it’s been a few years since we had such a cold spring. Hail, cold rain and cloudy skies predominated at the end of last month. Unusual conditions determines unusual behaviour. I saw this swallow scrating about in a recently seeded field trying to find a few insects to eat.
The first vagrant wheatear to turn up in Norfolk was the Isabelline. Often stated as a ‘birders bird’ this is a straight standing mainly concolourous wheatear with a pot belly, short tail and dark lores. The tail itself shows a black distal half with no ‘T bar’ like our Northern Wheatear. The alula feather at the bend of the wing often appears dark and isolated. This one on Burnham Over Dunes was a classic. The first in Norfolk for many years.
When friend Bob and I visited the river Ouse where it flows through King’s Lynn last spring we both made a comment. We were looking at the congregation of gulls at the shellfish processing plant when we agreed that it would be a great place to find an Iceland Gull during the winter.
Last week we found ourselves in the area and had heard an Iceland had been seen on the Ouse. It didn’t take us long to find it… right beside the shellfish processing plant! Initially it was on the dockside roofs but it soon came down to the bank side where it made itself very available for photographs.
After a patient wait the other week a shouty Yellow browed Warbler came into the near side of the apple tree at Burnham Overy. A rather quieter bird at Salthouse was equally elusive but in surprisingly little cover. It seemed to frequently employ a cloak of invisibility.
Notice the long supercillium and the prominent median crown stripe on the lower Salthouse bird. Not completely out of kilter with what you would expect for a yellow browed …but still something that made me look twice!
It’s shaping up into a very good Autumn!
Grey Wagtails are almost absent in Norfolk; not common at all. To find one you stand the best chance on a fast flowing river or a mill race… or a sewage farm. This male was nesting under a bridge in North Norfolk. Completely oblivious to the hullabaloo and commotion going on above.
Walking along the shoreline the other week we encountered a fish washed up on the shingle. Long spined Scorpion Fish are not scarce but they often camouflage themselves chameleon like within their surroundings and so go unnoticed. Having several sets of spines to catch out the unwary the diagnostic one at the edge of the gill cover helps to distinguish the Long spined from the Short Spined Scorpion Fish. Not that it would matter if you trod on one without shoes. But there again if you were walking barefoot down the beach in January perhaps you’d deserve what you get!
As the sun hid and much needed rain gently swelled the soil the other day we walked and took shelter among trees. We shook the water from our coats and looked up straining our eyes for some distant blue patch of sky it was only then we became aware of a carpet of white beneath us. Beautiful Wood Anemones were bobbing their heads as drops of water fell from the canopy and splashed on the flowers, setting them in some sort of perpetual dance.
Letter From Norfolk 