What a month October turned out to be...despite Covid !

 The month turned out to be a productive one and an eventful one too, with migrants on the move, mild weather and to add a back problem that keeps flaring up and to top it off Sarah and I both got Covid ! It was a month to remember for sure.

October started with a few sightings of Swallow and House Martins. Skylarks were passing over the house in small groups or single birds, on the sea the Red throated divers were increasing. On the 2nd there were lots of groups of House Martins heading west, increasing numbers were also seen further up the coast too. A fox was seen hunting on the cliff slopes, pouncing on presumably voles or mice.

I also saw my first Stonechat of the autumn.

On the 9th I saw a Hobby fly past the house, with so many house martins about it wouldn’t go hungry!

I had a single goose fly towards the house from the sea and it turned out to be a White fronted Goose, just the second time I had seen that species on the Trimingham patch.

With the weather holding out there were still butterflies coming to the garden along with Hummingbird Hawkmoth and Brimstone.

A Basking Shark was reported heading east from Cley, so I spent a while scanning the seas in hope of connecting but unfortunately I was not to be lucky. A lot of finches moved along the coast during the second week along with Pipits and a count of 12 Blue tits in the garden was a great sight, no doubt dropping off on their migration to feed up.

House Martins were still being seen passing into the second week.

On the 13th whilst on the morning dog walk we saw an estimated 500 or more Starlings passing over in groups! Also noticeable were an increase in Blackbirds, mostly 1st winter birds ( plumage is more dusky black and the bill colour is black unlike the bright adult bill colour) and Mistle thrushes were seen and heard a lot.

Redwing started to flock across the sea, and I could see increasing numbers from the 14th to the 19th, the biggest group of around 50 or so was soon to be beaten the very next day on the 20th. The worsening weather greeted the hundreds of thrushes that were seen coming in off the sea and flying straight to cover for rest and feeding, the garden was alive with blackbirds, the odd song thrush but mostly all redwings. A group of 30 Lapwing was a decent number and probably the largest I’d seen from the garden. As the weather cleared somewhat, I picked up on a Black Redstart that was feeding around the rear of the garden and alighting the neighbouring roof tops, my second sighting of one of these from the garden.

The ever increasing flock of small birds in the clifftop field, made up of around 400 or so Linnets and a hundred or so Chaffinches, I also saw a lot of Meadow Pipits and a couple of Brambling mixed in. A lovely sight watching them all take to the air.

On the 21st I got word of a Yellow Browed Warbler along Church Road, so I headed out to try and get a sighting of a favourite little bird. I spoke to the finder before he left me to search on my own, unfortunately I did manage to find the bird, so I presumed it had moved on, but I would check over the next few days just in the hope it was still around. A worthy substitute  was a lovely little Firecrest which sort of made up for not seeing the warbler.

On the next day whilst Sarah and I were cutting up wood at the bottom of the garden, Sarah noticed 1 couple of Buzzards over the clifftop, then sighting 3 more large birds coming into view from the coast and heading straight overhead, these 3 turned out to be Ravens! Typically I had no camera to hand but what a great sight to see 3 pass over the garden. 

On the 24th I stepped out of the house early morning, the skies were dark and grey and low cloud, I then glanced up and to my surprise saw a Swift bird flying past, I eagerly went to get my binoculars for better views but the light was making it just a silhouette, but even so seeing a swift at this time of year immediately got me thinking of a Pallid Swift, a scarce swift that regularly visits our shores, usually at this time of the year or into November, and usually after our common swifts have long departed. A few hours later I heard a report of a Pallid Swift being seen at Sheringham! Surely it must have been the bird I saw from the garden?

Over the next couple of days birds were still moving over, Canada Goose and Barnacle geese were the first of the autumn, a single snipe flew in from over the sea. On the 25th a report of a Pallas’s Warbler in the clifftop wood was too good a bird not to go and see. The last one I had seen was a bird I found along Church road which showed well, this bird on the other hand was very elusive, giving itself up to a few people high in the tree canopies I had to wait nearly an hour before it called above my head in the tree top, 3 times it called giving itself away, before we caught a brief glimpse of it moving around feeding and then it vanished. I had to leave shortly after but it stayed elusive for the remainder of its stay that afternoon and was not seen the next day.

And now back to the Pallid Swifts, there now appeared to be up to 4 birds that were ranging between Sidestrand, Overstrand, Cromer and Sheringham, they just never seemed to push this far along the coast, but I was hopeful, indeed there were a lot of Pallid swifts that had ventured into the Uk with the mild weather we were experiencing. Then on the 28th I watched 2 swifts approaching the house! The light wasn’t particularly great but better than last time and indeed I could now see that they were Pallids. I could now definitely add this to the Trimingham Patch and Garden Lists. 

