Winterton Bird Spotting Collective

2099-10-05T22:17:00.000+01:00

Welcome. You have found us. We are a secret group of crack birders who have turned our backs on the machismo, corruption, and backstabbing greed that constitute today's birding scene, and have united together to follow the True Path of non-competitive, collaborative and generally lovely birding-as-meditation-and-spiritual-growth. Consequently, we never see anything. Birds that land right in front of our noses, and which we can identify with our observer book, are written about here. Oh, and they have to be seen in - or from - the parish of Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk.

12 May 2013

2013-05-12T09:33:00.000+01:00

After the occasional single or small group going through for the last week or so, the local Swifts seem finally to have arrived yesterday evening, a whole week late.

With the advent of Twitter as our primary means of communicating bird news to each other these days, I have been worrying about the lack of records on our blog, which may mean that in future years we may not be able to look back at things like migrant arrival times. Twitter is a great method of disseminating news but somewhat ephemeral. So I have embedded a feed of our tweets so they don't get lost in the dustbin of history.

Unfortunately the Twitter feed will not trigger an automatic email for those of you that get the email updates about our blog posts, so I'm afraid you'll have to visit the blog to find out what we have all been up to (or follow us on Twitter of course!).

2013-05-11T19:58:00.001+01:00

11 May 2013

2013-05-11T18:51:00.001+01:00

Photo of Brambling in cherry tree (thru window)

26 April 2013

2013-04-26T19:48:00.000+01:00

A flabbergasting number of Wheatears have made landfall today all along the east Suffolk and Norfolk coast. In an hour this evening in the North Dunes I counted over 100, between the totem pole bushes and the top of the Warren. Most were sitting absolutely still, dotting the landscape wherever you looked. They flew strongly on approach though, so I don't think they are overly exhausted. Two Curlews also flew south.

24th April 2013

2013-04-26T19:42:00.001+01:00

The first Swift seen over the village this evening.

16th April 2013

2013-04-16T21:50:00.003+01:00

Well, if I'm putting on a post it can only mean one thing - another Winterton tick. This time it was a lovely Purple Heron, inadvertently flushed from the Toad Pools on the North Dunes. Sadly it made off to the south west where it no doubt found the vast expanses of Reed much more to its liking.

Also two Ring Ouzels and a Yellow Wagtail south.

14th April 2013

2013-04-14T22:26:00.002+01:00

A very exciting day on the patch as the weather finally became warm and spring-like.

Last night in the dark I saw an 'eared' owl with long, rather slender wings go zigzagging over my house and thought it could have been a Long-eared. Today, sure enough there were two, or maybe even three, Long-eared Owls roosting in the valley. There was also a massive movement of thrushes, first Redwings and later in the day it seemed like thousands of Blackbirds, clearly relocating after the seemingly endless cold weather. Several Ring Ouzels were also in the south dunes, plus a Black Redstart on the Hermanus rooftops, and some very confiding Common Redpolls feeding on the dune tops. Swallows, Sand Martins and a House Martin were flying through, and other migrants included Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. It was a great day and I got twelve year ticks!

Just out of the parish, in Horsey, a Red-flanked Bluetail was showing off gaudily. We don't want birds like that down here thank you very much (and I'm certainly glad that I dipped it when I guiltily went to look for it late in the evening...).

8th April 2013

2013-04-08T20:50:00.002+01:00

Well, it's happened again! Years can go by without a patch tick and then you get two in three days. Today it was the turn of a Goshawk to finally make it onto my Winterton list. A few years ago Winterton became one of those places where it was alleged that if you hung around long enough and stared at the sky over the woods eventually you would see a Goshawk. Many were duly rewarded but many also (including myself) never quite got satisfactory views. There wasn't much doubt about the big streaky monster today so onto the list it goes.

Also today 2 Barn Owls and 2 Short-eared Owls.

6th April 2013

2013-04-06T22:25:00.001+01:00

Well it was a great day here on the patch and well worth an update on the now virtually moribund blog, an anachronistic dinosaur indeed in the brave new world of tweeting and all the instant instant gratification it affords.

The cause of all the excitement came to light when a small group of Lapwings flew over. Amongst them was a smaller paler wader which I at first expected to be a Golden Plover but the reddish/orange legs and bill revealed it to be a Ruff - a genuine Winterton tick for me.

The excitement continued when I got home in the form of a group of five, or maybe even six, Great Tits in the garden, easily beating my previous record of three.

The icing on the cake was another brief sighting of the male Reed Bunting in the garden.

Other birds seen today included upto 15 Common Buzzards, 4 or 5 Red Kites and a White-tailed Eagle.

28 January 2013

2013-01-28T14:13:00.001Z

An abortive attempt to prove that the Great White Egret that has been in the Horsey area for some time occasionally penetrates Winterton airspace did however result in finding a Short Eared Owl perched on a fence post.

27 January 2013

2013-01-27T10:41:00.000Z

Five Waxwings attended Josh the Hamster's funeral in our garden this morning. RIP Josh.

