Pinkies

Just booked a weekend away in Norfolk for mid-November, staying at a place right on the doorstep of the RSPB's reserve at Snettisham. The B&B was a bit steep, but you gotta do the wader roost sooner or later.

Quiet times otherwise, the ABB events are going nicely at Carsington. The Little Owls failed to show at the weekend, however a Kestrel blessed us with about two hours spent sat on the camera pole in front of the wildlife centre. That meant I could prattle on about how the Kestrel's ability to see ultraviolet light allows them to track the urine scented trails of the small rodents they prey on (more on that here), which seemed to particularly impress the visitors I spoke to.

Bird of the day, or birds shall we say, was the 150+ Pink-feet that flew over around one in the afternoon, heading SE. This is apparently a little late, as the bird club report for September explains, "southward records are usually 2hrs after first light, which is the flight time from the Lancashire feeding grounds of Marshside and Martin Mere. Their northward journey is usually at least 4hrs after first light Jan-Mar, reflecting the hundred miles from Norfolk".

Later still, on the way home the girlfriend and I stopped off for a quick scan of Ogston Reservoir. It was there at 17:35 came a lone grey/brown goose, not a Greylag, another Pinky! Must have been a straggler. Isolated and nervous, it made several low passes over the water though never with the confidence to land, and bizarrely made three attempts to merge with 200 airborne Lapwing, presumably such was the bird's instinct to flock.
Eventually, I lost sight of it as the gloom of the autumn evening set in.

Can hardly wait now for Norfolk, it'll be the same geese, but by the tens of thousands.

ETA: Incidentally, the Gannet mentioned in my last post, the one I missed by half an hour or so at Carsington. I read that on Monday this week a juvenile Gannet (surely the same bird this far inland), was discovered and taken into care in Mansfield, less than a couple of miles from my home. What a tease that bird has been for me!
Good to know it'll be looked after now.

Norfolk Trip Part Four: Cley Marshes

Onto the Sunday, we were staying in a holiday flat just west of Sheringham, less than ten miles away from NWT Cley Marshes, so it was there I was dropped off while my SO went shopping.
The reserve has a futuristic looking new visitor centre, so futuristic in fact that it isn't yet open. Same goes for some of the paths and one of the hides, something I wish the chap taking my entrance fee had told me. It really is pretty dismaying to trudge half a mile or more along a shingle bank to find a hide marked on the map is only half constructed and well cordoned off.
Otherwise it was a pretty good day.

Again the Avocet, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Ruff, Curlew, Lapwing and Golden Plover, were around. In the lagoon to the east of the reserve were a few Dunlin and Ringed Plover.With the Greylag were three Pink-feet feeding in the grass beside one of the lagoons, and late on a flock of 23 flew over. Funny I swear I could remember reading they'd all left for the north well over two months ago.

Feather duster-bottomed Dabchicks were plentiful in the ditch beside the road.

Half way around I reached the shingle sea wall and over it spread a wide sandy beach popular with tourists. I decided to sit, eat my lunch and watch the sea for a while, only saw the ordinary gulls though.

From one hide in particular, the one apart from the three that sit side-by-side, I got wonderfully close views of Redshank...

...and Avocet.


In the sky all day sailed the Marsh Harriers, two females and a male it seemed, which is about the average bigamous ratio for these raptors.

If my visit was anything to go by Cley Marshes was very good, if not quite up the high standards of Snettisham and Titchwell, just on the basis of the bird-life around. Maybe when that visitor centre opens it'll nudge itself up a few more points.

ETA: Forgot to mention the Cetti's Warbler, I was told they were around but found nothing of them until very late in the day when I heard one calling. As is commonly the way with Cetti's, heard and not seen.