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August 2008
Saturday 30th August
Gave Sheringham Bird Obs a try this morning in the hope that some migrants might have started to appear. Judging from the reports from either side I think I arrive just a few seconds too late to see the 2 Balearic Shearwaters that were tracked from Cley to the east coast, but later on a single Sooty Shearwater flew west. Much later while I was checking for migrants a couple of fields away from the beach a quick scan of the sea revealed two incredibly close-in shearwaters moving east. I only got a glimpse as they passed a gap in the cliff but I think they were also Balearic (the same birds moving around the coast perhaps?). Frustrating as if I'd been on the cliff-top at that point I'd have had fantastic views of them and would have not only nailed the ID but probably got some nice photos to boot. A single Sooty Shearwater flew west and 1 Great and 3 Arctic Skuas. At least 2 Shags were on the sea and 2 Harbour Porpoises were easier to see thanks to the relatively calm conditions.
Passerine migrants were few and far between, but the bushes round the Barn were full of life and at least half a dozen species of warbler. Still, the highlight was no better than a Reed Warbler.
Friday 29th August
Fewer gulls at Houghton again today, but at least 1 Yellow-legged Gull still there. What do you think about the two birds in the third photo below?
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Yellow-legged Gull, Houghton, 29th August 2008
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Gulls, Houghton, 29th August 2008 - Herring or Yellow-legged? - please let me know what you think.
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Pyrausta aurata (left) and Harlequin Ladybird (right), Bawdeswell, 29th August 2008
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Green Carpet (left) and Tawny Speckled Pug (right), Bawdeswell, 29th August 2008
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??, Bawdeswell, 29th August 2008 - what's this? There are several spots of this on the wall and elsewhere in the room so I guess it's come from one of the moths, possibly a Large Yellow Underwing that had been in the area shortly before it appeared. Surely too much for moth droppings or blood, but what is it? Each spot is about half a cm across. |
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Thursday 28th August
Another lunch spent at the pig farm where today there were many more gulls than of late. Among them were at least 4 Yellow-legged Gulls. Also a group of 5 Buzzards circling overhead.
Tonight's moths included my first Vine's Rustic here and my first Small Square-spot.
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Buzzards, Houghton, 28th August 2008
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Lesser Black-backed Gull, Houghton, 28th August 2008
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Vine's Rustic (left) and Small Square-spot (right), Bawdeswell, 28th August 2008 |
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Wednesday 27th August
The gulls at Houghton were a bit awkward for viewing today so I struggled even more than usual, getting only brief views of most. At least 1 Yellow-legged Gull, but another 3-4 candidates that defied firm identification.
Tuesday 26th August
One or two adult Yellow-legged Gulls among the still diminshed gull flock at Houghton at lunch time. I've never been good at picking out juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls and am wondering about the bird shown below. Probably just a Lesser Black-backed but a few things make me wonder. Let me know if you have a view, please.
Back at the ranch there's a bit of an influx of Green Carpets and my first Tawny Speckled Pug appeared.
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Yellow-legged Gull (bottom right) and unidentified gull (other 3 images), Houghton, 26th August 2008
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Tawny Speckled Pug (left) and Green Carpet (right), Bawdeswell, 26th August 2008 |
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Monday 25th August
Although they're quite common at the Bintree end of my local patch I'd never seen Buzzards at Swanton Morley before today. This morning a group of 5 were circling over the wood behind Holkham Lake and then an hour or two later a sixth bird flew straight through. The other highlight was a couple of Otters on the far pool towards Billingford, the first time I've seen them here. A Snipe flew over and other overhead migrants included several flocks of hirundines and large numbers of gulls. Kingfishers continue to be very obvious here and other bits and pieces included Marsh Tit and Cetti's Warbler.
Nearby I stopped at Bylaugh to check through the gulls. There were over 100 Lesser Black-backs here today and with them another Yellow-legged Gull. A wisp of 8 Snipe flew over. I forgot to mention yesterday that a local chap stopped to have a chat to me while I was looking though the gulls here. We were talking about the birds he'd seen round there and he mentioned one particularly interesting observation. A while back he'd seen a pink bird among the starlings which he'd initially thought must be some sort of escaped cagebird. However when he looked it up he discovered that it was a Rose-coloured Starling. Apparently he mentioned it to a local "bird man" who had told him that you get them every year - he'd assumed he meant that you get them round here every year and had no idea how scarce they really are. I had noticed there were a lot of Starlings here in June and had mused to myself about the possibility of finding a Rosy here. Shame I didn't bump into this chap a couple of months earlier.
