30/1/09 Holme

A fairly brisk north-west wind and snowy conditions meant that I thought it would be worthwhile to spend the whole day at Holme. A morning seawatch at Gore point vindicated this decision, with a female Scaup west (only my 5th ever at Holme - this species has been remarkably scarce here in the past few years), a Great-northern Diver west, 4 adult Kittiwakes (2 west, 2 east), 2 drake Long-tailed Ducks on the sea, a drake Goldeneye east, a drake Eider east, 4 Red-throated Divers west, 5 Diver sp. west and 23 Fulmars west. Some cold-weather movement was obvious, with 450+ Fieldfares (350 NOA, 100 paddocks), 150 Redwings, 70 Blackbirds, 30 Song Thrushes and 110 Skylarks (30 Gore point, 20 west, 60 Thornham) noted. 14 Rock Pipits in Thornham harbour was a reasonable tally and 3 Stonechats were along the track and on the NOA reserve.

23/1/09 Holme

A pleasant enough morning at Holme, with a 1.25 hours seawatch from Gore point over the high-tide producing 21+ Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Great-northern Diver, 1 Goldeneye east, 7 Red-breasted Mergansers east, 3 Red-throated Divers east and 8 Fulmars west. 40 Snow Buntings flew along the beach. On the NOA reserve a Woodcock flew past the observatory, while at least 130 Fieldfares and 20 Redwings were in the carpark and 4 Rock Pipits were in Thornham harbour. In the afternoon I went to watch a 10-man Norwich City battle there way to a potentially crucial 3 points at home to Brentford but it cost me dear, as David Roche found a pair of White-fronted Geese back at Holme and a much-wanted patch tick slipped away.

Saddlebow aythya duck

I had this aythya duck at Saddlebow on the 9th. Having studied it in the field and looked at the following picture I believe it is probably a Scaup x Tufted Duck hybrid. Any comments please email me.

17/1/09 west Norfolk

A local walk produced nice views of a Short-eared Owl that was roosting fairly high up in a small stand of pine trees, although unfortunately it was obscured by branches from every angle. This was the first time I had ever seen a Short-eared Owl roosting in a tree and I had only ever heard of them roosting on the ground, but looking at BB and other references it appears it is more common than I thought, although still notable. A male Merlin also gave good views, perched up on a dead tree.

Spot the Short-eared Owl...

14/1/09 Sandringham

Another good view of a Woodcock from the bus today, again just south of Sandringham.