What a big bill!

Finally the winds seem to be changing this Autumn. If not exactly a rush, then a steady dribble of some continental waifs and strays are starting to arrive on our shores. A few weeks ago it was noted that there were good numbers of parrot crossbills on the near continent, and it was hoped they might start coming over here. This weekend a large arrival happened, with flocks of over a dozen, and in one case over 20 birds, appearing in woodlands on the east side of the country. Parrot crossbills are regular migrants to our shores, but not all years have large twtichable flocks of them. This year looks like it may be one of them.
I set out fairly early to get to Santon Downham for about 8. This is in the Brecklands of Norfolk, not far from Lakenheath. The instructions were to a picnic site, which turned out to be a car park in a clearing in a wood.

The weather when I arrived was foul. The rain was pelting down, not conducive to birding in a wood. Fortunately though the car park has a large toilet block with an overhanging roof which made for a rudimentary bird hide. I had been studying the trees without any success for about 10 minutes when another birder turned up. Quite soon after we got the first bird, a brief fly over which could have been anything but gave  a distinctive chipping call. After another 10 minutes and the arrival of a third birder, three birds flew in and perched in the top of a nearby pine tree.

Parrot crossbills are cousins of our common crossbills but are slightly larger, have a slightly different call and most characteristically have a damn great big beak. It is incredibly large and strong.

You can almost make it out in this closer crop of the birds above. You can also see two males, the red birds, and one female, the greener one on the right.

That large bills is a bit clearer on this shot, really broad at the base making it well suited for prising apart pine cones, their favoured food.

By now, the crowds were starting to arrive, though the rest of the flock of around 25 birds were not around (though they did turn up later in the day).

I decided to move on and head for the coast, where there was another target for my year list on offer. This was at Landguard on the Suffolk coast, near Felixstowe and the container docks.

I've had quite bit of success here recently, including the red-throated pipit in September. This time I was after the slightly less exotic Iceland Gull. This is a classic winter arrival, and is termed a "white-winger" having no dark feathers in its wings or body and giving it a ghostly appearance in flight.
On arrival though, the first bird I encountered was a delightfully confiding snow bunting on the beach. It let you get down to a few feet away while it fed in the marram grass.

There was also a slightly more skittish purple sandpiper on the old jetty, feeding in the seaweed between the waves.

My tiger though, the Iceland gull, was a lot harder to pin down. Whilst looking at the bunting myself and another couple of birders saw it flying further down the beach. It was unmistakable, a bright white gull compared to the grey and brown congeners around it. Unfortunately though it was flying away from us. I waited around for an hour but it didn't come back so I drove off to the town itself. Some nice beach huts took my attention then suddenly it was there again, flying further down the promenade towards the shops of the town centre. I relocated again to the pier, chips shops and amusement arcades. There were lots of gulls around and I got my final very brief of the white-winger as it flew off out to sea. Didn't want to play, so I set off home. Those two took mw up to 268 for the year. 300 is way too far off, but another lifer and a few ticks and I should be able to get close to 275 or even 280. Lets get those east winds blowing!!!

Wading through mud

This has been a very strange Autumn. With my new 3 days a week at work regime I was hoping to really get close to 300 for my year list. After a strong September, October and now November have been really tough. The weather systems have been totally against dropping anything rare in from the continent and the lack of easterly winds has meant sea watching has been awful. Consequently my list has almost stalled. The mid 260's which is not bad but not were I wanted to be mid September.
So, more in hope the expectation, I headed off to Norfolk this morning. There had been strong northerly winds last night which might have resulted in some displaced auks, skuas or shearwaters relocating back up the North sea past Cley beach. At least, that was the theory.

Unfortunately the weather was gorgeous. The weather system had moved through early doors resulting in a flat calm sea and despite an overnight frost, pleasant temperatures. Trouble was, there were no birds! Nothing, or almost nothing was moving past. Over 3 hours, and in the company of a birder, Jerry, who has retired up to Norfolk from Croxley Green, we saw a few divers and scoter but nothing else. A seal kept us marginally amused but it moved on as well.

On the beach we did get a small flock of snow buntings fly past but they didn't top. Stonechats and goldfinches were pottering about on the edge but otherwise the land was as quiet as the sea.

I gave up about 10.30 and via stopping at our favourite farm shop for essential supplies (fish and pheasants) I just headed to Titchwell to see what was going on there. Despite being packed out with visitors as usual there was not much else on the rare front to be had there either. It is always a good place for getting close to the commoner birds so I headed to the beach where it was low tide.

At Titchwell this means opening up large areas of prime feeding grounds for waders and it didn't disappoint with lots of birds feeding on he mussel beds. I pretty much got the whole set of the common waders you would expect.

There were very good numbers of turnstones, which are also the easiest to get close to as they focus on prising up juicy morsels from the mud.

On the small size, dunlins were present but not in large numbers, and now in their plain winter plumage without the black belly of Summer, and a few ringed plovers were skittering around looking for small crustacea.

Going up in size, and from top to bottom, I also had knot, in good number but spread out, redshank, mainly on the marshes other than the beach, and a very few grey plover.

Ever present on the coast around here, oystercatchers seemed more intent on getting their plumage into good condition than feeding. They were very vocal though if I ever got too close to them!

Both godwits were also going over the mussel beds in search of lunch. Its gave a good chance to compare and contrast them in Winter plumage. The top two photos are black-tailed godwits - larger, straight bills and a plain plumage. Bottom two are the smarter, in my eyes anyway, bar-tailed godwits. Smaller, slightly upcurved bill,  and a more mottled plumage.

Finally, and our largest wader, is the Eurasian curlew, with its giant down curved bill. I think there were more on the mussel beds than I've see before, which is good as they are actually becoming a red listed species in the UK due to a decline in their numbers. Being large, they were also a bit easier to get in flight as they moved around.

Finally, a bird you would not have seen even a few years ago there are a couple of little egrets joining in the low tide fun.

A nice day, and sometimes good to take time to look at the common stuff rather than chasing the rares. Still, would be nice to get a few good birds before the year is out!