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Migrant Hawkers, Swanton Morley, 25th August 2008
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Yellow-legged Gull, Bylaugh, 25th August 2008
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Buzzzards, Swanton Morley, 25th August 2008 |
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PS: was wondering why Saturday's gulls and other photos taken with the Canon came out looking so oddly blue. When today's turned out the same I realised I'd got the thing on some dodgy white-balance setting. Doh!
Sunday 24th August
Had a look round Sparham Pools in the rain this morning. Not much doing but one bird was my first in the local area: an adult Yellow-legged Gull flew over. A Brown China-mark (moth) was my first.
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Square-spot Rustic, Bawdeswell, 24th August 2008 |
Brown China-mark, Sparham Pools, 24th August 2008 |
Saturday 23rd August
My failure to check the weather forecast last night meant that I wasn't at the coast to see the hordes of Balearic Shearwaters streaming past. Instead I had a lie in and then sat in bank holiday traffic for 2.5 hours to get to somewhere so close that you can see it from just up the road. And once I got there I wasted another 6 hours waiting for a bird that wasn't there.
Last weekend an Audouin's Gull turned up in Lincolnshire. About the 3rd (or 4th?) for Britain I figured I ought to make the effort to go and see this one, especially as it had the decency to wait around all week for me. Problem is it's been very irregular and hasn't been seen every day. Today it was seen in the morning and, as mid to late afternoon seems to be its most reliable time I headed off in the bank holiday traffic to see it then. Unfortunately today was one of the days it decided not to appear in the afternoon so this was a complete waste of time. The tedium of waiting for it not to appear was broken only by the occasional Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua and a Med Gull. A couple of false alarms saw us charge down the beach to where someone reckoned he'd seen it, but either his bird with a red bill, dark legs and dark wing-tips was a Black-headed Gull or it mysteriously vanished before anyone else could get on to it, despite there being several hundred people looking. A pitiful performance and a rubbish start to the bank holiday weekend.
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adult Mediterranean Gull (top & left) and Black-headed Gull (bottom right), Chapel Point, 23rd August 2008
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Arctic Skua, Chapel Point, 23rd August 2008 |
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Friday 22nd August
The only moth in tonight was a Setaceous Hebrew Character, my first this year. This Sparrowhawk posed nicely for me at lunchtime.
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juvenile Sparrowhawk, Coxford, 22nd August 2008
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Setaceous Hebrew Character, Bawdeswell, 22nd August 2008 |
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Wednesday 20th August
A few more moths again tonight though nothing remarkable.
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Common Marbled Carpet (left) and unidentified moth, perhaps another Agriphila tristella ?, Bawdeswell, 20th August 2008 |
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Tuesday 19th August
A Square-spot Rustic was new for the year:
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Square-spot Rustic, Bawdeswell, 19th August 2008 |
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Monday 18th August
Still struggling with gulls at Houghton, but they're reducing in numbers now. What are these two, and what age?
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Gulls, near Houghton, 18th August 2008 - Herring? or maybe Yellow-legged? Please let me know if you can tell me which and why.
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Grey Partridges, Houghton, 18th August 2008
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Yellow-barred Brindle, Bawdeswell, 17th August 2008
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Small China-mark, Bawdeswell, 18th August 2008 - at least I assume that's what it is though I've only seen much whiter individuals before; females are supposed to be browner than males.
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Agonopterix sp. (left) and Argyrotaenia ljungiana (right), Bawdeswell, 18th August 2008 - please let me know if you know if you can identify the Agonopterix (updated in 2010) |
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Sunday 17th August
Not one but two surprises this morning at Sparham Pools. First I heard a Wood Sandpiper calling in the distance. I'm not sure I would have trusted my ID on a brief and distant call muffled by the wind, but fortunately it was heading my way and I managed to see the necessary details as it went over. My first Wood Sand in the local area, though I've seen one further up the Wensum Valley (Coxford) before.
When I reached the far end it began to rain. Good job too because if I hadn't stopped to cover my camera I might not have seen the Bittern rising from the streamside vegetation beside me. It had a good fly around but I doubt if it went far in the rain. This is a most bizarre record in August - they turn up in odd places in the winter sometimes but is totally unexpected somewhere like this at this time of year. Presumably either a failed breeder or a dispersing juvenile?
