August 2023

I spent the day at home sorting out my website with my new provider and host. At some stage this month my website will be transferred over as Webs.com will cease to exist. I hope the transfer will go smoothly but I have to learn a new set of skills and method of uploading onto it, so please be patient whilst this happens.

A very Happy Birthday to my darling daughter Kathryn who is 35 today.

John and I had a lovely day out at Cliffe, Kent today where I was pleased to see 3 Southern Emerald Damselflies after walking about a mile along the sea wall from where we parked the car. Thanks to John’s guidance and Gary Howard for his excellent site directions, completes my U.K. list of Dragonflies and Damselflies, excluding rare vagrants. We have really enjoyed touring the U.K. over the last few years seeing all of the U.K.’s butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, as it has taken us to some wonderful places in the U.K. which we would not have seen otherwise. We have of course, seen many birds along the way too and stayed in a huge array of accommodation meeting many like-minded people who have generously helped us along the way. Thanks to you all.

It has been many years since I have been to Cliffe and the area has changed from open scrapes to lagoons with the rough track now bounded by tall vegetation. Along the sea-wall the wild flowers were beautiful which the many butterflies were enjoying. We saw many Gatekeepers, Common Blues, Large Whites, Meadow Browns, Essex Skippers, Small Heaths, Peacocks and a Clouded Yellow. Ruddy Darters were also numerous but there were very few damselflies. I only saw 3 Common Blue Damselflies all day. We stopped for lunch and sat by a culvert where I watched 2 Greenshanks, a Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper. After watching the Southern Emerald Damselflies in some Juncus we drove back to the lagoons where we watched many Black-tailed Godwits, a few Avocets, 5 Greenshank, 4 Little Egret, a Spoonbill and many Common Terns which were flying over the river and fields.

John and I started our day at Potter Heigham where unfortunately the path around the scrapes was very overgrown and the reeds very high, making the pools very difficult to see, or mostly not at all visible. On the small section that we could see were a Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits and many Greylag Geese. We walked around to the boathouse but we could not see a single pool at all, after fighting our way through the vegetation. However we did see a Bittern in flight and a Hobby sitting in a dead tree. We heard Common Cranes calling and watched two birds land in a field nearby the track down to the marsh.

We drove to Hickling and after speaking to Guy we walked down the main track and watched Black-tailed Godwits, Six Spotted Redshank and two Ruff. Three Great White Egrets flew around which we saw from one of the platforms. We walked back to the mound and saw another Great White Egret.

Later in the evening Paul and I walked down to Dersingham Bog where we saw a Nightjar which flew in and sat on a small tree 4metres in front of us. We also heard 3 other Nightjars churring.

The forecast of rain all day, gave me the opportunity to catch up with many small jobs that I had left due to be away so much. I spent the morning putting in a pocket of a fleece that I want to take on my next birding holiday which is now approaching fast. Why they don’t put pockets in thin fleeces I just don’t know. Layering clothing is just so important when birding, especially as I am often the only woman amongst a gang of men and finding a place to change when out in the field is often impractical. A zipped pocket is also essential, so once I had completed my task, I read through a trip report that Dylan had kindly just sent me of our wonderful trip to The Gambia and Senegal (mostly Senegal) last December. It brought back many happy memories and we look forward to being with Dylan again this winter for another sunny destination!

After wishing John a ‘Happy Birthday’ which we will be celebrating next week on our holiday (yes I’m all packed and ready for my next flight!) I drove to my G.P surgery where after my appointment learnt that I would have to have a hospital referral. I just hope it can be sorted out soon! I then drove to work where I had a mixed work day with several mixed tasks to complete. Thank goodness for our amazing volunteers who kept the boat afloat whilst I scurried around. They are just amazing people!

After work at home Richard from NRD Media phoned me who is re-building my website as Webs.com, my host, will cease to exist after August 31st and this website will no longer exist. Between us we have decided to make all my previous (old) yearly diaries and trip reports into pdf’s and these will be uploaded to my new website. The rest of my website will operate as normal (I hope!) At the moment it has only just started to be built and will take a while. It will still be called:

Norfolk Birders and can be found here: https://norfolkbirders.co.uk/

Please be patient whilst this happens.

Thank goodness the fog has cleared! It’s a beautiful day on St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly. John and I enjoyed a wander through Lower Moors, along Old Town Bay and through the churchyard where Harold Wilson is buried. After a scrumptious Cornish pasty, we watched the Scillonian dock in the harbour and greeted a few fellow birders off it as they came ashore. It’s good to be back here.

