Mist-ache!

While the rest of the country basks in sunshine we continue to keep the miserable, grey low cloud and mist putting a dampener on everything (literally!). Had the trap on last night but unsurprisingly very few caught:

MYL 62 Large Yellow Underwing 2

Small Square-spot 1

Rustic Shoulderknot 1

Flame Shoulder 4

Setaceous Hebrew Character 2

Silver-Ground Carpet 1

Heart & Dart 5

MYL 63 Ingrailed Clay 1

MYL64 Rosy Minor
Angle Shades 1

Engrailed Clay


Rosy Minor

White Campion-thing

Wild Dog Rose

Red -legged Partridge

GARDEN TICK

Put the moth trap on for a few hours last night and managed a few year ticks and a couple of lifers:
Flame Shoulder 4
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
Buff Ermine 1 MYL 38
Common Marbled Carpet 1 MYL 39
Green Carpet 3 MYL 40
Silver-ground Carpet 2 MYL 41
Bloodvein 1 MYL 42
PALE TUSSOCK 1 MYL 43
MARBLED BROWN 1 MYL 44
Treble Lines 1 MYL 45
Heart and Dart 1 MYL 46
Small Square Spot 3 MYL 47

Silver Ground Carpet


Treble lines


Pale Tussock


Marbled Brown

Up on 'station' at the top of the track this morning at around 0730 and at last finally managed to pin down Turtle Dove with three distant singletons seen flying in various directions. Also of note were 2 Cuckoo flying west, a pair of Hobby displaying over the ridge, a brief appearance by a Little Owl and 2 female Northern Wheatear. One of the singing Whitethroats eventually gave itself up for the camera.

Whitethroat

Garden was good for butterflies late morning with Large White, Peacock, Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Orange-tip and a Small Copper. A wander along the pond produced 6 Mallard (including the white one!) and my first Large Red Damselfly here. Just after a late lunch in the garden a glance up to the east revealled another two Persil- white birds , but these ones had their necks out-stretched!! (Egrets fly with their necks tucked in, like a heron) These were a pair of fantastic SPOONBILLS ! I watched as they thermalled between the village and Felbrigg Park but the lost the over the trees moving eastwards- top tick and my first garden tick of the year!

The Spoonbills fired me up to return to the top of the track during the late afternoon and produced a frther 2 Hobby, 3 Common Buzzard, another Turtle Dove and a very distant Red Kite cruising westward south of Gresham.

PYL 99 Turtle Dove

PYL 100 GYL 57 SPOONBILL (GL 127)

KITE-FEST!!

My recent reservations about the quality of birds here in Aylmerton this spring evaporated instantly with an absolute stonker of a morning this morning!
Didn't get up particularly early but was on the track by 0745. Things seemed pretty quiet until a casual glance to my left resulted in the sight of a cracking Red Kite low over the field. For the next 40 mins I was treated to some great veiws of one of my most favorite birds as it hunted the fields, eventually picking up some rubbish and carrying it to a distant hederow where it settled to inspect its 'catch'! It soon became apparent that this was a 2nd calander year juvenile which may explain the refuse collecting!

Red Kite


moulting inner primaries




showing a couple of adult type black breast feathers, amount of black on bill also indicates a young bird (much reduced in adult.




not particularly welcomed by the locals!

After thoroughly watching the bird move off south I scanned to the west where immediately another kite came into veiw! It was soon apparent that it was another Red Kite but this one was full winged and immaculate. It drifted east quite quickly along the ridge, being harrassed by the local Crows as it went. In this BoP (Bird of Prey) excitement my brain barely registered the singing Lesser Whitethroat and Willow Warblers ! Chuffed with my kites I wandered home where shortly I got a call from the SBO observers to say they had a Black Kite that was hanging about! With what went before immediately forgotten I cursed myself for not taking a trip down the 'patch ' as I often do at the weekend. With a further message that the bird had been lost from veiw and with no idea of its direction I scanned in hope rather than expectation, transfixed to the western horizon like it was some sort of raptor Mecca and I 'd been called to prayer! five mins turned to ten which turned to fifteen, and with the birds' last known location literally just over the horizon I had seriously lost hope. Then in the very distant distance a shape soared some where over Sheringham and as it drew closer it became obvious that this was the boy... a BLACK KITE!!! For nearly an hour we were treated to an excellent display by Black Kite standards, as it drifted and soared too and fro to the west of the village, and always visable from the bottom of our garden! With the added bonus of seeing the Reds this morning shortly beforehand it was good to get a feel for the difference between the two species, and to remember how different they really are! By 1130 the bird was gaining height and was eventually lost from veiw, apparently being seen moving west through Cley at 1230. The rest of the day was spent in a rarity endused daze as I could chill out and enjoy the rest of the day adding Common Buzzard (3 local) a Peregrine during the afternoon and a good 'ole Marsh Harrier moving west late afternoon. Final word though must go to Mick Saunt the stalwort watcher of Incleborough Hill who unfortunately could not be about today but spoke to me on the phone first thing this morning and proclaimed ''...there'll be a Black Kite today, it looks right!'' Top, Top call Mick!