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Bittern, Sparham Pools, 17th August 2008 | |
Saturday 16th August
The moulting Wood Duck remains elusive on Willow Lake at Swanton Morley - clearly a wild bird... Not a lot else there really, single Green and Common Sandpipers and the usual bits and pieces.
A wander round Bintree Woods produced few birds apart from 1 Buzzard but an Antler Moth was my first, Painted Lady and Migrant Hawkers were new for the year and a Udea lutealis was my first in the local area. I'm sure if the sun had come out a bit more it would have been better for insects but even so there were well over 100 Common Darters along one track and a plethora of hoverflies along another track.
Friday 15th August
Popped in briefly to see the Montagu's Harriers at lunchtime - adult female and 1 juvenile on show while I was there, which wasn't long. Must go back and spend a bit longer there soon...
This evening's moths included 2 Angle Shades - my first for Bawdeswell.
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Angle Shades (left) and Single-dotted Wave (right), Bawdeswell, 15th August 2008
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Moorhen, South Creake, 15th August 2008 |
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Thursday 14th August
75% of tonight's catch were new for the year: Silver Y wasn't, Flame Carpet, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and Marbled Beauty all were. The last two were new for the house, although they were among the relatively small number of moths that frequented my previous house in Norwich (in fact Marbled Beauty was one of the commoner species there, the only species that reached double figures in a single night).
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Flame Carpet (left) and Marbled Beauty (right), Bawdeswell, 14th August 2008
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Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Bawdeswell, 14th August 2008 |
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Wednesday 13th August
A Yellow-barred Brindle was the first one I've seen since moving to Bawdeswell.
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Yellow-barred Brindle, Bawdeswell, 13th August 2008 |
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Sunday 10th August
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Common Rustic or Lesser Common Rustic, Bawdeswell, 10th August 2008 |
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Saturday 9th August
Following on from last week's Redshank at Sparham Pools, this morning I found my first for Swanton Morley, my 120th species there. Determined to improve this place's reputation for dodgy wildfowl, the Blue-winged Goose remains, 2 Mallard x Egyptian Goose hybrids were back and fresh in from North America (perhaps), a tatty male Wood Duck. The latter behaved just like a wild bird, disturbed from vegetation overhanging the water's edge and quickly disappearing into some more. With the migratory population in the States and Canada doing well I can't believe that some of them don't turn up here. Still, short of a ringing recovery, our only hope of being able to count one in Norfolk is if enough of them escape to establish a self-sutsaining feral population.
Otherwise nothing more interesting than a couple of Marsh Tits and my first local Shoveler of the autumn.
Moths included my first Common/Lesser Common Rustic this year and another Drinker. I'm working on a technique for photographing Willow Beauties in flight - there were 6 of them in last night.
Friday 8th August
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Willow Beauty, Bawdeswell, 8th August 2008
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Willow Beauty (left) and Endotricha flammealis (right), Bawdeswell, 8th August 2008
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probable Aphodius rufipes, Bawdeswell, 8th August 2008 - amazing how big those wings are and how easily they're unfurled when it lifts the elytra flaps.
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unidentified moth, Bawdeswell, 8th August 2008 - please let me know if you can identify this. Two photos as the reflections from the flash burn out some of the detail, while the one taken without flash isn't so sharp and is affected by the unnatural house light colour. |
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Thursday 7th August
Not many large gulls at Houghton today - no more than about 30 Lesser Black-backs. Among them were 3 of Tuesday's Yellow-legged Gulls. Still a bit worried about these. In past years I've not struggled so much - they've always looked distinctive structurally and obviously darker than Herring. These don't look dark enough and I can look at them once and persuade myself the structure and jizz is OK and then look a second time and they look like Herring Gulls. Probably a case of looking too hard but I'd feel a lot better if there was a nice pale pink-legged Herring Gull there as well. They've all got yellow legs, but could that just be the mud?
On the moth front, an Evergestis pallidata was new for the year.