At 5pm we boarded The Sapphire in the harbour and enjoyed a great pelagic trip out with Joseph Pender of Scilly Pelagics this evening to see Wilson’s Storm Petrel, European Storm Petrel, Scopoli’s Shearwater (sadly I have no photo but others do) , Great Shearwater, Cory’s Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater and Manx Shearwater. John was overjoyed with his Wilson’s Storm Petrel tick and I was overjoyed with my Scopoli’s Shearwater tick! We returned back from the trip absolutely exhausted as the swell from the sea had made a few on board seasick. I suspect there will be a few missing faces tomorrow!

For those of you unfamiliar with pelagic birding, this is a marvellous way of seeing seabirds really close as the birds come to investigate the smell and food that is put out for them. Joe uses salmon fish oil that is tipped on the surface of the sea which makes a big slick that smells (disgusting) that attracts the seabirds. As we leave harbour bread is thrown overboard to attract the gulls which follow us out to sea, which shearwaters then come to investigate. As we get further out ,mealworms are thrown overboard that the gulls feed on, as well as the storm petrels that appear to ‘dance’ on the surface of the slick, picking up the mealworms.

It is necessary to have good ‘sea-legs’ as it is often rough with a big swell making it quite difficult to stand and even more difficult to take photographs. Many birders are sea-sick which can be very unpleasant, especially suffering for many hours. However I have found by having a good bowl of porridge, before you leave harbour and nibbling on pure oat biscuits all day long, avoiding all fruit juices, chocolate and fatty foods, it is possible to avoid the worst effects of sea-sickness.

My thanks to Richard Stonier for giving me permission to use his photo on my website.

A big thanks to Joseph Pender of Scilly Pelagics for another great trip today (after yesterday’s Scopoli’s Shearwater) with fabulous views of Wilson’s Petrels close to the boat. We enjoyed European Storm Petrels with us for most of the time we were chumming. We also saw Great Shearwaters, Cory’s Shearwaters, Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and a Bonxie. Common Dolphins and Tuna were leaping out of the water by the side of us which added to the thrill of the trip.

The swell of the sea was much higher than yesterday, with all day trips on the Scillonian cancelled. However pelagic birders are a hardy lot and although a few birders had not turned up most of us had. However taking photos today was extremely challenging to say the least and after a few more birders being seasick, its a wonder that I managed any photos at all, as staying on my feet was almost impossible at times, let alone letting go of the handrail to hold a camera!

It’s always a bit sad leaving St. Mary’s and the Scilly Isles as we always enjoy our visits here. Our visit this time was designed to coincide with Joseph Pender‘s Scilly Pelagics which we thoroughly enjoyed, which are run in the summer months instead of our usual visit in the autumn when we often visit to see a rare bird that we need for our U.K. list.

We flew back to Land’s End this morning and did a bit of sea-watching at Pendeen where Manx Shearwaters were flying by in huge numbers. We also saw 4 Cory’s Shearwaters and a couple of Balearic Shearwaters. After a tasty pasty we walked down Kenidjack Valley where we watched a Golden-ringed Dragonfly before visiting friends that live in Pendeen. Luckily the sun came out for most of the day for us to enjoy the wonderful scenery here.

We enjoyed a meal out with friends this evening until Nick looked at his phone and declared ‘that’s insane!’… the Red-footed Booby is sitting on the Bishop Rock Lighthouse! To say that we cursed is an understatement! I was all for jumping back on the Scillonian in the morning but John did not agree as to be honest the chances of it staying there were slim. (How wrong we were to be…! ) Oh for that crystal ball!

My last few days have been very hectic to say the least with my daughter and family arriving for a few days holiday here in Norfolk. My granddaughters are growing fast and we had some wonderful family time at Sandringham and on the beaches building sandcastles, jumping the waves and making Nanny laugh. She is now exhausted and was looking forward to a nice rest back at work!

The day started as normal, welcoming visitors and catching up on news after my break. However as can quite often happen, Roger was on the radio alerting us that there was an American Golden Plover in amongst the Golden Plovers on the Freshmarsh. It wasn’t long before the birders arrived and I wanted to join them. Some of our volunteers all came to tell me all about the bird. I grabbed my camera and walked down the West Bank path and joined Paul who had it all lined up in his scope for me. Thanks Paul! I took a few photos and together watched it as it took off with the Golden Plovers and flew around before it settled back down again. It was lovely sitting on the path and helping visitors where it had resettled in the warm summer sun.

The last few hours have been an adventure as last night John, Richard and I travelled down to Marazion near Penzance, driving through the night.

Richard, John and I awoke at Marazion and drove the few miles to Penzance. After parking the car we had breakfast at Sullivans before boarding the Scillonian bound for Penzance. It was glorious morning and the sea could not have been calmer, allaying John’s and Richard’s fears of being seasick. As we set off along the Cornish coastline towards Land’s End we were soon watching Common Dolphins, Manx Shearwaters and Cory’s Shearwaters. I was responsible for doing a head-count of all the birders on board to let Joe Pender know how many he would be expecting, so that a boat could be arranged for us when we arrived in St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly. I counted 29 birders but managed to miss one lady somehow. It was a glorious sailing over on a packed boat that was fully booked.

