Third early start in a row for ringing, and similar thoughts to yesterday in that we didn’t have high expectations of great conditions for ringing… It was another lovely sunrise, but with more cloud this morning compared to the completely clear mornings the past couple of days. The westerly wind very quickly picked up meaning we had to start furling all the nets at about 8am. Although the conditions weren’t great, there definitely seemed to generally be less birds around. So, we only caught 10 birds this morning, 8 of which were new birds and two were retraps which were both Chiffchaff. The 8 new birds which included one Sedge Warbler, two Robin, one Willow Warbler, two male Blackcap and two Chiffchaff.

Furling up the nets early meant more time for birding the recording area for our daily census, the beach was looking beautiful in the sun….

Holme beach

The Bittern was booming all morning from sunrise and a Willow Warbler was singing around the obs. The Barn Owl was hunting on the grazing marsh and the Tawny Owl was calling noisily from the Pines. Bird of the day was a lovely male Yellow Wagtail which flew overhead whilst walking down the beach towards Gore Point. A Ring Ouzel was also reported at Gore Point in the morning.

No sign of the Black Redstart next to the obs today, though the White Wagtail was still around. No luck turning up any Wheatear or Ring Ouzel in the dunes. Still low numbers of Hirundines with 10 Sand Martin and 4 Swallow today. The first Natterjack Toads of the year were heard today, exciting!

There were a good number of Sandwich Tern on the sea with 27 recorded. One Great Crested Grebe, 1 Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter, 5 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Fulmar, 6 Swallow and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were also offshore. On the beach, we had 110 Sanderling in a couple of groups together, attempting to stay on the last little bit of sand left with the high tide.

Sanderling

The moth traps were busier than yesterday probably aided by the cloudier night with 17 individuals of 10 species, including: 1 Streamer, 2 Muslin, 1 Twin Spotted Quaker, 1 Common Quaker, 3 Small Quaker, 1 Clouded Drab, 4 Hebrew Character, 1 Red Chestnut, 1 Brindled Buff and 1 Water Carpet. It felt a bit chillier today, and much more overcast in the afternoon so only 2 Peacock butterflies were seen.

 Shannon Clifford, Assistant Warden

NORFOLK BIRD NEWS FROM RARE BIRD ALERT

Norfolk 2.Garganey (1.drk) Welney WWT still 52.5278,0.2775

Norfolk 2.Russian White-fronted Geese Cley NWT on Pat’s Pool at 12.01pm 52.9568,1.0575

Norfolk 4.Ring Ouzels Cawston Heath at Reversion Field c52.7668,1.2019

Norfolk Black Redstart fem/1w.male Walcott at paddocks along Mill Common Road 52.8413,1.5018

Norfolk Spotted Redshank Hickling Broad NWT 1/3ml ESE of visitor centre at Brendan’s Marsh from viewing platform 52.7393,1.5981. Park at c52.7422,1.5949

Norfolk 2.Ring Ouzels Cromer on cliffs below east end of Cromer Golf Course c52.9242,1.3200

Norfolk 2.Ring Ouzels (both males) Cawston Heath at 9.25am then flew east c52.7704,1.1642

Norfolk Ring Ouzel male East Rudham still at east end of cricket pitch at 9am +showing well 52.8151,0.703

Norfolk Ring Ouzel Cawston Heath c52.7704,1.1642

Norfolk Black Redstart fem/1w.male Cart Gap still at Doggett’s Lane c52.8149,1.5529