Pre-edited version of the 'Wildlife roundup' published in the Spring issue of 'Tern' magazine by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust by Robin Chittenden

 

Imagine starting birdwatching as a new hobby and within two weeks you find a bird of a lifetime. This is what happened to the lucky person who, this autumn, found a small Warbler at Winterton. They managed to get some photographs, which identified it as a species that had only been seen once before in Norfolk. Next morning local birders visited the site at dawn, to double-check, and they were delighted to find the bird, an Asian Desert Warbler, had remained overnight (many small birds migrate at night, especially if they can see the stars to guide them). As you can imagine this sighting attracted many to see this tiny bird, which normally lives in the arid areas from the Middle-east and beyond. This habitat was a bit like its chosen re-fueling spot in the dunes at Winterton. Despite all the attention the Warbler fed away, plucking tiny insects from the sparse bushes in the dunes, completely unconcerned by all the fascinated birders gawping at it. Despite its tameness it was still a frustrating bird to photograph well, often feeding out of view in the center of the bush and always on the move. There always seemed to be one or two annoying twigs between the bird and the cameras.

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Winterton had a run of unusual migrant birds this autumn, which ended with another dry country favourite, which also hailed from the east, a Desert Wheatear. This bird covered a huge area of beach during its stay even going missing for a whole day. This, on reflection, was not that remarkable, as much of the beach and associated dunes between Winterton and Waxham have been roped off as no-go areas, to avoid potential disturbance to the breeding Grey Seals. There are now several thousand animals there, so quite a sight to witness from the designated viewpoints. With so many pups being born it’s not that surprising that it can be possible to see the more unusual black velvety ones. Pups are normally creamy white, thought to be a reflection of chillier times, when they would be better camouflaged against snow. Even so despite less snow these days there are only a handful of black ones each winter and your luck has to be in to actually see one from a viewing area. With much of the beach ‘closed’ people walking their dogs are ‘forced’ to explore the open areas of the National Nature Reserve, that is Winterton North Dunes. Give a sympathetic thought to the warden there, who is presumably charged with balancing any conflict of interest between wildlife and dogs off their leads. The whole area is literally swarming with dogs.

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The seal colony attracts many gulls to feed on afterbirths and the inevitable causalities from such a large colony. During the winter this also attracted some of the ‘white-winged’ Gulls from the Arctic. So far there has been up to two or three Glaucous Gulls and an Iceland Gull in Norfolk with most sightings being around the Horsey Grey Seal colony. The most popular though was a Glaucous Gull attracted to a Seal carcass on the beach north of Old Hunstanton.

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For the last three autumns the return of the now older favourites seemed to be a thing: The Long-billed Dowitcher returned to NWT Cley Marshes, although it did visit RSPB Titchwell for a day and then chose Holkham Freshmarsh as the preferred hang-out location in late December. It was still associating with Black-tailed Godwits (it probably thinks it is one). It presumably spent last summer in Iceland with the Black-tailed Godwits, which return there each summer to breed. Very nice too. It seemed less feisty than in previous years but perhaps this is because its squabbles with Black-tailed Godwits peak in the spring when there is more likely to be a flush of hormones. 

 

The female Pallid Harrier was again regularly seen in the afternoons as it returned from a day’s hunting to roost on the saltmarsh at Warham Greens. Wintering Harriers usually have a huge territory to hunt, and this would explain why it was only seen occasionally during the day, and then only at the nearby sites of Stiffkey and North Point Pools. It is also a reflection of the tiny numbers of birdwatchers checking all the other fields in north Norfolk. 

 

The pale ‘brown’ Cormorant also returned to the Norwich area most usually being seen along the River Wensum in the city or at Whitlingham CP. Although it has moulted some of its paler feathers, since last winter, it still has some, but is still easy to pick out from the other all dark Cormorants, unless underwater. Further information on ‘Aberrant Cormorants in the Norwich area’ can be found in ‘The Whitlingham Bird Report for 2023’, which is free to download from http://jamesbirdsandbeer.blogspot.com. The article was also published in the ‘Norfolk Bird & Mammal report 2023’ produced by the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society.