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Straw Dot (left) and Garden Rose Tortrix (right), Bawdeswell, 7th August 2008 - thanks to Nuytsia for suggesting the Tortrix ID |
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Tuesday 5th August
I noticed this evening that Helm ID guide to Gulls says for Herring Gull, "It is fierce-looking with a square head..." and then a bit further on, "Herring is rather heavy with evenly rounded head... Yellow-legged is more elegant with larger squarer head..." So if it's got a round square head it's a Herring Gull, and if it's got a square square head it's Yellow-legged, right?
I think part of my problem today was that I assume that the most numerous species are the commonest species. So when an apparent adult Yellow-legged Gull walks past two identical-toned birds I figure they can't all be Yellow-legged Gulls so they must be yellow-legged Herring Gulls (or normal pink-legged Herring Gulls that have spent too much time wading in pig swill). But on analysing the photos back home, and after pawing through Martin Garner's classic articles from 1997's British Birds, I think they were all Yellow-legged Gulls after all - indeed if I'm not much mistaken (and I might well be) there were no less than 6-7 Yellow-legged Gulls (and potentially several more that I didn't photograph in the 15 minutes I had there). I would appreciate others' feedback though, if you think these birds are identifiable from my photos (either way).
Much easier to identify was a puffy-necked juvenile Mediterranean Gull. I've not seen many juveniles so this was appreciated. Maybe I should ignore all the big gulls and concentrate on the easier littl'uns - about time I found Britain's first Brown-headed Gull...
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juvenile Mediterranean Gull, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Yellow-legged Gulls, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Yellow-legged Gull, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Yellow-legged Gull, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Herring or Yellow-legged Gull, near Houghton, 5th August 2008 - I'd put this one down as Herring but I'm not sure now.
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Lesser Black-backed Gull, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Herring Gulls, near Houghton, 5th August 2008
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Endotricha flammealis (left) and Agriphila tristella (right), Bawdeswell, 5th August 2008 - thanks to Nuytsia for suggesting the ID of the Agriphila |
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Monday 4th August
I've spent a few lunchtimes recently looking through the large gulls at a pig farm near Houghton but although I've had one or two likely suspects I've not found anything that's convinced me of being other than Lesser Black-backed or Herring. My ability to pick out odd gulls is sadly lacking so I've very likely overlooked the odd thing, but today there was one that I think has to be a Yellow-legged Gull. Mind you, the mantle wasn't all that dark and, well, I thought it was a Herring Gull until I noticed the legs were bright yellow. Could it just be a Herring Gull with yellow legs?
Moth numbers and variety seem to be on the decrease now, but new species are still trickling through. Today saw my first Lime-speck Pug and a couple of distinctive-looking things I can't identify (update 2010 - now identified as my first and only Timothy Tortrix and a Trachycera advenella).
Sunday 3rd August
Nearly passed off what I think was my first White-spotted Pug as a Wormwood Pug this evening. Another tentative first was a Least Yellow Underwing - would have been much easier if I'd seen its underwing. Yesterday's unidentified moth remains - another photo below if you can help; I'm thinking maybe Cloaked Minor? Please let me know if you can confirm any of these.
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White-spotted Pug (left) and Least Yellow Underwing (right), Bawdeswell, 3rd August 2008. Both of these identifications are a bit tentative - let me know if you can confirm.
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unidentified moth, perhaps Cloaked Minor?, Bawdeswell, 3rd August 2008 - please let me know if you can confirm what this is. |
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Saturday 2nd August
Wader passage is well underway and one lake at Sparham Pools held 3 Green Sandpipers and 1 Common Sandpiper, with a fourth Green calling from the larger lake behind with no public access (what else was lurking there...?). Better were a couple of waders that flew over when I arrived - a long-overdue patch tick: Redshank. Other than that not much to report, though a family party of 5-6 Grey Wagtails was nice.
Among tonight's fairly poor show of moths was an Orange Swift, my first since living here.
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Marsh Tit (left) and autumn colours (right), Sparham Pools, 2nd August 2008 - isn't it a bit early for the trees to be going this colour?
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Red Twin-spot Carpet (left) and Orange Swift (right), Bawdeswell, 2nd August 2008
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unidentified moth (left) and Harlequin Ladybird (right), Bawdeswell, 2nd August 2008 - if you can identify the moth please let me know |
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Friday 1st August
A Common Carpet was new for the year.
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Common Carpet (left) and Garden Carpet (right), Bawdeswell, 1st August 2008
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Red Twin-spot Carpet, Bawdeswell, 1st August 2008 |
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