We arrived in St. Mary’s where The Meridian was waiting for us, brilliantly captained by Paul. We walked off one boat and straight onto another and were soon underway setting sail out to the Bishop Rock Lighthouse. The tension was palpable as we approached. John and I had missed the Red-footed Booby last weekend by a few hours as we had flown off St. Mary’s a few hours before the bird had been found. We could not believe it. The Meridian approached the lighthouse and all binoculars were trained on the netting at the top……………..we edged closer and closer but the bird was not there! Paul sailed the boat around the back of the lighthouse but the Red-footed Booby was not perched anywhere in sight. The mood of the birders dropped through the floor. We could not believe it. Paul contacted a local fishing boat who had seen the bird ten minutes before we had arrived and had watched it fly off back towards the western rocks. No…………………………glum faces all round!

Paul set off in the direction of the western rocks and 37 of us scanned around watching many Cory’s Shearwaters, European Storm Petrels, Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and a Fulmar. We returned to the lighthouse. Still nothing, except for a few Great Black-backed Gulls. We sailed all the way round and went searching once again before returning once again. Still no Booby. We were concious of the time but we had had an early sailing today and so had an extra hour out here. Richard Gainford, a journalist from ITV wanted to interview me for GMB TV for a news item. We spoke all about my birding and where I had seen Red-footed Booby before, but he was curious why I wanted to see this one.

Paul set off for the western rocks where we searched every rock admiring all the Grey Seals, Oystercatchers and Turnstones as well as a few Shags sat on the rocks. It was time to return once again to the lighthouse. We were all tense once again, when one of the photographers on board took a photo of the top of the lighthouse, blew up the image and said there was bird with a different outline sitting at the top right hand side. We all peered through our binoculars but the distance was just too great to identify anything. We got closer and closer and eventually I could see some red feet on a bird perched at the top! Just as I was trying to take a few photos of the Red-footed Booby, Richard want to interview me again in my excited state, when really I just wanted to look at the bird. The mood on the boat amongst the birders had changed considerably as you can imagine! We were all ecstatic, especially as most of us had driven through the night and were very tired, especially with all the anxiety as well!

After everyone had had their fill, and thanking Paul with a round of applause he sailed us back to St. Mary’s where several of us walked to The Mermaid where a celebratory drink was enjoyed. It was now very hot, so we spoilt ourselves with an ice-cream too, overlooking Town Beach. What a superb day it had been. We walked back to the quayside and boarded the Scillonian along with some very happy birders. We watched more Common Dolphins on the way back as well as more Cory’s, Manx and a Sooty Shearwater. We drove to Nick’s where we stayed the night before making the long journey back home. What a trip it had been, meeting up with friends and putting names to faces with several birders who have contacted me recently. What a great bunch they had all been. What a fantastic hobby this is!

John and I started our day at Strumpshaw where we met up with Drew Lyness and sat in the reception hide where there was a Great White Egret lurking across the water tying its best to hide in the reeds. A Great Heron was dozing amongst the Mallards in the sun. However we were not here to see the birds actually at Strumpshaw but were wanting to see some Honey Buzzards.

Drew had been reporting Honey Buzzards here during the summer months since last year, so today we thought we would join him. He told us to concentrate on the area around the two masts in the distance which we did. After a while I spotted a raptor in the air. Once we all got our scopes on it we could see it was indeed a Honey Buzzard albeit distant. Later Graham, an RSPB fundraiser came to tell us of another Honey Buzzard that eventually flew right over our heads! Thanks Graham!

We motored on to Buckenham where we watched two Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff and some Common Snipe before attending a local fete where I bought a bargain field guide!

I spent most of my day writing up the monthly sightings of birds and wildlife seen at Titchwell Marsh RSPB before sorting out the pin badges.

I spent the day today learning and sorting out giltches with my new website with Richard. It is going to take some time to edit my diary pages and trip reports that have now been transfered to my new website. Like all new formats I have a lot to learn but Richard is being very patient and nursing me through and writing background coding to make the style that I like to use more efficient going forward.

My evening was spent at NarVOS where we had an excellent talk given by Neil Glenn about wildlife and birds in Arctic Finland and Norway using photographs from several photographers to illustrate his trips. Like John and I he had also been on one of the boats to twitch the Red-footed Booby on the Bishop Rock lighthouse, so during the interval it was good to share our experiences with him. After the talk several of us met in the pub to talk about our various foreign trips, past and future which is always very congenial.