An October day – 10,000 Birds

October is without doubt one of the finest months for birds in Britain, so why, with three weeks of the month already handed, was my month’s record caught on a mere 40 species? Easy reply: I had spent the primary a part of the month in Greece (see my final two posts), adopted by every week volunteering at a tennis event (an ITF W100 occasion in case you’re ) in Shrewsbury. Now Shrewsbury is in the course of England, and although the city itself is charming, it’s not an ideal space for birds, so my days there did little to spice up my month’s tally. Drastic motion was required, so on the second to final Tuesday of the month I spent a day in Norfolk with my birding pal Andrew. 

The climate forecast was good, the strain excessive: we set off from dwelling at 7.30 on a misty autumnal morning. Our first cease, at Lynford Arboretum, was a bit of disappointing because it failed to supply any of the hoped-for autumn migrants, resembling Brambling, Siskin, Redwing and Fieldfare. Nevertheless, we did see a helpful 25 species, together with a number of birds we weren’t to see later within the day, together with Marsh Tit and Tufted Duck.

As we approached the Norfolk coast the mist turned thicker, the air damper, prompting the automotive’s wipers to brush the display screen. It didn’t look promising, however fortuitously the October solar nonetheless had enough heat to burn the mist away, so by the point we had walked right down to Titchwell seaside the solar had damaged by way of. Sea watching in Britain is usually a cold and moist affair: this was something however, whereas a tide-beached log supplied a good seat. The excessive tide supplied ideally suited viewing situations.

Scoping the ocean at Titchwell in good situations. The beached log made a welcome seat

I used to be quickly placing the little Swarovski scope to good use, discovering quite a few Nice Crested Grebes on the ocean, together with respectable, if distant, views of a Purple-throated Diver, at all times a satisfying chook to seek out. There have been a couple of Frequent Scoters to be seen, too, whereas a good flock of six Purple-breasted Mergansers (all geese, no drakes) flying previous was an excellent discover. Even higher was a single Eider duck that additionally flew previous, the primary Eider of the yr for each Andrew and me. 

Pinkfeet over the ocean

There was a powerful motion of a whole bunch of Pink-footed Geese, initially sighted far out to sea. At first we thought that they had been Brent Geese – they had been a really great distance away – however as they got here nearer it was obvious that they had been gray geese, not black. There have been far to lots of them to be Whitefronts, so that they needed to be Pinkfeet, with their id confirmed ultimately by their distinctive calls and their darkish heads and necks. Many 1000’s of Pinks winter in North Norfolk, so seeing these geese wasn’t a shock, nevertheless it was a pleasure. 

Sanderling on the shore line

Add in a few horizon-skimming Gannets, and Sanderlings and Oystercatchers shifting alongside the shore line, and it proved to be as productive an hour’s birding as one may hope for. We walked again, now in heat sunshine, previous the RSPB’s high quality Titchwell reserve. That is probably the most visited of all of the RSPB’s 200 reserves, so we handed quite a few different birdwatchers. We noticed numerous birds, too: half a dozen Spoonbills, massive flocks of Golden Plovers and Lapwings, a wide range of wildfowl starting from Darkish-bellied Brent Geese to Gadwall and Shoveler, plus a satisfying variety of small birds. These included Linnets and Skylarks, Reed Buntings and a single Stonechat, whereas we heard Cetti’s warblers, Bearded Tits and Water Rails. Our species whole for Titchwell topped 60 fairly comfortably

.A fishing Black-headed Gull at RSPB Titchwell

Darkish-bellied Brent Geese at Titchwell

Lapwing

We ate our lunch within the automotive at Brancaster Staithe, a gorgeous small-boat harbour the place birds are used to folks, so usually simple to {photograph}. Turnstone and Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Brent Goose, all got here with vary of my digital camera, as did Herring and Black-headed gulls. At websites like this, a automotive makes an ideal cellular conceal, although it’s important to watch out to not get caught within the mud.

Darkish-bellied Brent Goose

Black-tailed godwit, a migrant from Iceland

Redshank – its shanks (legs) actually are brilliant orange, not pink

The evil eye – Herring gull

Curlew on the shore at Brancaster Staithe

From Brancaster we drove east alongside the coast, pausing at Girl Anne’s Drive at Holkham. Right here there’s a massive and well-managed Nationwide Nature Reserve, and it’s at all times an ideal place to see birds, typically at shut vary, although it will get progressively higher for birds because the autumn provides solution to winter. We didn’t cease lengthy, however had been happy to see a trio of Cattle Egrets feeding with cattle – these egrets are current colonists. Just a few Curlews had been feeding right here on the freshmarsh. I at all times get pleasure from seeing these massive, good-looking waders, and even managed a shot or two as people flew overhead. I additionally grabbed a shot of a passing Jay. Was it a contemporary migrant from the Continent? Each autumn the east coast of England sees Jays arriving from throughout the North Sea, so this chook had most definitely simply arrived from Holland or Denmark.

A passing Jay at Holkham – a brand new arrival from the Continent?

Curlew at Holkham

There are high quality grazing meadows on both facet of Girl Anne’s Drive, and right here Egyptian and Canada Geese had been grazing among the many Greylags, with small events of Pinkfeet reasonably extra distant. The latter are cautious birds, however they quickly get used to folks, so by December they typically graze near the street, unconcerned by the crowds of human guests interested in this fashionable vacation web site. 

Cattle Egrets are new colonists of North Norfolk

By now the solar was dropping, the shadows lengthening, so to take advantage of the final of the afternoon’s gentle we drove east once more to Cley Marshes, one of many oldest chook reserves in Britain, and one owned and managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Belief. We had a goal chook right here, a Lengthy-billed Dowitcher. Now dowitchers could also be widespread in North America, however in Britain they’re rarities. Hearsay had it that the chook was seen from Bishops’ Cover, in order that’s the place we went. With the solar behind us the sunshine was good, and it didn’t take lengthy to seek out our quarry, although it was quick asleep on a muddy island and id may solely be made by evaluating its dimension to its companions – Black-tailed Godwits and Ruffs. 

Finally, nonetheless, our persistence was rewarded and the chook awoke and began to feed in attribute dowitcher method, giving nice views by way of the scope, although it was too distant to {photograph}. By the way, this particular person is a returning rarity, for what is nearly actually the identical chook was first recorded at Cley three years in the past. It spends a lot of the yr on the reserve, however disappears within the spring and summer season, when presumably it migrates north in a lonely and most definitely unsuccessful bid to seek out one other of its personal species. It’s a tragic story, actually, however this chook has given many birders an excessive amount of pleasure. It was the third time I’d seen it – the final event had been in July 2023, when it was nonetheless sporting its summer season finery.

The dowitcher wasn’t fairly the final chook of the day – that honour went to a pair of Inventory Doves, feeding in a area which had just lately held Stone Curlews. The doves had been our 87th species, whereas for each Andrew and I the dowitcher was our 196th British species of the yr. Simply 4 to go for the double century. Watch this house.