Norfolk & Cambs

28th and 29th spent in Norfolk, seeing my friend Sacha and not so many birds.

I did Burhman Overy Dunes on 28th, avoiding the twitchers looking for the Booted Warbler (which had gone) and the Barred Warbler (which was present but was hiding as I passed). Things I did see included one very active Redstart, one Whitethroat, one Garden Warbler,  three Chiffchaffs and a Hobby.  It was hard to dig anything out in the strong breeze - birds were keeping low in the patches of scrub and it took a lot of sitting, waiting and pishing to see what I did.

The 29th was spent flogging Blakeney Point, Sacha's local patch, to seek out any migrants.  We did pretty poorly with 1-2 Wheatears, two Stonechats,  two Song Thrushes and a Garden Warbler. Best was a group of four Spoonbills that went east down the Point early AM.

Good numbers of Pink-footed Geese seen on both days, moving along the coast, and I wonder about the origin of a party of four Barnacle Geese that I saw at Burnham.

Northern Wheatear, Blakeney Pt

My last bit of UK birding on 30th was spent at Fen Drayton RSPB in Cambridgeshire, which seemed to have more warblers than the coast!

Long-tailed Tit, Fen Drayton RSPB

Chiffchaff, Fen Drayton RSPB

25th Sept - a "Sibe" in Suffolk!

Went out this morning and things much more promising than yesterday.  I did Minsmere Sluice Bushes and scrapes from 6.15-8.15am. First notable bird was a juv Hobby that headed  north over the reserve as I made my way past South Hide. I also saw it again about 40 minutes later when it flew over East Scrape and put up a few birds, including the Pectoral Sandpiper, which I managed to get a record shot of (see below).

Pec

I checked the Public Hide where I failed to relocate the Pec but saw a few waders including a single Red Knot.  As I walked southwards along the beach to the Sluice I had several groups of Barn Swallows heading south, as well as about ten Song Thrushes which were obviously migrants.

The Sluice Bushes looked promising, with early morning sun and a few sheltered areas. Within five minutes I had located a Lesser Whitethroat at the north end of the bushes, whilst about 200 meters further south I entered the bushes and had brief views of a crest spp, and whilst trying to relocate it I glimpsed what I was 99% sure was a Yellow-browed Warbler - which immediately disappeared!  I could not relocate it despite some serious pishing (I momentarily considered playing Collared Owlet to trying and pull it in!!!). I returned to the north end of the Sluice Bushes as I had to leave, but saw the Lesser Whitethroat again and found that it had been joined by an Acro.  Whilst trying to photograph the Acro the Yellow-browed Warbler popped up and called then dived for cover, however it showed a couple more times in response to my pishing, and a female Blackcap showed briefly as well.

Nice to get a Yellow-browed - the first ones should be turning up at home in Bangkok about now!

Reed Warbler

24th Sept - Minsmere

Visiting Minsmere and surrounds with my mum for a couple of days, so snuck out pre-breakfast for some migrant action at the Sluice Bushes. After a night of strong ESE wind and rain, with mist forecast for dawn my expectations were rather high.  The Sluice Bushes however were totally devoid of birds  during the time I was there (until 7.30am), perhaps I was just too early?  The biggest interest came in the shape of a lone wader I picked up coming in-off in the company of a small group of Teal
it was a bit smaller than Teal but not much. From below there was obvious demarcation between brown chest and white belly. Upper parts had not obviously strong wing bar. The bird eventually peeled off from the duck and decked, I went to East hide but all I could find was a distant wader (no scope, and only 7x binos)  with apparently orangey legs, so made the assumption it was my bird and it was a ruff...but...I went back a bit later once the light improved and found that my "ruff" was in fact a Redshank, so I actually never saw the original bird on the deck.

I think it was a Pec (there has been one around Minsmere for a while) but can't claim it on those views :o(

Later in the day visited Minsmere again with my mum.  Got to North Hide as an extensive pulse of rain filtered in  on a strong ESE wind. We sat it out for a while, with a few hirundines  providing the only interest, and lots of duck.  Eventually we made a dash for the reserve HQ and hid inside munching chocolate cake and spending lots of money on things I would never buy unless the profit went to conservation.  The rain got heavier, and with not much else to do we drove to Sizewell, Thorpeness and Aldeburgh (for me to case these areas out as I'm not very familiar with Suffolk birding sites). The only birds of note where a large flock of hirundines over a lake in Thorpeness which I grilled before they climbed high and disappeared southwards, but I also picked up a group of about ten Brent Geese heading north off shore at Aldburgh.  The rain cleared and the wind switched SW.  I started getting SMS messages from Sacha in Norfolk saying that a fall was taking place in Norfolk. Let's see if there is anything to come from the switching conditions tomorrow morning in Suffolk... 

Sunday 23rd Sept - Rainham

Arrived in UK Saturday, went to James and Sharons place for immensely enjoyable dinner and bottle of vino, got up pre-dawn Sunday and dipped Baillon's Crake at Rainham RSPB (what a fab reserve!).  Did see a few birds there including Lesser Whitethroat and a few Blackcaps, Reed and Sedge Warbler,  several Yellow-legged Gulls and a group of seven Yellow Wags.

Goreme, day 3

Excellent morning's birding in "Pigeon Valley" with lots and lots of migrant passerines seen including at least 30 Spotted Flycatchers, 50 Blackcaps, 30 Common Redstarts, five Garden Warblers, two Red-backed Shrikes and singles of Icterine Warbler, Common Nightingale, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat.

Other notables seen included five Syrian Woodpeckers, at least four pairs of Western Rock Nuthatch, single Rock Bunting, 30+ European Bee-eaters, two Long-legged Buzzards, a 3cy male Marsh Harrier, two Cetti's Warblers and a single Black Redstart.

Syrian Woodpecker

Spotted Flycatcher

Rock Bunting

Common Redstart

Long-legged Buzzard

juv Euro Bee-eater

juv Red-backed Shrike

Goreme, day 2

Rather a fabulous day today, mostly because it started with a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the amazing landscape that is Cappadoccia.  This was my first balloon ride so I have nothing to compare it to, but I can easily belive the hype that this is one of the best locations in the world for balloning.

Whilst birding and wildlife played second fiddle to the immense and spectacular landscape I was pretty happy to score a couple of pairs of Western Rock Nuthatches from the balloon, as well as a Red Fox.

The afternoon was spent exploring "Pigeon Valley" just outside Goreme where the birding produced a nice world tick in the form of a male Syrian Woodpecker as well as perhaps 20 Spotted Flycatchers, several groups of European Bee-eaters, two female Black Redstarts, five Blackcaps, plus a male Blue Rock-thrush and twenty or so Alpine Swifts around the top of Uchisar Castle.

Goreme, central Turkey

Early AM flight to Kayseri and transfer to the remarkable "fairy chimney" landscape of Cappadoccia around the village (aka developing tourist trap) of Goreme. The only highlight of the drive to Goreme was a group of approximately seven Calandra Larks flying low over the car.

An exploration of the outdoor museum, which includes a series of 200 rock-hewn churches dating back to the 11th century, revealed some avian interest in the form of ochruros Black Redstart, two Rock Buntings, a single Rock Petronia, several pairs of Western Rock Nuthatch, Blackcap, 50+ Alpine Swifts,  brief views of an unidentified lark spp, and several Spotted Flycatchers.

Western Rocker

Rocker Spage