Red-flanked Bluetail, owls amd thrushes

A great day's birding started slowly this morning. I was getting Tweets about lots of thrushes in the Lowestoft area but my walk around the marshes produced just a single Redwing. Chiffchaffs and Blackcap were singing but no other migrants were in evidence. I took a bit of time to count the nests in our rookery and came to a total of approx 135, up on the previous 2 years counts of 120 plus there is a small satellite rookery of 21 nests just outside our boundary.
I was tryng to decide where to go for an afternoons birding when news came through on RBA of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Horsey so my mind was quickly made up. Leaving home I had my first Swallow of the year just a mile from home in Haddiscoe. Reaching Horsey I parked on the access track and walking along this had several Chiffchaffs and more Swallows. The site of the Bluetail was immediately obvious by the small crowd of birders perched on top of a ridge overlooking a small copse of open bushes with a clump of gorse at one end. Remembering the near mythical status this bird used to have it was a surprise to be sitting in a group of just 20 or so birders in such a well-populated birding county as Norfolk but it did make the experience all the more enjoyable. The Bluetail showed very well within minutes of my arrival working its way along the front of the bushes in full view much of the time. I even managed a photo (of sorts) of it.

Shortly after it moved in to a denser clump of bushes and pine trees but still showed well with patience. Having had my fill I moved on to Winterton for 2 more Long-eared Owls, one of which showed well in a large holly bush when the wind was blowing enough to move the obscuring branch away from in front of it.

There were more Swallows here and a single House Martin flew over at the owl. As I walked back to the car 2 Sand Martins flew past. I can't remember ever having a day when I've year-ticked all 3 common hirundines on the same day.
With the temperature now very pleasant indeed I decided to head home and stake out the marshes from the patio to see what might go by. Settling myself down in the sun with a cup of tea and a piece of cake, I soon had the first Swallows for the patch, closely followed by a flock of about 100 Redwings and Fieldfares. Another patch year tick followed in the shape of that well-known summer visitor, Shoveler, when a pair was flushed by a Marsh Harrier. Like Coot, Shoveler arrive on the marshes to breed but depart by the end of summer. A pair of Gadwall also put in an appearance. Shortly after a House Martin flew by, making 3 Patchwork year ticks in about 45 minutes. As the early evening wore on small groups of thrushes continued to move through following the edge of the valley towards Lowestoft.
Tweets started coming through describing the build up of Redwings at Corton on the coast and when the phrase "truly astounding" was used, I decided to go and look for myself. I arrived at dusk and joined an assorted collection of Lowestoft Lizards watching the spectacle. I had missed the main peak but there were still flocks of hundreds of Redwings and Fieldfares going over all the time, their calls filling the sky, now all heading out to sea. Someone picked out an owl almost certainly a Long-eared heading out with them and as darkness began to fall anther owl flew into the hedgerow in front of us, paused briefly before it too flew up, gained height over the land and joined the movement eastwards. A truly magical experience!

 

 

Spring's here I think

It was a superb morning today, bright sunshine, no wind and mild for once. Up early as usual at the moment to check and feed the sheep I reached our main gate and noticed a grey bird creeping through the ivy opposite. Putting down my buckets and lifting my bins (always carried when I'm outside especially at this time of year) the shining black cap was obvious, my first Blackcap of 2013. At the same time I became aware of a strange song, a bit like a mad Goldfimch with a bit of thrush thrown in. Scanning the tops of the oak trees from whence came the sound I found a small group of Redwings. The singing continued for a couple of minutes until the flock of 12 birds took flight and headed east. Suddenly there were Redwings all around me calling and flying from tree to tree plus a Fieldfare and briefly it felt like October. The thrushes moved on and a singing Chiffchaff restored the seasons to their proper order.

After breakfast I headed off around the marshes in the hope of some more new summer migrants. Marsh Harriers and a Sparrowhawk were displaying, Skylarks and Reed Buntings singing but there were no new migrants. There was however a new summer visitor and Patchwork tick in the shape of 3 Coot on one of the pools. Coot breed here but disappear in the late summer only returning in spring.
Returning back to the house I got my first views of Chiffchaff after only hearing them before amd a butter yellow Brimstone butterfly flew through the garden.