PYL 85 Willow Warbler
PYL 86 Lesser Whitethroat
PYL 87 GYL 52 BLACK KITE (yes it does have to be in capitals!)

SUNDAY

More thick mist early on, however today the sun eventually burnt through by mid by the morning resulting in a cloudless, sunny day marred only by yhe retention of that cool northerly breeze still. From the garden we finally managed some Marsh Harriers with 4 (1+2+1) moving east, all of the non adult/female variety, but the supporting cast was virtually non existant- House Martin 1, Swallow 2, Common Buzzard 2 (local), Sprawk c 10, Kestrel 4, Lesser Black-backed Gull 7N, Mistle Thrush 2 S,

Yellowhammer along the track




Had the moth trap running last night, again for the duration, with numbers remaining low-
Bright-line Brown-eye 1 MYL 13
Common Quaker 2
Hebrew Character 2
Clouded Drab 2

Bright-line Brown-eye


It wasn't til later in the day that I discovered the sighting of the day however with this , my first Great Prominant that was snuggled down on the fence near the trap- what a fine wee beasty!

Great Prominent




MYL 14

Thursday

A dewey, murkey start this morning with clear skies (above the rising mist as the sun tried to burn through) and a light N.E breeze. Spent a little time at the top of the track this morning, specifically looking for Ring Ouzel, no sign as yet, with 2 Wheatear being the only summer migrants seen. As I scanned more distant bare fields for the 'Mountain Blackbirds' I noticed a distinctive hunched blob through the murk, which I knew was going to be either a Sparrowhawk or a Merlin (my money was on the latter) Not daring to take my eye off it, it distinctly bobbed its head as the gulls started flying over it, then took to the wing on short pointed wings with a proportionately longer tail - a Merlin! I watched as it flew north then off west, no doubt to find and eat a Ring Ouzel!

Wheatear ( below shows where the name Wheatear originates from - White-arse!...that is true by the way!

PYL 80 Merlin

Wednesday

Still quiet here with the northerly airstream still in command. No sign of any summer migrants other than the single Chiffchaff at the weekend but a walk up the track this afternoon produced a total of 96 Chaffinch feeding in the Spring Barley field with not a single Brambling between them.

Sunny Sunday

Due to the wonders of modern technology (specifically wireless broadband!) I have discovered that on a sunny sunday I can both sit at then bottom of the garden watching for visable migration AND write up the blog as I'm doing it! Real time bird-blogging! So far this morning (after a rare and non-refusable cooked breakfast!) we have had single Marsh Harrier east, 5 Common Buzzard 'kettling' together with a Sparrowhawk beyond Rounce's Covert, and best of all, a look up from mowing the lawn with birds in panic on a broad front, I picked up a tasty looking Peregrine Falcon drifting east and away towards Felbrigg, nice!

This afternoon things were pretty quiet, didn't manage to connect with any Red Kite that seemed to be all over the North Norfolk coast today. Saw another 3 Common Buzzard but fairly certain that they were from the group earlier and a flock of 16 Fieldfare moved west . Spent alot of the afternoon trying to photograph the Hairy-footed Flower-Bee that is out at this time of year and is a darned quick mover to boot!

Anthophora plumipes on Lungwort, this ones a male

A few other pics from the garden today

Helleborus sp.

Crocus

A bank of Lesser Celedine opposite the village pond

Lesser Celendine

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Pied Wagtail

PYL 71 GYL46 Peregrine Falcon

Sheringham Bird Observatory

Down here this morning, bright but chilly with a keen south-westerly breeze. Things were fairly quiet until Rob Lee and Dave Appleton rang to say that between our position near the cliff and their's on the opposite side of the field was a Red Kite flying towards us! Sure enough one of my favorite British birds drifted by close going west but alas looking into the sun, but still a great sight whatever. Other birds of note:

Merlin- 1 seen on a couple of occations including siting in a field (though distant)

Eider- 10 east

Great-crested Grebe 1 west

Ringed Plover- 2 west

Red Kite courtesy of Rob Lee

In the afternoon a walk up the track found the newly ploughed field to be heaving with gulls (Black-headed and Common) about fifty Starling, 20 Lapwing and 7 Pied Wagtail. In with the later were at least 2 White wagtail, one a handsome (presumed) male, I had unforgivably left my camera at home, typical! Whilst grilling the wagtails a Common Buzzard moved west and like the Kite appeared to be a genuine migrant.

