Between the 1st and 8th September 2024 we were lucky to witness an unprecedented and amazing spell of birding here in Norfolk. Each autumn our attention switches to the weather charts, looking for patterns that are likely to produce arrivals of migrants drifted across the North Sea. Mostly these are fairly small events, and it is always difficult to predict how good any ‘chart’ will be and what species might be involved. In recent years, with declining bird numbers, often you might go out and only see one or two migrants but they might both be rarities that have travelled farther. The big falls of so-called ‘common migrants’ tend to be fewer and farther between – whether that is only linked to declining populations or also changing weather patterns due to climate change is hard to be sure of. The events that unfolded over the last week though were quite special and produced a fall of migrants like nothing we’ve witnessed in the last two decades at least. Read on for Ashley’s account of an amazing few days!

1ST SEPTEMBER

Nick and I headed out to the Norfolk coast on this, the first day of the spell of winds with an easterly element. A nice high pressure area had now developed over Scandinavia (the origin of our East coast drift migrants here in Norfolk) but on our side of the North Sea, we were bathed in clear blue sky and warm sunshine. Normally in these conditions, birds keep going and other than the odd thing here and there, not much is likely to make landfall. We instead normally hope for poor visibility caused by mist or rain to ground birds that have just made the sea crossing (encouraged to do so by the fine weather on the other side). But the 1st did not follow this form book!

Nick and I made a leisurely start at around 1130 and made the first circuit of our chosen area of coastal dunes and scrub. 3 Whinchat, 3 Willow Warbler and singles of Pied Flycatcher and Redstart were very encouraging and a Dotterel called four times as it flew west high above us unseen in the blue sky. We felt that little tingle of excitement that maybe something was going to happen and as we walked round the same area of bushes again, an extra Pied Fly and now a Spotted Fly had appeared – game on! 

Spotted Flycatcher newly arrived under blue skies

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FRIDAY 23^RD AUGUST – Strong westerly winds and sunshine

The weather was rather interesting for our planned trip to Snettisham this morning for the big tide, with a system quickly crossing the country and pulling in temporarily gale-force winds after a pulse of rain had moved through in the early hours. We set off from base just before 7am with a packed breakfast and drove down to the reserved parking area at Snettisham, seeing our first flocks of waders whirling over The Wash in the wind as we went. Standing on the shore and scoping was not going to be possible so we opted to get bedded in at Rotary Hide and have breakfast and coffee in there while watching the tide race in. We could see squadrons of many hundreds of Oystercatchers and Black-tailed Godwits heading for the pits and huge flocks of Knot and the odd Grey Plover further out, but birding wasn’t easy in a packed hide and so once we’d seen off breakfast we headed on foot further down, to the South Screen.

White-rumped Sandpiper, Snettisham 23rd August

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WEDNESDAY 19^TH JUNE – Fine and sunny in light winds, 14C

Our day started well with three Otters seen outside Pennyghael pre-breakfast – a monther and cub which one of the group had photographed previously, and a lone dog Otter which appeared and saw the family off. Loch Scridain was like glass for the first time this morning, without even a breath of wind first thing making for great scanning conditions. A flock of twelve Common Scoter were just off the hotel, and we had really nice views of them through the scope before we set off for the morning. An adult White-tailed Eagle was seen too, heading out to the seal island. Iona was our destination for this morning, and we had a perfect day of weather for it. We hoped to hear more Corncrakes, though sadly this wasn’t to be – the population seems to have really declined here in recent years and we didn’t hear a single crek in three hours walking round perfect habitat. Instead it was small birds that highlighted with lots of great views of Wheatears, singing Sedge Warbler, a small party of Twite, several Willow Warblers and a brief Spotted Flycatcher. Over on the west side of the island we saw a few Dunlin on the beach and the odd Eider, but overall it was a rather quiet trip. We returned to Fionnphort about 2pm, in order to give ourselves the rest of the afternoon to head back up the glen and try for some more raptors. This was kicked off with a perched adult White-tailed Eagle hanging out at the seal islands just up from Pennyghael as we headed up the island.

Wheatear juvenile on Iona

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FRIDAY 17^th MAY – warm and sunny in a light northerly wind, freshening to a moderate northerly later. 21C

We left Glasgow under sunny skies for the 150-minute journey to Oban. On reaching Loch Lomond we encountered some fine mixed woodland. It was not long before we heard singing Wood Warblers as we drove along. A total of at least 6 were heard, but as were on an A road it was difficult to stop. At the one lay-by we found there were no Wood Warblers to be seen or heard but we enjoyed the compensation of a singing Tree Pipit and a distant Cuckoo. Our scheduled stop at the Green Welly saw a fantastic collection of House Martins gathering mud for their nests from a puddle and several Siskins flitting around the conifers. The undoubted highlight was a mature White-tailed Eagle soaring high against a hillside but giving great views in crystal clear skies.

Arriving in Oban, where we met the final member of our group, we embarked the ferry for the journey up the Sound of Mull and then across the Hebridean Sea to South Uist. We saw a distant pair of White-tailed Eagles in a tree on the mainland and watched as one of them flew behind us to Mull. The weather was fabulous and the sea flat calm, which helped us pick out a splendid summer plumaged Great Northern Diver. Black Guillemots (tysties) gave excellent views.
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BIRD WATCHING MAGAZINE READER HOLIDAY – 8TH – 12TH MAY 2024

WEDNESDAY 8^TH MAY – Fine and sunny with light winds, 18C

The group met at Briarfields at Titchwell this afternoon at 3pm ready for a 3.30pm birding excursion. Nick and Ashley had just found a pair of White Storks on their drive over the meet the group and so drinks were quickly abandoned and we rushed back to the spot, which was thankfully less than two miles away at Choseley. The storks had circled in high and spotted a tractor ploughing close to the road south of the drying barns, and duly dropped in to feed behind the plough with all the gulls! We had superb close views of them with the light behind us, a slightly surreal experience! As it turns out, one of the birds, which was ringed at Knepp and part of their rewilding project, recently went to Spain and seemingly returned paired to the unringed bird it is now with – so a wild one. They had been in east Norfolk up until the previous day, and seen over Cley in the morning. We carried on checking a few fields around Choseley, picking up singing Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammer and a few Red Kites, plus Roe, Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac.

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