The afternoon was spent weaning the show lambs, now 14 weeks old, and shearing the 2 ewes (Mary and Mildred) which will be my entries in the "aged ewe" classes in the upcoming summer shows. I have a professional shearer do the shearlings (1 year old sheep) and ram in February but the older ewes have to be sheared after the 1st April as they have young lambs to rear first. As it's not worth getting the shearer back just for 2 sheep I do them myself. It takes me about 1/2 hour per sheep, rather than the 2 minutes the professionals take and although I do them standing up rather than turning them over it still makes my back ache. They don't look too bad when I've finished although I do have to hand finish them to get all the little bits of wool off that I've missed with the electric clippers.

We found this unfortunate creature, a Long-eared Bat, on the floor of one of our sheds. I suspect it woke from an overlong hibernation too weak to fly and find food, if there were any insects to find.

Sadly it died yet another casualty of the cold, late spring despite trying to rehydrate it and give it and energy boost with glucose solution. The photo was taken post-mortem so it wasn't put under any unnecessary stress if you were wondering.

Checking the sheep after dark this evening there were yet more Redwings going over, their thin, high calls taking me back to autumn again.

Signs of spring at last

After yesterdays relative warmth the temperature plummeted 18C overnight to -7C bringing a heavy frost. Despite this as I checked the sheep just after dawn this morning a Chiffchaff was quietly chiffchaffing in the oak trees by the ewe's field, my first of the year. The rising sun quickly dissipated the chill and a mid-morning walk around the marsh was very pleasant. Reed Buntings had started to sing from the tops of reeds, the Marsh Harriers were displaying and a small group of 3 Chinese Water Deer allowed a close approach before scarpering across the marshes. I also flushed 4 Snipe and Lapwing seemed to be displaying.
News of a small raptor passage had me scanning the marshes again from the patio at lunch and this time I was rewarded with a Red Kite, its twisting red tail making it stand out from the seemingly innumerable soaring Marsh Harriers at some distance.
Further evidence of spring came in the shape of first a Peacock butterfly in the orchard and then a Small Tortoiseshell flying across the ram's field.
With the Reed Buntings seemingly starting to move out from the garden on to the marshes, I decided to have a go at photographing them around the bird feeders before they left, using my daughters old Wendy House as a hide. The decrepit state of this little timber shed became all too obvious when I opened its window and the bottom of the window frame fell off leaving me with no means of propping the window open. Every time birds started to come to the feeders the wind would slam the window shut scaring everything away. I eventually got a few photos but only after my feet had gone to sleep in the cramped conditions.

OK, so they're all common birds but Long-tailed Tits are cute and the Blue Tit looked particularly bright in the spring sunshine.

And finally, the primroses have at long last burst in to flower.

Crossbills

At long last some pleasant weather arrived today. The sun was out and the wind although still easterly had dropped to a gentle breeze. It was time to start getting some of the ewes and their young lambs turned out on to the marsh. As this involves getting the ewes and lambs through the group of as yet unlambed ewes, each little family has to be moved individually by picking up the lambs inside the pen and carrying them across the field with the anxious mother following on behind, or trying to trip me up if she's a bolshie type. I was just about to pick up my third set of lambs when I had a distinctive hard "chup-chup" and looking up I saw 6 chunky finches with prominent bills and obviously forked tails tanking towards me across the field. Crossbills, my second record for the patch and a Patchwork tick! They rocketed by and carried on northwards at great speed.
Sheep done, it was pleasant enough to sit out on the patio for lunch for the first time this year. This coincided with news of a White-tailed Eagle over Burgh Castle only 6 miles away so I ate lunch, a delicious Samphire Pork Pie and our own home-produced air-dried ham, scanning the skies just in case the eagle should drift this way. Sadly of the eagle there was no sign but the warmth brought 6 Marsh Harriers into the air, 2 Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrels, a Green Woodpecker flew through the garden and the Reed Buntings ignored my presence and fed greedily on the patio feeder. Not bad at all!

