Local birds and a good day in the Broads

A visit to the local patch the day after I returned from Cornwall (Sunday 9th April) produced nothing better than a pair of Little Ringed Plover.  I headed out to Foulden Common that evening with a view to looking for moths.  There was a Marsh Harrier there and I heard my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year singing.  This was a full week earlier than my previous earliest Lesser Whitethroats.  A Marsh Tit was singing and a Green Woodpecker called.  As it got dark I heard a Snipe drumming - the first time I've heard one drumming for over a decade.  There were also a number of Woodcocks including one seen feeding before it noticed me and scurried away.  Both Barn Owl and Tawny Owl were heard calling and a Teal could also be heard calling from one of the wetter areas of the common.

A Blackcap was singing in the garden (or more accuarately, the neighbour's garden) on Monday and it or others have done so many days since.

Regular visits to Great Ryburgh have been a little bit productive though hardly earth-shattering.  Up to 3 Pink-footed Geese and a White-fronted Goose have remained along with up to 7 Barnacle Geese.  A Coot one day was apparently a rarity for the site - possibly only the second record ever!

Coot, Ryburgh, 11th April

Mallard, Ryburgh, 17th April

Shovelers, Ryburgh, 19th April

Little Egret, Ryburgh, 19th April

Herring Gull, Ryburgh, 17th April

Early or late visits have often produced a pair of Mandarin once and a single drake Mandarin three times, always flying up or down the river.  Waders included 2 Snipe but frustratingly I didn't quite nail what appeared to be a Dunlin seen fleetingly in flight (would have been an excellent record for the site). Raptors have included Red Kite and regular Sparrowhawk.  A Kingfisher put in an appearance three times and a Grey Wagtail twice.

Oystercatcher, Ryburgh, 17th April

Kingfisher, Ryburgh, 12th April

Grey Wagtail, Ryburgh, 17th April

I had a bit of trouble resolving the identification of a White Wagtail.  The mantle and scapulars didn't seem as pale as I'd like and the situation was complicated by the appearance of a second bird, when the first was absent, that looked almost identical in head pattern and tone of upperparts, so causing me to assume it was the same bird.  It turned out that they were different birds - one a grey-rumped White Wagtail and the other a black-rumped Pied Wagtail.  There was a slight difference in the flanks (the Pied being darker of course) but this could be hard to see and at times when the rump is hidden the only difference I could detect between the two birds was the presence (Pied) or absence (White) of grey streaking below the bottom of the black breast.

 White Wagtail, Ryburgh, 11th April

White Wagtail, Ryburgh, 12th April - two photos showing how different it looks at different angles/lights

Pied Wagtail, Ryburgh, 17th April - a very similar bird to the White Wagtail with its grey centre to the crown and similar-toned upeprparts but this one has a blacker rump, a few grey streaks below the black breast and a tiny bit darker flanks/breast sides

All 3 hirundines were recorded there, 4 Sand Martins north on 12th apparently being a good local record.  Both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were recorded and a Lesser Whitethroat sang on 19th.

Coal Tit, Ryburgh, 15th April

Chiffchaff, Ryburgh, 20th April

Greenfinch, Ryburgh, 16th April

Regular visits to the other local patch have produced Little Ringed Plovers, the odd Snipe but not a great deal else.  Other local records include a pair of Grey Wagtails at Bintree Mill a couple of times and a Marsh Harrier.

Little Ringed Plovers, 17th April

Little Ringed Plovers, 20th April

On Good Friday after visits to Ryburgh and the local patch early morning I decided to head over to the Broads.  First stop was Rollesby Broad where a Blue-winged Teal x Cinnamon Teal hybrid is hanging out with 3 Mandarins.  It spends a lot of its time displaying, often to the female Mandarin whose company it seems to quite like, but also to Mallards and just on its own.  I imagine they're all out of the same cage and suspect they were released their deliberately rather than escaped from somewhere and flown there.

Blue-winged Teal x Cinnamon Teal hybrid, Rollesby Broad, 14th April

Mandarins, Rollesby Broad, 14th April

I then headed over to Barton Broad where a tern was bouncing around the lake visible from the platform as soon as I arrived.  It was an Arctic Tern which made for a nice surprise - I don't see many of these in Norfolk except on autumn seawatches.

Arctic Tern, Barton Broad, 14th April

This Kingfisher flashed by...

Kingfisher, Barton Broad, 14th April

As I passed between Smallburgh and Stalham I noticed a lot of gulls following the plough by the layby.  I thought it might be worth a look through them and so it proved - there was a first-winter Glaucous Gull among them!  There has been one along the coast around Winteton/Hemsby recently and I guess it may well be the same bird.

Glacuous Gull., between Smallburgh and Stalham, 14th April

Next stop was Hickling Broad, first checking from the Pleasure Boat Inn (nothing) and then the NWT reserve, a place I don't go to very often and rarely seem to see much there.  Today was no exception, though plenty of commoner warblers in.  My first Common Tern of the year was probably the highlight, though if you belong to the school of thought which says a Grey Heron with rusty colour on its wing-coverts is a Great Blue Heron then maybe not.  Sadly this isn't always the case - I've seen a few Grey Herons with rusty or brownish wing-coverts and/or rusty thighs.

Grey Heron, Hickling NWT, 14th April

With moderate NNE winds I headed up to Sheringham on last Tuesday (18th) for a seawatch.  Seawatching in Norfolk is rarely good in spring (here I am referring to seabirds really - there can be some excellent vis mig days at least some of which can involve birds flying over the sea) so my expectations were low.  I arrived at first light and there was almost nothing moving at first.  Things picked up slightly but I only got about 80 Gannets, 30 Sandwich Terns and 24 Common Scoter.  A few Fulmar were moving but hard to tell which ones as local birds were also passing, and other seabirds included 2 Kittiwakes and 8 larger Auks, at least 2 of which were Razorbills.  There were 4 Red-throated Divers and one group of 3 waders west included Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit.  A distant party of 3 birds flying east eventually proved to be the birds of the day - a scarce species flying over the sea, Black-tailed Godwits.

From my study I could hear  Lesser Whitethroat singing on Wednesday - a house tick.  Another house-tick followed the next evening when I heard a Coot flying over (with a second Coot on Friday night).