March

Having been away with work this week it was nice to have a walk up the track this morning. The field with the sugarbeet tops still remains and birdwise is of the most interest, with 30 Greenfinch, 25 Meadow Pipit, 20 Chaffinch, 6 Pied Wagtail and single Brambling. A Common Buzzard drifted over fields to disappear to the south west and the Brown Hares seem to be living up to their reputation in this month

Common Buzzard

Brown Hares

New Media

A grey, damp day here in North Norfolk. A walk up the slippery slidey Track this morning produced nothing out of the ordinary, though I estimate there must be at least 3000 Woodpigeons in the area which is quite usual at this time of the year. I took a brief trip along to Kelling at lunch time to see a reported Waxwing here but no luck. After a bit of messing about and asking around, I have managed to work out how to download video to the blog (albeit via YouTube) so this may prove to add a little more dimension and interest (not to mention getting rid of ropey flight shots ect.) so we will see how it goes

Feeding Pheasents



I have added video to last years posts for the Little Egret and Auk on Nov 4th, Black-eared Kite Nov 14th and the Common Cranes over Aylmerton on April 30th

Luvley Jubbley!

With a later than normal start at work yesterday morning and a clear sky I managed to get some morning light on the regular dog walk up the track this morning. Initially nothing doing until on the way back a distinctive 'chup' call overhead secured 3 Tree Sparrows flying west fairly high calling away. Only my second parish record since moving here (the first being a pair briefly on wires in the street before flying west a couple of Septembers ago) there was no double edged sword syndrome as I wouldn't have seen them from the garden. They now equal the same number of records for... Richard's Pipit!

PYL 70 Tree Sparrow

Grotty

A grotty grey, bleak day here in Aylmerton put pay to any thoughts of digiscoping. A quick flit over to Felbrigg produced nothing new with Mallard c30, Teal 7, Pochard 3, Tufted Duck 2 and Mandarin 3 being only birds of note. The cover crops along School Road on the southern boundary are now pulling some birds in with around 40 Chaffinch and Greenfinch and at least 3 Brambling there this morning. Whilst trying to get a veiw of the latter on the deck (impossible!) a Sparrowhawk went over, my first in Aylmerton this year! Yesterday morning also produced a PYL bird in the shape of a very uninspiring 1st winter Herring Gull!

Brambling grotty day, grotty photo!


PYL 67 Brambling
PYL 68 Sparrowhawk
PYL 69 Herring Gull

GYL 45 Yellowhammer

Blue Skies

A glorious day here, a bit chilly but unbroken blue skies all day. A walk up the Track this morning revealed that one of last seasons sugar beet fields still remains unturned, so it was no surprise to see Meadow Pipit 25, Fieldfare 10, Greenfinch 10 Skylark 15 and Yellowhammer 4 feeding out there, also a pair of Egyptian Geese flew in from the west. In the fields just south of the main road c250 Lapwing represented a decent flock here. The fields behind our garden again held good numbers of gulls, but still no Med Gull despite several searches, although a pair of Grey Heron did break the horizon up. As I finished washing the car a pair of Common Buzzard drifted west over the garden, but didn't appear to be going too far.

Grey heron complete with nice bright bill for the spring




Common Buzzard - going away in typical flight with wings held high


Woodpigeons, feeding on ivy berries


Common Buzzard GYL 44 & PYL 66

Also saw my first Bumble Bee of the year

Woodcock

Woodcock flew over the garden Tuesday evening, constituting another garden tick. Slowly and gradually the evenings are starting to pull out and dawn is getting earlier. School Road, along the southern edge of the Parish is quite literally a rat run at the moment, there seems to be dozens just after dusk, coming out of the cover crops- loads of Barn Owl fodder!

43 Woodcock

Felbrigg

Went over to Felbrigg lake this morning not long after dawn to beat the early morning doggy walkers, no hoped for Goosander but I did manage a few Parish year ticks. The light wasn't too great first thing so I didn't attempt any pics.

Pochard 19
Mallard c40
Tufted Duck 4
62 Shelduck 1
63 Teal 4
Mandarin 11
Dabchick 1
64 Marsh Tit 1
65 Siskin 5
Grey Heron 3

Song Thrush visiting the garden








Got the moth year list up and running last night, no surprises but good to get reaquainted with these brilliant creatures:

1 Mottled Umber
2 Pale-brindled Beauty

Mottled Umber


Pale-brindled Beauty