New Art and Moths.

It's been a quiet time around Trimingham bird wise, there are plenty of young birds around and it is nice to hear the Swifts screaming overhead again. One day when passing through Cromer we saw the Pied Crow that was present, I nearly got a nice record pic as it flew and landed near our car, I pulled focus on my zoom camera.........just as 2 blue rinse old girl birders drove straight toward it stopping just feet away before hanging out the window with a camera to get a shot of it flying away!!! many thanks for that old dears!

 The closest thing to birds at home has been helping Sarah for her craft fair (been and gone) once Sarah had prepped the wood it was down to me with the painting, and they have come out really well, there will definitely be more designs on the way.

I have been getting the moth trap out on a few occasions, adding new species to the garden list and indeed some new species for me also. 

 This Small Angle Shades (above) and Scalloped Hazel (below) were both new species for me.

 This Shears was found on our car one morning! 

Iron Prominent 

 This Lobster Moth(above) was a welcome addition to the garden list and I believe only the second one I've seen. 

 Foxglove Pug (above) another new species. The Burnished Brass is always a welcome addition in the trap. So the list is slowly increasing and with the warm weather due to stay the trap will be getting out more often.

A Quieter Time as May Progresses.

 Lunar Marbled Brown

 May started off busily for me but it quickly quietened down! Colder evenings and a breeze coming in off the sea put a hold on getting the moth light out except for one evening when I managed a few hours, getting 9 species of moth for the new garden list.

 Yellow Barred Brindle

 Pebble Prominent

 Grey Pine Carpet

 Coxcomb Prominent

 I tried to get out as early as possible, I was rewarded with a female Marsh Harrier one morning, the Swifts were becoming more numerous, and a lot are screaming through the towns nearby.

 Marsh Harrier

 Common Whitethroat

The Common Whitethroats were in decent numbers around the village lanes and along the clifftops. I had briefly seen a Lesser Whitethroat but it was soon dispatched by a Common.

  Common Whitethroat

  Common Whitethroat

With the sunnier days upon us the butterfly numbers were growing, numerous Orange Tips and Speckled Woods and a Painted Lady which seems to of taken up residence at the end of one of the lanes as we've seen it a few times in the same spot. This Frog was seen chilling out on the coastal path early one morning, I had to step back to get him in focus! 

Common Frog

Great Start To May.

Pied Flycatcher

 The weather was great as May started and with the sun came the birds, I am loving living here and experiencing so much more bird movement and variety and what a start with 2 Flycatchers both together! Andrew Chamberlin met me birding along the clifftops and showed me a image of a Spotted Flycatcher he had found at the large clifftop wood, with it being quiet where I was I decided to head along that way with him to try and connect, no sooner had we gotten there and located the Spotted' we then had a Pied Flycatcher feeding along the same stretch!! awesome.

 Pied Flycatcher

 Pied Flycatcher

 Spotted Flycatcher

The Pied was a first for the patch list but Spotted I had seen the previous autumn, but these are getting a much scarcer bird so it was good to connect in the spring.

My usual morning stints looking out to see have been producing a few new birds, the Fulmars are regular and 3 was seen on one day. A nice addition was a Med Gull mixed in with some  common gulls resting off shore.

 Med Gull

 Fulmar

 Fulmar

 Bar Tailed Godwit

A great spot was this Bar tailed Godwit which flew past, it was then spotted further along at Overstrand, the waders are few and far between so I was glad to of picked up on this flyby.

 Bar Tailed Godwit

 The Linnets have been passing in large numbers along with Goldfinches, this was a local bird though collecting nesting material.

Common Sandpipers 

Waders were obviously mocking me saying "few & far between" as I also added Common Sandpiper, this group of 4 birds were stopping and feeding on the sea groynes as they headed west.

 Common Sandpipers 

I had seen a pair of Red Kites on a couple of occasions, one time they circled low over the garden checking out the recently cut paddock behind for food. There have been a lot of butterflies on the wing too and the bats were venturing out more earlier in the evenings, the moth light will have to be gotten out again!

 Red Kite

 Red Kite

Red Kite

Busy Birding The Week.

 Glaucous Gull

The weather certainly got warm over the last week, although now it's raining as of writing!, and with the temperature came the birds. There were Swallows and Martins continually passing the cliff fronts and warblers calling from the scrubland. 

 Glaucous Gull

All along the coastline there were reports of Wheatear arriving,along with good numbers of Ring Ouzel, a bird which although I've seen, not in the Trimingham Patch area, despite looking it has eluded me so far!

 Wheatear

A handful of Wheatear were seen moving along the cliff front or hopping over onto the fields.

A lovely addition on two occasions were Whimbrel, one day as a fly over and then the next day one seen flying around the shoreline before distantly landing on the beach.

 Whimbrel

 Whimbrel

Chiffchaffs were calling all over the place, which is always pleasant, but they definitely had competition from the Blackcaps scattered around. Willow Warbler was also found but unable to photograph.

 Chiffchaff

 Chiffchaff

This fishing boat cast a great image on the sun lit sea.

 The Morning Catch

Moving to Trimingham the previous July I had missed out on the spring passage, and so was glad to see so many nice birds arriving, there were a handful of Lesser Whitethroat scattered around the scrub, always skulking around feeding they gave themselves up a few times.

 Lesser Whitethroat

  Lesser Whitethroat

  Lesser Whitethroat

  Lesser Whitethroat

Over the last few weeks we had been seeing plenty of Hares in the fields, this younger Hare was busy feeding in one of the clifftop fields, moving closer to me it then decided it was full enough to hunker down among the large clumps of ploughed earth.

 Hare

 Hare

And saving the best till last....at last a Ring Ouzel!

This beauty landed in the top of a nearby tree for just seconds before moving off along the coast, finally I can add it to the patch list.

Ring Ouzel