Autumn Migration Tour Part 2
Norfolk
Thursday 10 October 2019 to Sunday 13 October 2019
Part 2 of the autumn migration tour with Marcus Nash was plagued by the same windy conditions as last time, with strong south westerlies on 3 of the 4 days. To make things more difficult, we had rain on days 2 and 4.
Nevertheless we managed to see some terrific birds and enjoy some magic birding experiences. We visited most of the sites as on the last tour and saw much the same birds but with some noticeable additions. What follows below are the highlights.
- Star of the tour was undoubtedly the drake hooded merganser seen by us at Titchwell on day 3. It was first sighted early in the morning, and we learnt that it was still present this afternoon, so we decided to head over there to try to see it. The car park at Titchwell was already very full as we arrived, with lots of people interested to see this rare bird. We managed to find somewhere to park and headed straight round to Patsy's Reedbed. The hooded merganser was asleep at first over by the reeds at the back but then woke up and swam round a couple of times so we could get a good look at it. When shooting started in the distance, all the ducks took off and the merganser flew round strongly before eventually dropping back down towards the reedbed pool.
Hooded Merganser - a smart drake, on Patsy's Reedbed
courtesy of Marcus Nash
Hooded merganser is a rare visitor from North America, with only 12 accepted records, although no occurrences before 2000 were accepted. The situation is complicated by the fact that it is very common in captivity and escapes are frequent.
The Titchwell bird showed no signs of having been in captivity - we couldn't see any rings on its legs and it was fully winged.
Not far behind in the pecking order was a lovely grey phalarope seen at Thornham Point, just west of the Titchwell reserve, on day 2. We waited for a lull in the weather before heading out to the sea from the Visitor Centre and turning west to the point. The phalarope was over at the back of the pool at first, picking around in the samphire. Then it waded into the water and started swimming around, eventually coming right down to the near edge, in front of us.
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grey phalarope at Thornham Point
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
It was a young bird, a first winter, with some new grey feathers on its back but still with retained darker juvenile feathers on the back of its neck and wings. We could even make out the remains of the creamy orange wash on the front of its neck.
Grey Phalaropes breed in the high Arctic and spend the rest of the year out at sea, migrating down to the coast of South Africa for the winter. They are very prone to be being blown inshore on autumn storms, when they are scarce visitors here. A great bird to see.
Last time, the yellow browed warblers were just arriving on the north Norfolk coast as our tour finished and I had to be content with a brief glimpse of one in Wells Woods. Not so this time, they were well established and present in good numbers. Seeing them was still difficult with the strong winds causing havoc but after a slow start I managed to get several good sightings at Sheringham cemetery, Walsey Hills NR and Holkham Woods.
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yellow browed warbler
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
Arriving from their breeding grounds in the dense forests that stretch from the Urals to eastern Siberia, yellow browed warblers touch down in British woods and scrub, invariably along the east coast, before continuing on a migratory route to who-knows-where.
After first being recorded in Britain in Northumberland in 1838, numbers rose slowly each year to the 1960s when it was no longer regarded as an official rarity, having clocked up 300 sightings. The species is going through a quantum migratory shift. Vast numbers still head to South-east Asia each autumn but a small, slowly increasing vanguard is heading westwards.
The best birding experience of the tour was not provided by any rare birds but by the humble siskins and chaffinches.
On our last morning we noticed a huge movement of siskins going west as we were walking through Holkham Woods. Over the next hour or so we estimated over 2000 had flown overhead and Marcus picked up a report from the seawatchers at Sheringham of over 3500 passing there in a 2 hour slot. Never before had I seen so many siskins in the air!
No sooner had the flow of siskins abated when we noticed a similar build up of chaffinches, again flying overhead along the coast in a westerly direction and numbering at least 2500. Not quite as many as the siskins but equally stunning and a joy to watch!
VIZMIG at its very best!
Here are some of the remaining highlights:-
A cracking jack snipe on Snipes Marsh by the car park at Walsey Hills NR on day 3
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Jack snipe at Walsey Hills
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
We had superb views of bearded tits, less than 10 metres away, from the main path by the Island Hide at Titchwell on the last day. We even had the rare sighting of a cetti's warbler flying with the bearded tits. In front of the hide, we also had a very obliging water rail looking terrific in the late afternoon sunshine.
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male bearded tit at Titchwell
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
The pink footed geese numbers continue to increase as the autumn progresses!
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Pink footed geese
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
We went down to The Brecks again to see the stone curlews, as none of the rest of the group had seen them gathering communally before. In all, we saw at least 28 but they were more distant than two weeks ago as they hunkered down to avoid the adverse weather.
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Stone curlews at The Brecks
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
Among the other birds seen were ring ouzels (poor views I'm afraid), spoonbills, great white egrets, cattle egrets, a couple of yellowhammers, ruff and lots and lots of jays and goldcrests.
At Titchwell, just before lunch on day 2, we had the bonus of seeing a water shrew on the path in front of us, feeding on the remains of snails which had been crushed underfoot. They are normally quite secretive, so it was amazing to see one out in the open like this, seemingly completely unconcerned by all the people passing by.
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Water shrew at Titchwell
courtesy of Marcus Nash |
Another truly great tour, in the most challenging of conditions. Marcus organised things so that we were actually travelling in the minibus when the weather was at its wettest.
