Day Out

Post date: Nov 21, 2010 6:59:6 PM

Me and Dad took a trip up the coast today, primarily to have a look at the Rough-legs but also hoping to catch up with the interesting harrier thats been intermitently reported up here. We started at Burnham Overy where the first bird we saw was a 1st winter Rough-legged Buzzard hunting over the dunes shortly after dawn. It was visable for a good half an hour but always distant, it eventually moved off eastwards. The whole area was heaving with birds, with geese (Pink-foot and Brent) in the skies and on the fields, waders and gulls in the harbour and finches and tits in the hedge rows. Additionally to the geese already mentioned we had 6 Barnacle Geese with a Pinkie flock. Drew a blank on 'the' harrier (it had been reported down at Stiffkey by this time) but we did have 2 Peregrine, 2 ring-tail Hen Harrier, Common Buzzard and 4 Marsh Harrier.

Female Hen Harrier, possibly 2nd c/y (iris appeared darkish). The much mooted primary bars are evident in the first photo, with four visable (not including primary tip) on the longest two (P8-9), there would also be an additional bar close to the coverts(on a cracking close up photo!) making five. On hudsonius aka Marsh Hawk there would typically be a total of six bars, with four bars on the shortest primary (P10), with only three in Hen, much like this (click on Norfolk Bird News)

As the report came in from Stiffkey that the harrier was there we steamed down to Warham Greens. Another Peregrine here some Eider off-shore and a couple more Marsh Harrier but that was it, the marshes were heaving with people here, all over the place, so it seems little wonder that few raptors were choosing to hunt this area.

We took the inland roads to try and connect with the bird, or any geese flocks, but failed.

Next stop Morston where a scan from the quay side found more Marsh Harrier, a dark but very brief ring tail 'Hen' Harrier heading west, and in among the scattered masses when a couple of para-glider things (should be shot down!) went low over the salt marsh, an immature Spoonbill got up.

From here we went east to Cley where we took a chance on the American Golden Plover, it was soon found on the edge of a flock of 1000 Goldies on Simmonds Scrape, and afforded my best veiws of one of these for many a year (more than I care to remember!)