It requires patient waiting but for brief spells most winters the Wensum Valley patch around Ringland is transformed into a wildfowl haven. Today at least 2 Pintail, 200+Teal, 75+Wigeon, 35+Shoveler, 25+ Gadwall, Green Sandpiper, Med Gull and Great Egret adorned the floods at Old Hall Farm.
A full day in the Broads in a vain effort to build a Norfolk Yearlist which like every year I'll abandon on about the 10th January. Highlight a Black-winged Kite fly by as it raced back from Upton Marshes to Ludham Bridge but funniest these 3 Seals hatching an escape plan from Winterton Beach.
Russian White-fronted Geese, Pink Footed Geese, Barnacle Geese, Greylag Geese and Egyptian Geese at Holkham NNR from Joe Jordan hide. A sample of the several thousand Geese on Holkham Freshmarsh.
A quiet start to 2026 on the Wensum Valley patch which hadn't attracted any of the recently arriving Geese. By contrast a vast assortment of Geese at Holkham but managed to be in the wrong place when the Hume's Warbler put in an appearance. Black-throated Diver was showing well at Brancaster at dusk
Eastern Black Redstart feeding on the cliff top path Sheringham.
A pair of Peregrine on Norwich Cathedral on 25th December. We were alerted to their presence by the steady stream of feathers floating down from the sky as the right-hand bird plucked something. Interestingly someone was paid £2000? to scare the Pigeons with a Harris Hawk outside City Hall for a month when these guys do it for free (and make very little difference🤣)
Its been a busy week for December with Black-bellied Dipper and Eastern Black Redstart + the city Peregrines in the sunshine but that was topped by 1.5 hours this pm at St Benet's & Ludham Bridge that yielded Black-winged Kite, Glossy Ibis, 21 Crane, 18 Russian White-front, SE Owl and Whooper Swans.
Late afternoon wander out to Gun Hill Dunes. Always great to see the Spoonbills & Great, Cattle and Little Egrets busily travelling back and forth to Holkham. A variety of Orchids & Dark Green Fritillary in one of my favourite Norfolk locations.
Chough at South Stack. Showy Black Guillemot at the Fish Quay, Holyhead. The Welsh woodland specialities in song around Capel Curig - Redstart, Pied Flycatcher & Wood Warbler. Along with a supporting cast of Puffin, Ospreys, Dippers, the Terns at Cemlyn and singing Whinchats all in glorious sunshine
Home from an excellent trip to North Wales. Highlights finding Black Kite over Holyhead Mountain. I guess strictly relocated, as likely the bird on Bardsey Island the previous day. Hopefully of more reliable origin than some of the birds this way this spring. Black Grouse and Hen Harrier.......
A picture of a misty dawn at the Norwich Northern Distributor Road Pollution Control Point 5 with a pair of Gadwall, a new bird species for the pool just about discernible in the mist.
When sometimes there is only two birds in total on the pool, two new bird species in a week is quite notable. A pair of Gadwall at dawn before flying towards the Wensum Valley brings the PCP5 total to 87. Ducks quite under represented so far so power to add but not for long as the pool is drying.
Patch Gold this morning with a singing Sedge Warbler - my 86th species for Pollution Control Point 5. The only water in walking distance during the pandemic and has become a slightly quirky obsession but has yielded birds like Wood Sand, Whimbrel, Knot, Jack Snipe, Water Pipit, Whinchat and Hawfinch
An early spring visit to the Pool of Dreams🤣. A routine visit. Several male Reed Buntings courting a mate, Yellowhammer and Skylark singing. Moorhen and a few Snipe. A Brambling over.
What might this spring's mega be - Sedge Warbler? It's all relative, its a bypass pollution control pond after all.
Maybe the same 4 Cranes later in the day at Clippesby and 100+ Russian White-fronted Geese Cantley Marshes RSPB this afternoon.
A day in the Broads. St Benets Abbey 10:00-11:30. Male Hen Harrier (sparring with a young Peregrine for a while). 6 Cattle Egret. 24 Whooper Swans & 4 Cranes over.
28 Crane just west of Sea Palling from concrete pad/muckheap on Hickling Road over lunch.
#norfolkbirding
A blurry (all photos posted here will be) 1st winter Glaucous Gull on the beach at Old Hunstanton.
Started the year at Old Hunstanton in the northwest of Norfolk attempting to get beyond the band of rain. Glaucous Gull loyal to the Seal carcass on the shingle ridge. 6 Shorelark at the same spot. 4 Cattle Egret with cattle just east of Old Hunstanton from the coast road. #norfolkbirding
At its peak about 12:45am
Distracted from the birds this week but some rare sightings on the patch this week. One even making the garden list! Aurora on Thursday night and Comet C/2023 A3 this evening.
An obliging Hoopoe probing a garden lawn about 10 feet away from photographers in North Walsham
An obliging Hoopoe at North Walsham today (You get the impression it knows it's a local celebrity). Richards Pipit Happisburgh this afternoon and what appeared to be a dark juvenile Honey Buzzard from the Happisburgh lighthouse 14:30-14:50 before it headed back south. #NORFOLKBIRDING
Black Redstart
White Stork. A few remain in the Alsace for the winter.
View from picnic spot near Lac Blanc in the Vosges Mountains. Nutcracker flew over here as we ate lunch.
Chateau ruins, Ribeauville. Lots of Woodpeckers calling along the walk up to here from the village but very hard to see in the dense canopy.
Back from a family break to Bergheim in the Alsace and Europa Park. Not a Birding trip but Nutcracker and Crag Martin nice to see as we did the tourist trail. Lots of birding potential though.