Long overdue Long-eared Owl

News of a Long-eared Owl showing well saw me leaving work promptly at 6.30 and driving in the opposite direction from home to Bure Park just minutes away. Thank goodness the clocks have gone forwards, a week ago birding in the evening would have been impossible. The forecast sunshine had failed to materialise and the strong bitter easterly wind was sweeping across the park .It felt like December rather than April. Sensibly, the Long-eared Owl had chosen to roost on the leeward side of a small island in the middle of the little lake, out of the wind and with a watery barrier preventing disturbance by any one who might want to get too close as normally seems to happen with these birds. The owl seemed totally unperturbed by the presence of a small group of appreciative birders and didn't even bother to open its eyes. Embarrassingly, this is the first Long-eared Owl I've seen since 1994! I had forgotten to put the battery back in my camera so you are spared any of my photos today.
A pair of Garganey also gave excellent views on the same lake bringing my total number of summer migrants to 4 (birds that is, not species). Things must change soon especially with news that the Cuckoos are on their way back here

Minsmere

After Friday's horrors it was good to get some healthy lambs born especially an Easter set of twins on Easter Sunday morning. By late morning things looked quiet in the lambing field so I was happy to go to Minsmere for the afternoon. A walk around the scrape gave us 4 Smew including a splendid drake, one of my favourite ducks and, after patiently waiting for a likely candidate to wake up, a 3w Caspian Gull. It was pleasant afternoon with warmth in the sun and good numbers of Avocets and a Ruff starting to develop a white ruff hinted at spring but there were still no Chiffchaffs or Blackcaps singing in the woods. However at Island Mere hide I finally caught up with my first summer migrants of 2013, a pair of Garganey showing superbly well right in front of the hide.

At this point a small blizzard came through and the temperature plummeted several degrees. Winter had fought back.

Back home a Romney ewe had produced another set of twins but with a twist. One of the lambs was inexplicably black or to be more precise a smoky body with pitch black extremities. Romneys are always white and the Southdown sire was white too. Here she is:

She'll probably get a name and end up in the breeding flock if she stays this colour.

Yesterday was uneventful apart from a Patch year tick in the form of 2 Oystercatchers flying over the house putting me on 89 species for the Patch this year. This morning I flushed a Woodcock from the bottom of the vegetable garden, a surprise this late in the year. I'm still waiting for the first summer migrant here.

The long Good Friday

Good Friday got off to a bad start. At quarter past midnight I was phoning a vet to assist a ewe who had a very dead lamb stuck tight, which try as I might I couldn't deliver. ( Sensitive readers please skip to the next paragraph.) The lamb had a massive head and after much pulling during which a front leg came off, the vet had to resort to crushing the lambs skull before he could get the lamb out and  also its dead twin behind. A sad result but at least the ewe was going to be alright, if a little bruised for a few days. The vet finally left at 1.45am. Further angst followed when I went out at 6am to find a ewe who had lambed another dead lamb. This time it looked like the membranes hadn't cleared from the lambs mouth and it had been unable to breathe when it tried to take ir's first breath.

Feeling pretty low I walked around the marshes checking the state of the ground (drying out) and the state of the grass (still not growing) as I need to start turning stock out in a few days. Walking across one of our furthest marshes I flushed a Short-eared Owl from the edge of one of the dykes, the first on these marshes all winter. I followed it as it quartered gracefullyacross a field then disappeared behind some reeds. It flushed 7 Snipe as it did so. Scanning across to try and find it again a smart male Hen Harrier flew across my field of view. Things were looking up.
In the afternoon we went to Sea Palling with friends who were staying the weekend. We stopped just north of Brograve farm and quickly located 16 Common Cranes feeding with a flock of sheep. On stepping out of the car our friends quickly discovered how cold the Norfolk coast could be in a brisk easterly wind so instead of heading for the beach we scanned several gull flocks in fields by the road hoping for a Glaucous Gull from the relative comfort of the car. Having no luck we had no choice but to head for the exposed beach. We met several birders coming away who had seen 3 of the beasts but as we set foot on the sea wall we saw a flock of large gulls heading off in to the distance having been flushed by dog walkers. We scanned the remaining gulls repeatedly with no success so walked further down the beach to check more distant flocks. At this point it started snowing. One of our group seemed to be heading for hypothermia but luckily a 1st winter Glaucous Gull appeared over the sea wall and drifted right over our heads to land on the beach warming everyone up. After enjoying the bird a rapid retreat was beaten to the relative warmth of the car and home where all was peaceful in the lambing field.

There's a Glaucous Gull in this picture - honest!