1 Jan 2013

2013-01-01T22:09:00.001Z

The big patch effort kicked off today with some half-hearted attempts by members of the collective to get off to a flying start. Little Egret and Hen Harrier seem to have been the top birds of the day, although not all news is in as I write... Outrageously Ryan has told us we have to all have separate lists, which goes entirely against our collective spirit, but what can you expect in this acquisitive, individualistic era. Worse still, it means we will all have to leg it to see the birds Pete and Tim find, rather than stick to our preferred method of sitting at home and relying on them to preserve the patch reputation. Bah!

2 December 2012

2012-12-02T12:48:00.000Z

A Short-eared Owl flew south by Swift Bomb Hill this morning. Nearby on the beach nine Snow Buntings were busy feeding and avoiding dog-walkers.

Patch Map Update

2012-12-01T17:43:00.001Z

I got some feedback from the Committee about my previous patch map and consequently have amended it to include the crucial cowshed on the Holmes Road, the hedge in the middle of the corn patch on the western edge of the parish, half of the chalet park, and Bullfinch corner. By the entirely honorable method of tracing around the edges of the Pallid track footpath rather than including the fields next to it (which can be seen from the patch, so we can include birds on them, but which are out of bounds to walkers) we have technically kept our patch well below the stipulated 3km2 max - it is now coming in at 2.706km2. I cannot state with absolute certainty that this will be the final instar of our patchmap, but this version should really allow us to sock it to the competition.

Patchwork Challenge

2012-11-28T22:12:00.002Z

Well our friend and honorary Collective member Ryan from down in Hemsby is organising a national (or even international, or maybe even Pan-Galactic) year-listing competition for next year.

See the details here: http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.

So we are keen to have a crack, but there was some debate about our patch being unfairly large (all patches have to be 3km square or under). So we took to the internet, and using the web 2.0 tool that Ryan himself provided (http://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm) we have conclusively proved that our parish, or at least the birdable bits, come in at just under 3 square kilometers.

Here's the map that proves it.

We will therefore be aiming to whup the young Scottish upstart's birding backside. We will, of course, fail miserably to do so. After all, we've been looking for an Ortolan for years, and he just breezes into town and finds one after a few weeks... How can we compete with that?

We also believe that certain top-drawer birders from just north of us will be taking part. Our patch is doomed to become a thorn between two roses... At our next Collective meeting I will propose that to keep in with a chance to save face we become a sort of birding Tour de France Sky team, all supporting our very own Bradley Wiggins, Mr C (our version of Mr T), to take the prize...
.

2012-11-25T22:41:00.001Z

24th November 2012

Spot the Garden Mega

Also on 25th Short-eared Owl over North Dunes and Velvet Scoter south.

18 November 2012

2012-11-18T10:55:00.000Z

Eight Waxwings flew south towards the village this morning. Several Snow Buntings are around.

27 October 2012

2012-10-27T20:07:00.003+01:00

Fieldfare in the garden. Photo taken through wet windowpane.

18 October 2012

2012-10-18T22:32:00.000+01:00

A friend sent me this. What a birdbrain! Make sure you watch to the end...

14 October 2012 update - Steppe Lesser Whitethroat?

2012-10-15T22:16:00.001+01:00

Just received a message from someone with experience of central asian races who says that the Lesser Whitethroat mentioned in the previous post "looks very good for Steppe Lesser Whitethroat [Sylvia curruca halimodendri - also known as Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat]. Quite sandy-grey looking contrasting with greyer hood, whiter throat and dirty buff underparts. Probably Steppe Lesser Whitethroat will be found to be a regular late autumn visitor to the UK in some years, like this year, once they sort out the systematics. It is also a potential split."

Here is another pic of the bird. Feel free to comment!

14 October 2012

2012-10-14T13:42:00.001+01:00

It felt like proper autumn today and there were more birds around, in between bouts of heavy rain. A fair few Song Thrushes were moving through, and various members of our merry band connected with Firecrest and Brambling in the morning. Lots of Goldcrests around too. There were a couple of Lesser Whitethroats playing around together below the Hermanus, allowing the odd photo. Feels like there might be more out there to find, but it's raining heavily again at the moment.

12th October 2012

2012-10-12T12:15:00.001+01:00

A quick seawatch before work off Hemsby saw 10 little gulls fly north and 5 south. There was also a bit of wildfowl passage, 81 brent geese, 32 common scoter, 21 wigeon, 14 teal, 2 shoveler and 2 pintail all mainly heading south. Adult med gull over the dunes. Ryan

Later in the afternoon a lone Brent Goose (maybe injured?) was feeding at the top of the beach just north of the cafe. Sean

9th October 2012.

2012-10-10T09:37:00.002+01:00

Firecrest in the small oaks, south dunes.Lapland Bunting on the north beach.

7th October 2012.

2012-10-10T09:33:00.002+01:00

3 Bearded Tits through the south dunes this morning Tim.