Tuesday 18 March 2014

"It's been 2 months since your last post Jake, where have you been?"

Well person I haven't just made up, I've been out birding. I just haven't been updating it here. Which is lazy of me, so starting from today I shall be updating more regularly (he says).

After my top 10 of 2013 I had 7 weeks with of placement at the N&N (Norfolk & Norwich Hospital) which was brilliant! Exhausting but brilliant, 7-7 4 times a week really takes it out of you. With that being said I still went out just didn't update!

I've been loving Norwich it's a brilliant city and who ever reads this probably already knows that the birding is brilliant! Just hope this year will be just as good! I've been patching a lot more, my patch includes; UEA, Earlham Marsh & Bowthorpe Southern park. A great area with some fantastic birds, I've amassed 75 species this year alone!

With this being said, lets get too some pictures!

During January I did quite a lot of local birding mostly around the patch but visiting places like Strumpshaw, Cantley, Whitlingham and so on.

Mealy Redpoll
I saw my first ever Mealy redpoll which was also a patch tick! Kindly shown to me but one of the ringers, ironically since this picture was taken and me writing this post I have seen up too 7 different mealy's all on campus!


Shorelark
Throughout most of the month the two remaining shorelark (from 8) continued to entertain all those who came too see them in Yarmouth. As far as I'm aware they've now moved on last being seen the 2nd of March.

I also took part in the footit challenge, well I and Drew put in a combined effort and achieved a respectable 85 species, not bad for just going around the city!

During February my placement was coming to end so I was able to do more birding, but of course keeping up with my coursework! As a reward to myself for completing my coursework and my placement I decided to head north to twitch my first ever yanky warbler, the Myrtle Warbler. A fantastic bird and brilliant company, also saw my first Willow tit! Something I was probably more excited about than the warbler!

Myrtle Warbler
 My pictures don't really do the bird justice. Was a very cool experience to watch such a lost bird on a council estate in the middle of Durham!
Tree sparrow

Waxwing
I nice supporting cast of Waxwing and Tree Sparrow around the corner, and best of all whilst out walking with Anthony Bentley, we stumbled across a Yellow-Browed Warbler! Heard only and unfortunately looks like nobody else connected with it, but was quite an unexpected find!

March is where things got interesting; Myself, Sam & Drew decided we'd check out Lakenheath as there had been some interesting birds being seen there lately. Long story short we had a fantastic time seeing the likes of bittern, cranes, barn owls, marsh harriers and bramblings.

Cranes at Lakenheath
Since the weather has been so lovely this month I've been doing a lot more photography. I went with CAWS society to visit Sculthorpe recently and had fantastic views of Water Rail, Brambling, Mealy Redpoll and so on.

Water Rail
Brambling

Marsh Tit 
I've also been enjoying the grebe's which have been resident on the UEA broad for a number of years now. Speaking to others I've heard they're not amazing at nest building / breeding and I can see why, they're just really lazy. I've managed to catch up with the courtship a couple of times but nothing really too spectacular, still nice to see. Especially 2 mins from my where I live!




I was also very pleased to have this seemingly tame waxwing 'just' inside patch boundaries. It showed so well the first day I went allowing me to approach it to just a few ft. The next day it went AWOL and finally vanished after that. Coincidently this very same bird was seen on Ber Street in Central Norwich about 10 miles away!



I'll add just a few more photo's here from recent trips;

Woodlark, Undisclosed

Marsh Harrier, Strumpshaw

Little Grebe, Titchwell 

Sanderling, Titchwell 

Red Necked Grebe, Lifer! 
And finally... This not so stunning picture, but something that was stunning to witness was the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, which graced much of the East Coast. It was a truly spectacular thing to see, something I didn't think I'd see in the UK, let alone Norfolk!



Phew... Think that's everything! 

1 comment:

  1. Nice photos - particularly like the Marsh Harrier

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