They didn’t hang about, moving off over towards the sea to feed.

The last time I had put out my moth trap was the 2nd July 2021 !  With reports of migrant moths being seen around the UK I decided to give it a go and although the damp was so heavy I thought it had rained overnight, I managed to get a fair amount of moths in the trap and added 2 new species for the garden list, one was a migrant moth that I hadn’t seen before, so I was pleased. The Garden Moth list now stands at 255 macro species.

Mallow

Scarce Bordered Straw

This brings me to the last day of October, Sarah shouted at me from the garden….SWIFT ! I got out into the garden in a hurry to see another sighting of a Pallid Swift drifting past the garden, the light was somewhat better than previous encounters and this time Sarah bought the camera to hand in time for a photo or two before it drifted off east along the coast. What a month that turned out to be, and the Trimingham Patch Bird list now stood at 192 species and my garden bird list stands at 120 species.

 

The Geese Return !

 September '22

I was able to get out on the first day of the month and already it seemed as though birds were on the move, the weather was obviously favourable. There were one or two Pied Flycatchers still present, but still preferring the tree canopies to feed in and staying hidden for most of the time.

I was most pleased to see 2 or 3 Garden Warblers on the same day too, a pretty plain looking bird and one that can be quite elusive and hard to see, so imagine my delight to photograph them eating elderberries!

Garden Warbler

Notice the large eye and the greyish collar, an elegant bird though. There were a few Chiffchaffs moving along the hedgerows busily feeding. Buzzards and Red Kites were seen heading along the coast, Med Gulls were still showing in large numbers overhead and on the sea. And a Peregrine flew past the garden, it's been a while since I had seen one go over.

On the 3rd Sept, I watched 8 Bee-eaters head over Church Road heading west, despite them leaving the quarry they were still moving around not quite ready for the journey south, but some time later I heard of a report of the group over Minsmere, Suffolk so they were heading in the right direction!

Male Blackcap

A couple of male Blackcaps fed on elderberries and blackberries after I watched the Bee-eaters pass over, a single Pied Fly was still hanging around too.

Pied Fly

On the 5th the warblers kept moving through, I had a couple of Lesser Whitethroat, a Hobby passed over the garden heading south, along with 15 or so Buzzards heading in the same direction. On the 6th Golden Plover and Whimbrel were seen over the garden heading along the coast. On the 14th, after seeing a Grey Wagtail pass over the garden I decided to do the rounds. A group of mixed birds moving through the trees included Goldcrest, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Long tailed tit and Coal Tit.

Goldcrest

Long tailed tit

Chiffchaff

It can be tricky watching little warblers flitting among the leafy canopies, that was no exception on the 14th, there were a lot of Chiff/Willow warblers along the lanes. The chiffchaff if calling could be labelled, the Willow warblers were a lot brighter yellow in the plumage and normally paler legs than the chiffchaff darker leg colour, but some willows may show darker legs and paler feet! The bill on the chiffchaff (top image) is darker than the paler orangey bill on the willow (images below) and the supercilium (stripe over eye) is yellower and longer on the willows. 

Willow Warbler

And to add to the tally of birds a Common Redstart fed along the lane edges, when it wasn't being chased off by a Robin that is.

Common Redstart

On the 19th a familiar sound was heard and a sign of autumn's arrival.

The Pink Footed Geese had returned!

By the end of the month we were seeing hundreds pass over every day, how nice to hear them moving over us again.

On the 20th I was able to get my 190th bird species for Trimingham !

News of a Red Flanked Bluetail at the Kearns site was just too awesome a bird to not see anywhere. I had what was a brief probable sighting, but just a silhouette before having to leave the site. I then went back in the afternoon to try and see this bird, it had been seen alighting the fence on a couple of occasions but never when I was able to see it. A bird that is very similar in shape and size as a robin, being a 1st winter/female type bird it will appear as a little brown shy elusive bird, but with decent views the blue tail, white throat patch and orangey red flanks can be seen...if you're lucky that is. After around 3 hours I finally grabbed a decent close view of this beauty, the throat patch, flank colour and tail all seen perfectly, but as I was going for the camera it was chased away by a Robin out of sight. But I had been able to get a decent view so couldn't be happier, it was not seen the next day!

