So 1st September was a day I'll always remember as it was the day I had my first Whinchat on the patch. Only handfull of sightings for this species per year recorded this far up the Yare valley so one I've had on my list but knew it was gonna be a bit of luck to be there when it was passing through on its migration .I watched this Whinchat for a good hour as it fed , sitting among the tops of the vegetation , sometimes tricky to pick up if lost briefly . Put the news out and nice to hear a good number of other local birders connecting with it throughout the afternoon/evening and over the next day. Sadly it had gone come Sunday morning but most had had there moment with it and I hope it's not the last one I'll see here , although hopefully I'll not wait another 8 years to see one here though !This was my 119th Species for the patch.
 |
| Whinchat - 119th patch species |
Other things of note during September at the patch was again the slowly increase of wildfowl numbers and Lapwings too with the Highest count of Lapwings hitting 66 . The Cormorants are occasionally seen here on the west shingle beach area(usually 2-3) but during this month numbers went from 3 birds to 15 on the 11th September. This was a patch high count for my self.
The Kingfisher was again seen on all but 1 occasion through September and 2 were seen on one day. Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzards were seen on every visit and House Martins were seen flying over and sometimesstopping off going over the broad , no doubt feeding up on migration!
 |
| Lapwings |
 |
| Cormorants |
Also at the patch both species of the common Woodpeckers were actively calling and seen ,with one day producing sights of a pair of Green and Gt spotted on the same day.
The Cettis Warbler numbers calling was up from 3 to 5 which is more like the regular count for here.
Now away from the Patch .On the 15th during the heavy down pour and not being able to work I thought of somewhere nearby with a Hide...I decided to pop into Buckenham Marshes on the off chance of something interesting.
I watched the Avocets feeding with a couple Little Egrets passing over and then heard calling Kingfisher from outside, I quickly opened the door to catch it flew over east. Then bird of the day , as i saw bird out of the corner of my eye, drop on to the ground from over the river bank. Once it appeared again I was able to see clearly it was a Wheatear. A nice bird on any day this time of year in and around the Yare Valley. I watched it as it quickly flew off across the marsh.
 |
| Wheatear |
Now to my visit to Winterton on the 13th for some Seawatching -
I decided it was that time of year that I got my self out to the coast for some seawatching. I did a few visits autumn last year and needed to polish up on the little I had learned. The stormy weather which was blowin strongly from the west may bring some good things moving but of course may not bring them close in to the east coast where I was .
I wasn't alone as there was another birder already set up and was quickly finding out what had been seen early doors. Barry and other birder had Good numbers of Manx Shearwaters and some 7x Long Tailed skuas among other bits so was positive about seeing something good myself.
Finally as September closed in I got to head to the patch for one final visit on the 26th . I was listening to a calling Cettis warbler when drawn to a small tree near the Mooring area, of a call of a bird I didn't quite recall. As I stood there I heard the bird and then saw it briefly as it came to the top,it was what I believed to be a Ring necked Parakeet. I watched as it flew out and along river and dropped into the Conservation area at WhitlinghamCountry Park. I checked the call which I recorded on the phone of this bird when back in van against a couple of recorded calls off the internet and sure it is and not another Parakeet species. Another patch tick (no.120). I picked up a large Tit Flock as I left which contained Goldcrest and my first Marsh Tit of the year as I walked back to the bridge.
Along with West Ham finally getting some good results,picking up a couple of wins, this was a great month!
Happy Birding,
Ricky
No comments:
Post a Comment