No-show at Buckenham...

Linda and I grabbed an early breakfast, before driving the short distance to Buckenham Marsh. Despite a good search through the flocks of Wigeon, Teal and Shovelers, we failed to locate last night's Grey Phalarope - a terrfic local find for Steve Smith. Only birds of interest were a female Garganey and a white Pheasant: plenty of Little Egrets, Marsh Harriers, Kites and Chinese Water Deer.

Good to bump into Martin, a fan of Linda's honey, and Jonathan, with whom I taught at Mundesley around 25 years ago!

Desert Wheatear at Cley

Despite the drizzle (and still feeling decidedly under the weather) we headed north to Cley, parking at the beach to search for the long-staying Desert Wheatear. Having failed to find this dapper little chat last week, we were delighted to discover it feeding on the pill box. We spent an hour watching this confiding individual: we stood still and let it come to us!

A large flock of Golden Plover on the Eye Field and a mixed wader flock on the beach were noteworthy, before we drove round to the VC and walked out to Bishop's. Almost the first bird we saw was a Water Pipit, which we quickly realised was associating with four others, a Meadow Pipit and a Snipe! (A 'frosty' Stonechat was interesting...)

After tea at the VC, we walked out to the sea along the East Bank: just a nice flock of Pintail on the Brackish Marsh, a few Razorbills and lots of juvenile Gannets: and so home!

Through the murk...

Always nice to see a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the garden, albeit through a rain-spattered window, dense foliage and persistent drizzle!

Full Moon

As always: the full Moon is a beautiful sight in the Autumn sky - until the clouds began to bubble up, the visibility was excellent. (You can plainly see that the rays from the young crater Tycho pass right around the Moon: what an impact that must have been!) Saturn is below and to the left...

A day off full!

The nearly-full Moon was hanging just above the eastern horizon when I got up this morning: it always looks much bigger when it's low in the sky...

A Nutcracker in Mundesley!

Back in September I posted on the blog that younger birders might finally get to 'unblock' Nutcracker this Autumn: I hadn't anticipated the opportunity would occur in Norfolk! Linda and I left as soon as we could, but parking was already a little problematical. A large crowd (including most of the well-known locals) had already assembled, trying to glimpse the bird through gaps between the houses: after half an hour or so the Nutcracker obliged by perching in a Birch tree for perhaps a minute. 

One little thought: there were a number of people in the best spots who'd seen the bird several times - down to just a couple of metres. It would have been considerate if they'd've moved on as newcomers arrived...

Vaccinated

Being such an old geezer, I was easily persuaded to have both the 'flu and covid vaccines yesterday. Today I feel like I have a good dose of both: I'm glad the weather is too bad for birding, because I certainly couldn't drive!

Moonshot!

Somewhat softened by the thin haze, the waxing gibbous Moon was a beautiful sight in the south east at 19.30 tonight. I've named a few interesting craters towards the south polar region.

Rose-coloured Starling at Happisburgh

Linda and I drove north through a busy Wroxham to the fast-disappearing village of Happisburgh (pronounced 'Haze- bru'!) The juvenile Rose-coloured Starling that had eluded Brian, Norman and me yesterday was allegedly showing quite well, so - despite the gloomy weather forecast - we thought we'd have a bash. In fact, we didn't have to wait at all: the charming little 'yellow-billed biscuit' was grovelling around a couple of pallets of bricks, on which it eventually perched. It flew off for an hour, returning to pose on a phone wire before being chased to the far side of the field by a pugnacious Blackbird.

Bonus year tick was a drake Velvet Scoter: no photo, but a kind birder let me have a good look through his 'scope.

Two good Wheatears, but only one photo op.!

With strong easterlies and a male Desert Wheatear reported from Cley at sunset, we started at the 'Beach Hotel' at dawn. Lots of waiting around and some walking led to the conclusion that the target had decamped overnight. However, the pager announced that a female DW was showing by the lifeboat shed at Wells, so we sped westwards, paid the parking fee (enough to redecorate the nearby loos!) and joined a small crowd. After a longish spell enlivened by a Merlin, several Guillemots and a Red-throated Diver, we eventually saw the bird in flight, it having been disturbed by a couple of joggers. (A pale warbler was interesting: was it 'just' a Lesser Whitethroat?)

We elected to return to Cley for coffee, before heading east to Happisburgh, where we quickly realised that the reported Rose-coloured Starling wasn't going to add itself to the list. Accordingly we carried on to Winterton where a longish trek through the southern valley finally gave us a delightful Isabelline Wheatear: good to share it with local birders Alan, Mike & Ian... and so home!