This was the 3rd Red Flanked Bluetail I had seen in the UK and all elusive. These images I took below are of a bird at Salthouse back in 2014. You can see the size and shape, blue tail and in the second image the white throat and orangey/red flank.

The weather started to change for the worse as the month drew on with strengthening winds and rain, but when I managed to get out I was able to see my first Brent Geese and Red throated divers of the autumn. 

Willow Emerald Damselflies were once again seen in the garden.

The 2 male Blackcaps were replaced by 2 female ones.

And a second sighting of a Peregrine Falcon as it flew southeast past the house.

What a month!

August 2021

 August was a split month for the weather, the start was warmer than expected or indeed forecast and then the last half took a grey and windy turn for the worse, but I still managed to obtain some decent sightings and photographs. First up at the start of August was a message of 15 Spoonbills heading east along the coast from Cley, Spoonbill was a new species for me to see here or from the garden but I haven't managed to get a photograph of any as of yet, so as the birds were being tracked along the coast and they reached Cromer still heading my way along the coast I took my Dad, staying at the time, and headed for the clifftops and looked towards Overstrand eagerly awaiting their arrival. It wasn't long before we distantly saw the group all lined out following the cliffs, as they reached Trimingham they seemed to head inland....!! It seemed I wouldn't be getting any photos this time either. But they came back into view and seemed like they couldn't decide on what direction to take, just circling around, luckily they kept to the shoreline and proceeded towards me. 

Happily I now have my Spoonbill photos.

On the 7th Sarah and I watched a lone Red Deer along the lanes towards Gimingham, and also a single Banded Demoiselle along Church Road. I had a few sightings of Curlew moving along the coast during the second week. 

During the warmer days at the start of the month it was very noticeable that Peacock butterflies were having a fantastic year. I have never seen so many, the garden seemed full of them, along with a couple of Commas and Small Tortoiseshell and just one or two Painted Lady's.

This Southern Hawker rested up in our holy tree for a short time.

And a Banded Demoiselle kept hanging around the garden one afternoon, a real delicate and beautifully coloured Damselfly.

My second only Garden Tiger moth (both being seen in Trimingham) this one was crossing the lane on our morning walk, I carefully placed it amongst the side verges.

The second half of the month saw the winds pick up and blow in continuously from the North, sea birds and wildfowl started to move through in numbers, Gannets, Wigeon, Teal and quite a few numbers of Skuas were being reported from along the coast, but mainly distant. Double figures of Swallow passed the coastline on the 21st, probably the last ones to be seen this year?

In July we saw a remarkable number of Mistle Thrushes together, and on the 29th we counted another 9 together heading southeast. Not a packed month I thought but remembering the Spoonbills made it a rewarding one until the last day of the month that is....it all escalated then!

On the morning of the 31st Sarah said to me that she had seen a bird flit over the garden fence into the neighbours, not sure what it was she described the tail as being a red colour, I thought Redstart or Black Redstart, the latter would be new for the garden if it was still hanging around, and sure enough as if on cue the bird flew onto a shed roof and displayed  itself as a Common Redstart, still a lovely bird and only the second one from the garden. I rushed inside to get my camera to get a photograph, it had probably just arrived that morning and as I clicked off a few images it was to be the start of 40 minutes of awesomeness! Not only did it hang around but it began to feed and pose around our garden, over 400 photos later it flew off. What a momentous visit though.

Being a newly arrived bird I thought that I would go and check around the churchyard to see if any other birds had dropped in.

Heading into the churchyard after the episode with the Redstart I was eager to see if maybe a Pied Flycatcher had arrived too. I moved onto the east side and having only been there a minute I saw a bird flit out from under the small yew bush, catch an insect and then zip back in. I picked up on buffish colours on the underparts and thought maybe it was the redstart again, but it was slightly smaller and as it flew out of cover again I immediately saw white in the tail, not a redstart then, and I knew  that I was watching a Red Breasted Flycatcher. Panic set in and I ran straight home, just across the road, to get my camera, this was another species I had seen before and in Trimingham but a photo had eluded me so far. I headed back towards the churchyard and met a fellow birder/friend at that precise moment and eagerly stated "Red Breasted Flycatcher".... we moved on around the church and I located it still in the same yew bush feeding. For the next hour we patiently waited to see this lovely little, elusive and flighty bird move around the trees and give itself up every now and again but it was dull and it kept to darker areas of the trees causing a lot of manual adjustment settings on the camera to be made and a big headache,  happily for me I managed to grab a couple of photographs. It was mentioned that this was the first one to be seen this year which put a silver lining to the day and indeed month.