Imminent Tours – places available

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Wood you?

One of the best birds on Scillies this year was this Wood Sandpiper. Not for its rarity value but for its complete lack of concern for our presence.

Homing Bee Eaters

Well you couldn’t make it up could you?

Still buzzing from finding the four Bee Eaters on Porthloo Lane in Scillies last week; I was delighted to get a message from friend Andrew this morning informing me he had found four Bee eaters, just down the road here in Norfolk.

It would be tempting to think they were the same four. That would be extraordinary wouldn’t it? Well, I photographed one of the birds in flight on Scillies as you know from my previous post. The photo is repeated here again. Take a look at that worn 5th primary in the right wing. Now take a look at the photo of the bird I took today. It has the same worn primary. It’s the same bird. This is the same group of Bee Eaters in Norfolk as were on Scillies. They have followed me home!

Scillies Bird

Trimingham Bird

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.

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.

Flowers

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

A trembling foot

Sat in the Parrinder hide at Titchwell the other day I was photographing a pair of Little Ringed Plover. I noticed the male was ‘foot trembling’ whilst feeding. I have seen other waders, such as Lapwings, use this technique to presumably attract prey species to the surface but I’ve never seen it in use by a LRP before. BWP (Birds of the Western Palearctic) does not mention it either (as far as I can see). Here’s a short video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PN-Gh9–tk

Scotland

We had a great time in Scotland with an impressive tally of birds for the group. Specialities included. This was no doubt helped by the mild warm southerlies that brought on a spell of early migration. However, there was one bird that dominated the tour. At every single place we ventured from the vehicle this year we could hear and often see Siskin. They were everywhere!