Whenever I hear a really good bird is on Blakeney Point my heart sinks.
The Point is a four mile walk there and a four mile walk back … on shingle.
My tour today had cancelled due to illness, so I almost felt obligated to make the journey to see the reported Alpine Accentor that was lounging away in the dunes on the point. I hummed and harred about the walk but reconciled myself with the fact I wasn’t going to see the bird if I didn’t leave the car park!
It was a rather more pleasant walk than I envisaged as the retreating sea had left a hard strip of sand. Much more palatable than the three steps forward, two back, shingle.
The last time I saw an Alpine Accentor was almost eleven years ago at Christmas 2011 as I meandered among alpine chalets in Austria. They were like Sparrows feeding at bird tables and in gardens. Prior to that I had seen a bird at Rimac in Lincolnshire in November 1994. That was my first in the UK. 28 years ago.
The bird was being watched by a small band of bird watchers in the dunes and when I arrived it was busy feeding away. I watched and photographed it for around an hour before it became restless. Maybe the clearing skies told it it was time to move. Move it did. Taking to the air it went towards the lifeboat station where it alighted briefly and then it went upwards and East until I couldn’t see it anymore. Apparently, it alighted at the Watch House 2 miles away before maybe continuing East. I wonder if it will be seen again?
Update: Well would you believe it turned up in exactly the same location at 3:30pm on 2nd November … where on earth has it been in the meantime?
Letter From Norfolk 
Hi Carl,
An Alpine Accentor was seen emerging from its roost in the Napoleon Fort, Aldeburgh at 07.20am on Saturday morning. Apparently, it flew SW, tried to fly back, but was beaten back by the wind and again turned and flew SW.
I had been for a walk with Amanda and a group of friends at Thorpeness and drove down to the fort on my way home just to have a look at the sea and salt marsh. There were about 30 birdwatchers there so I couldn’t resist asking one of them what they were looking at. I hadn’t got my scope but the roost entrance was so close I wouldn’t have needed it anyway. I waited until the sun disappeared and dusk set in to no avail as it didn’t return. One guy I spoke to said he had arrived from Wolverhampton ten minutes after it had left the roost that morning and had been waiting for it to come back all day! That must have been tough! That’s birdwatching for you!
I wonder whether it was the same bird that you saw yesterday? 🤔
Half of our walk took us through North Warren Nature Reserve. I was interested to see 50 to 100 Barnacle Geese grazing in the field. I have never seen so many in this part of the world before. Is that usual? Might they have been on migration and stopped off for rest and sustenance. If so, where would they have come from and where were they likely to be going?
I hope that you enjoyed your trip to the Scillies, despite the weather.
Best wishes, Anne
Sent from my iPhone
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Hi Anne – apparently the Accentor in Suffolk was differently marked to the Norfolk bird so they may have been different birds. It’s been stated someone scared the Suffolk bird from its roost with a torch which is likely why it left – very bad behaviour!!
The Barnacle Geese you saw are probably a feral flock. There’s a big one that roams the Suffolk coast all year round! Usually genuine migrants are mixed in with a carrier species such as Pinkfeet.
Hi Carl, It looks like the Suffolk bird to me, and the behaviour is similar-suddenly deciding to be up and off! I saw it two days previously at Slaughden, and it, as usual with these, didn’t seem to mind the attention, however some photographers (the type without bins!) did go a bit over the top, which is when I left. Nobody seemed interested in the Purple Sands nor Bar-tailed Godwit, but I must confess that I managed to miss the Crimson Speckled moth that was there. I’ve been trying for one all week at home, but as the one at Gibraltar point yesterday was a first for Lincolnshire, I’m probably a bit far north.
Back to the Acc- “both” birds seem to be adult but are probably freshly moulted first-winters, to be different birds would be a co-incidence too far, but stranger things have happened,
Cheers, Alan
I haven’t compared photos Alan … it’s just what others were saying about the difference in speckling on the throat. I would expect them/it to be first winter birds.
Sad but it seems photography has gone to the fore and overtaken birding in its popularity (maybe). Have been looking for Crimson Speckled Moth’s myself here in North Norfolk … apparently, I missed on at Weybourne the other day. I’ll keep looking over the next week.
The moths, Hoopoe, Pallids and Accentor(s) are all indicative of a movement from the South on favourable winds so two Accentors wouldn’t be out of the question … as you say stranger things have happened.
I’m still a birder with a camera, never have been a photographer in my own estimation. Thing is, the best photos come from birdcraft, not chasing stuff around with big lenses. Nothing against big lenses, I’m just too old to cart them about now. By the way, who told you about Golden Pheasant, someone who felt uncomfortable ticking the Wolferton birds? According to IOC and all the other taxonomic authorities they’re monotypic.
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