Cantley's Tringas and Corton's Jynx

On Saturday morning I took to the east coast for some bush-whacking. A light easterly air flow had me hoping but clear skies overnight and blue skies that morning dampened my enthuasiasm. I birded around Happisburgh, Cart Gap and Winterton but couldn't produce a single migrant. "Bird of the Day" was not even a bird.....a fresh-looking Painted Lady butterfly at Happisburgh was the best of the lot. At lunch-time I threw in the towel and opted to take Polina shopping in Norwich (that's how bad it was.....actually the shopping trip was quite enjoyable as it happens).
I skipped Sunday and instead went with Nick to Cantley Beet Factory to look for waders. That was not a bad option as it turned out and before lunch-time we had enjoyed smart views of some very handsome looking juvenile Tringas. I think the tally was five Green Sandpiper, two Wood Sandpiper, three Common Sands, three Greenshank and also about ten Ruff. Views were distant and heat haze would have been an issue for photography (didn't bother to bring my heavy lens). There was one delightful scope view of a Green and Wood Sandpiper alongside each other, if approaching without flushing them was possible then it would have made an excellent portrait. I had to settle for a very 'iffy' phonescoped effort instead.

Green and Wood Sandpiper, Cantley BF, Norfolk

After lunch we drove down to Corton in Suffolk to check out the Wryneck that had been frequenting the old sewage works compound. The bird was quite obliging but harsh light and a wire mesh fence put paid to decent shots.

Wryneck, Corton, Suffolk - 29th August 2016

So quality Wryneck shots continue to elude me.
A juvenile Whinchat kept it company but it kept its distance. At around 4pm we called it a day. Not a bank holiday to compare with previous years (see 2013, 2014) but a second Wryneck in a week, some tidy looking juvenile Waders and a Clouded Yellow at Cantley BF was quite acceptable.

Double Jynx

After a Saturday afternoon slogging around Great Yarmouth Cemetery and Winterton South Dunes, I came home and saw a report on RBA of a Wryneck in the northern section of the cemetery - drat and double drat! I had walked that area an all!
Anyway, it was still present on Sunday at midday so I made my way back over there hoping for some decent Wryneck shots. I figured if the location of the bird could be pinned down I would have several hours to get a good shot, all I needed was patience. However, I always under-estimate just how much cover there is there and this turned out to be a very tricky bird.
It buried itself within a Holm Oak and later a Holly tree. It was quite content in the latter, sitting against the truck just visible but with a twig or foliage always blocking a clear shot. So record shots only but I certainly enjoyed watching it feed with darts of its long lizard -like tongue.

Such a smashing bird. My second GY cemetery Wryneck (double jynx!) - not as showey as the first one from August 2014 though slightly less soggy!

Wryneck, GY Cemetery - 28th August 2014

Signs of autumn

A short little run of easterlies in the second half of the week and a few drift migrants started appearing. I managed to finish work a bit early on Friday evening and got to the east Norfolk coast as the rain began to fall. I had high hopes for a Wryneck or Greenish and wild dreams of a Booted or even Syke's Warbler (well we can at least dream). In the end a tally of four Pied Flys, two Whinchats and six Wheatears was not bad for an afternoon punt-about.
I started out at Happisburgh, parked up at the cricket club and walked towards the cliff edge. Around the pillboxes and dung piles I had two juvenile Wheatears and one adult male Wheatear. Also a single juvenile Whinchat.

A juvenile Wheatear keeps ahead of me on the path

Juvenile Whinchat

I was on my way back to the cricket club when something flew from the willows on the edge of the garden of the very last house before the cliff - Pied Flycatcher. Didn't give great views but it put a smile on my face at least.

Pied Flycatcher, Happisburgh, Norfolk

I did a quick check of the trees alongside the cricket club and a lap around the cemetery but it was quiet there. After that I parked up near the lighthouse and checked the general area there. I was just thinking that the overgrown meadow with all the Ragwort and Angelicas looked quite 'Whinchatty' - when a second juvenile Whinchat popped up. It was joined by another Wheatear and they even obliged for a photo together on nearby fence.

Having a bit of a 'chat' (groan!)

The rest of the area was quiet so I headed over towards Cart Gap and walked down Doggett Lane where I came across three Pied Flycatchers. I fared a little better this time with the camera. One bird at least played ball.

Happisburgh Lighthouse and Church from Cart Gap, Norfolk

The next day I birded Great Yarmouth cemetery and Winterton South Dunes in the late afternoon but there seemed to have been a clear-out and I didn't have a single migrant at all.

The Chicken of the Swamp

I first heard about the Minsmere Purple Swamphen on Sunday evening after I returned home from an afternoon birding (Norfolk 3G grrrhhhh!!!!). Anyway, like some I was a little dubious at first. But this bird had its advocates, right subspecies, recent and notable dispersal from its nearest breeding grounds in southern France and a very recent record in Brittany. I couldn't go on Sunday night, almost went at 4.30am on Monday morning but in the end I threw my gear into the car on the way to work on Monday morning and twitched it that evening.

Purple Swamphen twitch, Minsmere, Suffolk

I'm still taken aback by the crowds at UK twitches, even though I shouldn't be at this stage. Biggest Irish twitch I recall was for the first Irish record of Blyth's Reed Warbler on Mizen Head in 2007*. I think there was ten of us - at the most.

Blyth's Reed Warbler twitch, Mizen Head, Cork - 2007. Look at the crowds!!!

Anyway, back to Minsmere. The bird was elusive but I got decent enough views, no mistaking what it was, unlike the recent Scoter twitch. 
Photos were harder though, mainly because of distance, numbers of people and high growing vegetation. But I managed a blog worthy record shot.

Purple Swamphen, RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk

The poor bird has been given many different monikers - Purple Swamp Chicken, Purple Swamp Monster, Swamp Donkey and Purple-helmeted Swamp Chicken (yes guilty!). Knob gags aside, it does really have good credentials and these have been excellently presented by Josh Jones and Hugo Touze in this Birdguides article. 
Hard to see a strong reason not to add this species now to the British list. On the subject of lists then, on my way home from Minsmere I started to formulate a new list in my head. Its the "Birds I dashed out of work to twitch" list. I started on it ten years ago in Cork when my birding was I suppose at the 'moulting of juvenile feathers' stage. The first bird I twitched from work with a mad dash was an Isabelline Shrike on the Old Head of Kinsale in 2006. I ran the list through my head and its got some fond memories, here are the highlights:

Spotted Sandpiper - Shanagarry, Cork - 2007
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - Ballycotton, Cork - 2007
Dusky Warbler - Ballycotton village, Cork - 2007
Pallas's Warbler - Phil's back passage (yes, really!), Ballycotton village, Cork - 2007
Ivory Gull - Baltimore, Cork - 2009
Citrine Wagtail - Tramore, Waterford - 2009
Two-barred Crossbill, Lynford Arborteum, Norfolk - 2013
Steppe Grey Shrike, Burnham Norton, Norfolk - 2014
Purple Swamphen, Minsmere, Suffolk - 2016


*Footnote: The 2007 Mizen Head BRW was considered the first Irish record at the time. However it was since usurped by a Cape Clear record from 2006 that was initially considered a Reed Warbler until re-identified from photos. There is also a very interesting account of an Acrocephalus spp. found on Cape Clear in 1969 by Clive Hutchinson, Ken Preston and Tim Sharrock which certainly had all the right credentials for BRW (see Partricide by Anthony McGeehan).