Anthony's Birding Blog: egyptian goose

Showing posts with label egyptian goose. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Golden Oriole and Stone Curlew

Where do are start. Norfolk and Suffolk again provided an incredible day's birding. Myself and dave Evans drove down to Suffolk Friday 11th. May and stayed at the Swan Inn b and b so we could have an early start. We were up at 5 on Saturday and went to Lakenheath Fen. This is a truly magical site. Shortly after arrival we could hear Golden Oriole, booming Bittern, Cuckoo and Cetti's warbler all at the same time! We were quickly rewarded with 2 sightings of Golden Oriole, one in the black poplar plantation and another as it flew out of the trees and was mobbed by a Cuckoo! Other highlights were Hobby, Kingfisher in flight and 2 Cranes which flew by.
We then went onto Weeting heath and saw 2 Stone Curlew which sadly were a bit distant. Then onto Abbey farm at Flitcham where we saw Red-legged Partridge and another Kingfisher. We then went onto the coast and visited Cley, Tichwell and Snettisham. Highlights were Cetti's warbler and Temmincks stint at Cley, Whimbrel and Red-crested Pochard at Titchwell and a summer plumage Grey Plover at Snettisham. Other notable species included Avocet, Marsh harrier, Grey Partridge ,Spoonbill, Whinchat and Egyptian Goose. In total we saw an amazing 92 species. We need to go back soon though and bag Montagu's harrier, Honey buzzard and the elusive Turtle Dove.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Sublime Norfolk

Yesterday myself and Dave Evans had an early start for a day's birding in Norfolk. We got to the Wolverton triangle by 9 and spent an hour going round and searching on foot to no avail. We decided on one more circuit before moving off to the coast and unbelievably there by the side of the wood on the grass verge was a magnificent Golden Pheasant. I rushed to grab the camera but by the time I had it in hand a horse rider had gone past and spooked the bird which returned into the undergrowth not to be seen again.
We then moved onto Burnham Overy Staithe and quickly saw a large flock of 50-70 Lapland Buntings. They could be viewed in flight but when they landed in the stubble field they disappeared underneath the grass! It was obviously not going to be the best day for photography. We moved along the coast to Holkham in search of firecrest and rough-legged buzzard but the trees appeared lifeless and it seemed hopeless to find a small bird in the large wooded area. We went 100yds west of the end of the drive and suddently saw a small bird fly into low undergrowth and start flitting about in true gold/firecrest behaviour. As we had earlier seen a Goldcrest we needed a good view and the Gods were with us as it moved up into the tree where it ws clear we were watching a beautiful Firecrest. The bird books really dont prepare for you how bright and exquisite this little gem looks in the flesh. A truly unforgettable experience to see my first one and this rivals the first Hawfinch I ever saw.
No rough-legged buzzards were seen but there was a Common Buzzard close by and an unusually raptor like Wood Pigeon !
We moved to Wells and quickly saw the Black Brant present with Dark-bellied Brent Geese. There was another goose that intermediate features between a black brant and a brent goose.
It was then onto Buckingham marsh where we had a distant scope view of the long staying Lesser white fronted goose present with 70-80 Taiga Bean geese. A nice male Marsh Harrier flew by on the walk back to the car. We then drove the short distance to GreatYarmouth and incredibly we had parked at the exact point along the coast where the Velvet scoter was present about 50m out to sea!
Finally we went to Bradwell and saw a fine looking Ruddy Shellduck in a group of Egyptian geese. Quite an incredible day where we were successful in all target birds. Norfolk continues to be a mecca for birding and will no doubt draw us back soon