here showed very nicely in the grass by a path c500 yards south of the Beach Road carpark before it flew over the fence into gorse on the golf course. A Whinchat was also on the GC and upon getting back to the car Dave Holman produced a Vestal moth he'd caught in the heather at Winterton!

On the way home a Kingfisher flew over the A1064 from the Filby Broad side to the Rollesby Broad side.

Lowestoft, Kessingland and Corton, 27 August 2015

It's good to see autumn migration has spluttered into action so with a day off I headed to the Suffolk coast to seek out a few migrants of my own.

Lowestoft North Denes was first and after absolutely nothing in Sparrows Nest or near the net posts there were at least some bits and bobs on North Denes proper. In a complete circuit I managed c5 Whinchats, 3 Northern Wheatears, plenty of Common Whitethroats and then 2 Tree Pipits at the northern end. A single Whimbrel flew south and a pair of Common Terns were still feeding young on one of the groynes. A male Sparrowhawk was in Sparrows Nest on the walk back to the car.

With news of a lingering Wryneck at Benacre Pits I headed off to Kessingland next but after the long walk couldn't locate it despite a damned good try. There was very little there too, all I managed was a single Painted Lady and more Common Whitethroats. On the walk back however, just north of the sluice a lovely Short-eared Owl flew high north and nearing the caravans a couple of Common Redstarts flitted about around some tamerisks whilst I also saw 4 Reed Buntings and a juv Green Woodpecker.

With failure of my target at Benacre I was pleased to hear of another Wryneck at Corton Old Sewage Works so fighting my way back through the Lowestoft traffic I made my way there. Unluckily the bird was favouring the inside of the fenced compound but after some while I picked the bird up in the weeds in the south east corner of the compound where it showed for just a couple of minutes before shuffling out of view again. A nice showy Whinchat was also around the perimeter fence and posed nicely for the camera. It was the only bird of the day that did!

The day finished with a new garden moth - Hummingbird Hawkmoth no less. Get in!

Whinchat, Corton Old Sewage Works

Wryneck, Corton Old Sewage Works

Short-eared Owl, Kessingland

Tree Pipit, Lowestoft North Denes

Green Woodpecker, Kessingland

Rutland - Bird Fair and birding, 21 August 2015

Having not been to the Birdfair for a couple of years I headed off for a Friday visit with Jus and Andy. A very enjoyable day was had with plenty of catching up with people, 4 interesting lectures (Borneo, Northern Peru, Somaliland and The Sound Approach) some nice ideas for future trips and of course a couple of book purchases!

The tank of trapped moths at the Butterfly Conservation stand had some goodies to look at with September Thorn, Pine Hawkmoth, Chinese Character, Rosy Footman, Black Arches, Swallow Prominent, Pebble Hook Tip, Peppered Moth, Ruby Tiger, Red-green Carpet and probably others I can't remember!

A visit here wouldn't be complete without some birding so after the fair had closed for the day we headed off to a few of the hides. In a couple of hours we managed Hobby, Common Buzzard, Tree Sparrow, 2 Treecreepers, Bullfinch, c5 Yellow Wagtails, 4 Common Sandpipers, 6 Green Sandpipers, 2 Greenshank and a Ruff plus good numbers of Little Egrets and c4 Egytpian Geese which presumably aren't mega common in the midlands. The star attraction was the Ospreys however and after seeing and photographing a nice singleton from Mallard hide we then finished the evening off with a family party of 2 adults and 3 almost fully grown young around their telegraph pole nest from Manton Bridge.