A Very Little Bunting

It’s not often you come across what could potentially be a first for a breeding bird for the UK.

What were presumably the pair of Little Buntings that were found in March on the North edge of Kelling Heath spent some time subsequently further south in ideal breeding habitat. They were chasing one another and displaying and I watched what was presumably the male feed what was presumably the female.

With help and advice from friend Trevor of the North East Norfolk Bird Club (NENBC), the land trustees, the RSPB and the Secretary of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel I attempted to monitor the birds.

The longer they stayed the more convinced I became they were breeding. In eventuality however they moved on. Towards the later part of their stay they became very furtive and returned repeatedly to the same area. They were last seen on the 19th April. Subsequently, despite several thorough searches they couldn’t be found.

So they either deserted, moved to a different location or all the display behaviour they showed was just a pre-amble to them moving back North to breed; which to be fair is most likely what happened, although we’ll never know for sure. Never the less, a very interesting occurrence.

Gosling

Egyptian Geese are so cute when they are tiny.

A Collection

A few nice insects on the wing at the moment.

What colours a head

Quite a few flava wagtails moving through at the moment. Several Grey and Blue headed scattered around the cattle in the fields down the lane. This Grey headed (thunbergi) came as close for me as it was going to, before skipping off through the flowers.

A regular site for them at West Runton. I photographed them here last year https://wildcatchphotography.zenfolio.com/p912769488/h9f653693

A stint in the hide

Last week a Temminck’s Stint was wandering around in front of one of the hides at Titchwell. It never did come close; perhaps because it was being seriously bullied by anything and everything. I guess if you’re a tiny wader you are going to get picked on. Quite a plain wader but very enigmatic little characters these guys.

Emperor

When my daughter came down to Norfolk last month we took her up onto the local heath to show her adders. During the time we were looking I hung up a pheromone to attract an Emperor Moth. I placed it on the front of the vehicle but nothing came to the lure.

Later that week I took a group to Scotland. One of the regular places we visit for various birds is the head of the Findhorn Valley. A wonderfully evocative place of steep valley sides and craggy mountains.

We’d not been there longer than 30 minutes when an Emperor Moth started flirting with the front of the vehicle. Given the car had been washed since the beginning of the week and the lure was over 5 years old I was amazed. I still had the lure in the car. When I opened it up we had five or six of these beautiful moths flying around. Before we knew where we were we were surrounded by photographers! One landed and I managed to get a shot of it.

Flowers

A walk at Wild Ken Hill among the Spring flowers. Shepherds Cress, Common Storksbill, Greater Stitchwort and Rhododendron.